People
Peter Balint-Kurti is a Research Geneticist with USDA-ARS, Plant Science Research Unit, at NC State University. He has a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology/Genetics from the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK and has worked on slime moulds and pigs as well as on plants (his first love). Before joining the ARS in June 2003, he worked in commercial biotechnology.
Email: pjbalint@ncsu.edu
Shannon Sermons. from Plymouth, NC via the North Carolina School of Science and Math and Florida State University. She has an MS and a PhD degree from the Crop Science Dept. at NCSU working with Tom Rufty on plant water and nutrient stress responses. Shannon is the lab manager and has been with us since Feb 2013.
email: smsermon@ncsu.edu
Asher Hudson comes to us from Jeff Ross-Ibarra's lab. He is working on our Microbe-Dependent Heterosis project with Maggie Wagner and Manuel Kleiner
Wen-Yu Liu has a Ph.D. from National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. He enjoys working in the lab and has over 10 years experience with C4 rice and maize leaf development Wne-Yu is working on a project on the control of the maize defense response via E3-ligases with our collaborator Terri Long
Diana Ramirez Segovia is a masters student working on the effect of microbes on maize germination. She is from El Salvador where she most recently was an Associate Prof. in the Plant Protection Dept. at the University of El Salvador
Greg Marshall hails from various US states. He's been our top field tech for a few years now. Seen here in his natural environment.
Tao Zhong earned a Ph.D. from China Agricultural University, majoring in crop genetics and breeding. He has been engaged in research on maize disease resistance genetics for 10 years, primarily focusing on maize foliar diseases. Currently, he is working on our Quantitative Disease Resistance in Maize project with our collaborator James Holland.
Shivreet Kaur is a PhD student working on maize disease genetics. She got her masters degree in plant pathology from North Dakota State University where her research focused on the genetic and molecular characterization of leaf rust resistance in wheat. Originally from Punjab, India she graduated with a Bachelor's in Agriculture from Punjab Agricultural University in 2020.
