Investigator

New PH.D. Program on the Genetics, Microbiomics and Systems Biology of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) and their Plant Hosts at the University of Georgia

Investigators in three Departments and one Institute at the University of Georgia (UGA), in Athens, GA, have received comprehensive support from the US Department of Energy and UGA for the project entitled “Systems analysis of the beneficial associations of sorghum with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi studied with genetics, genomics, imaging and microbiomics” (Sorghum-AMF). This innovative project will include multi-year support for numerous graduate students that wish to pursue their Ph.D. research on this subject. The project will recruit its first Ph.D. students this fall, with a deadline for application of December 2, 2020.  The successful applicants will help create a novel and powerfully-integrated research team to study the co-evolving genetics and environmental responses of the plant host, AMF and the broader microbiome. Sorghum-AMF students may pursue their Ph.D. research in the laboratories of Profs. Jonathan Arnold (https://www.genetics.uga.edu/directory/jonathan-arnold), Jeff Bennetzen (http://bennetzenlab.genetics.uga.edu/), Anny Chung (research.franklin.uga.edu/chung), Katrien Devos (https://research.franklin.uga.edu/devoslab/), or their UGA collaborators on this project. Applications should be made through the Integrated Plant Sciences (IPS) Program (https://ips.uga.edu/admissions/how-to-apply/).  Successful IPS applicants will be able to consider pursuing their Ph.D. research in any plant science laboratory at UGA, including those involved in the Sorghum-AMF project.