Kelly S. Allen, a PB MS student working with Dr. Rob Wick, was recently awarded a Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Graduate Student Grant for $15,000 for her proposal titled “Improving Basil Downy Mildew Control with Cultural and Biological Methods”. Sweet basil is one of the most commonly-grown herbs worldwide, and crops are highly susceptible to becoming diseased with basil downy mildew, caused by the pathogen Peronospora belbahrii. This pathogen results in devastating crop losses and economic losses totaling in the tens of millions of dollars in the US. Basil growers are also spending an estimated 10 million dollars each year to manage the disease. Basil downy mildew is not effectively controlled with organic fungicide spray programs, and conventional fungicides are limited and can risk increased pathogen resistance. This research aims to improve cultural control methods for greenhouse propagation of sweet basil, and will investigate the efficacy of a filamentous yeast as biological control agent.

Stockbridge School of Agriculture professor Prasanta Bhowmik was honored with a 2016 Outstanding International Achievement Award at the International Weed Science Society 7th International Weed Science Congress in June in Prague. Bhowmik offered a presentation on the invasive giant hogweed during the congress, which was attended by more than 800 participants from 57 countries. Read more.

Fourth-year NSB student, Ajay Kumar, received second-place honors in the 2016 UMass Innovation Challenge Finals that took place on April 7. Ajay accepted the award for GeneRisk, the software service he founded. GeneRisk allows medical clinicians to detect neurodevelopmental disorders, such as early indicators of autism. Medical professionals extract a patient’s saliva sample, which they send to a laboratory for gene sequencing and diagnosis. According to Kumar, to date, diagnosis of such disorders has relied largely on questionnaires and trial-and-error treatment, despite advances in understanding complex genetic disorders.

Coordinated by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, an initiative that promotes entrepreneurship across the UMass Amherst campus, the multi-stage Challenge, in its culminating event of the year, featured six student teams that vied for $65,000 in awards. Each finalist presented a three-minute project description, followed by twelve minutes of probing questions from the competition’s six judges.

As New England’s blueberry season approaches, OEB doctoral candidate Matt Boyer says a fungal pathogen of highbush blueberries known as mummy berry is a common threat to growers, and if left untreated can destroy up to 50 percent of a crop. It is so named because it produces dead-looking, berry-shaped lumps instead of healthy berries.  Matt is a student in Lynn Adler's lab.  Read more.