Publications & Honors

December 2025 – May 2026

James Schnable

  • Award: Received the 2026 NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences for pioneering breakthroughs in plant genomics and quantitative genetics.
  • Honor: Named a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors
  • Genomes to fields 2024 maize genotype by environment prediction competition. Q Chen, JD Washburn, DC Lima, MC Romay, JL Gage, JB Holland, ...BMC Research Notes, 2026
  • A sorghum-anchored pan-grass syntenic gene set in grasses. Henrique M Dias, Guilherme Y A Sagawa, Vladimir J Torres-Rodriguez, Ravi V Mural, James C Schnable, Marie-Anne Van Sluys. NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics, Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2026, lqag030, doi: 10.1093/nargab/lqag030
  • Food as Medicine: Enhancing Crop Breeding and Food Processing to Shift the Gut Microbiome for Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Diseases. PJ Mannon, AK Benson, JC Schnable, W Ding, AF Juritsch, DJ Rose. The Journal of Nutrition 156 (2), 101298 2026.

Edgar Cahoon

  • Award (January 16, 2026): Received the 2026 Supelco AOCS Research Award for outstanding original research in lipid chemistry and biochemistry.
  • Honor (February 12, 2026): Named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors for his work in plant lipid biotechnology and engineering crops for nutritional value.
  • Honor (April 28, 2026) Elected to the National Academy of Sciences. 
  • Chromosome-level assembly and analysis of three hydroxy fatty acid-producing Physaria species. Wang, Shuo, Ruyi Fan, Mengling Zhang, Zhi-Wei Zhou, Weibo Xie, Jinpeng Wang, Edgar B. Cahoon et al. Nature Communications (2025).
  • Combining Pathway Engineering and Precursor Enrichment to Build a Multi-Trait Soybean Platform for Aquaculture Feed Applications. Kim, Hyojin, Truyen Quach, Kiyoul Park, Ming Guo, Hae Jin Kim, Hanh Nguyen, Tam Nguyen, Edgar B. Cahoon et al. Metabolic Engineering (2026).
  • Multisite Field Evaluation of Oil Accumulation and Agronomic Performance in Grain and Sweet Sorghums Engineered for Lipid Hyperaccumulation Chen, Y., Park, K., Jang, C.,Lee, J. W., Wang, M., Kim, H., Quach, T., Guo, M., Sonawane, B. V., Gosa, S. C., Clemente, T. E., Leakey, A. D. B., Cahoon, E. B. & Lee, D. Plant Biotechnology Journal.
  • Polyketide synthase–like functionality acquired by plant fatty acid elongase. Kim H, Park K, Jia H, Huang F, Tang X, Zhong T, Yu W, Riethoven JJM, Cahoon RE, Zhang C*, Cahoon EB* (2026) Science Advances 12: aed2892.

Rebecca Roston

  • Subcellular Lipid Trafficking and Membrane Specialization in Plants. Smith, C. N., Haslam, T. M., Feussner, I., & Roston, R. L. (2026). Annual Review of Plant Biology, 77.
  • Lipid metabolism and contact site homologs are present at the chloroplast envelope-thylakoid interface. LaBrant, E.W., Smith, C.N., Torres-Gerena, A.D., Ishimwe, J., Huang, F., Tullis, A., Litterer,L., Modi, B.F., Naldrett, M.J., Altartouri, B., Roston, R.L. Nature Communications (2026).

James Van Etten

  • Taxonomic update for the giant algal chloroviruses of the family Phycodnaviridae. Rodrigues, R. A., Carvalho, J. V. R., Henriques, L. R., Dunigan, D. D., & L Van Etten, J. (2026). Archives of Virology, 171(1), 10.

Jinliang Yang

  • Enhancing our shared platform for genomics research: an update from Genomics Communications. Liu S, Yang J, Wu Z. 2026. Genomics Communications 3: e001 doi: 10.48130/gcomm-0025-0026
  • The incomplete dominance of gene expression controlled by trans-eQTL hotspots contributes to heterosis in maize. Xu G, Yang X, Zhang M, Kang C, Tian Z, Qi Y, Luo M, Liu P, Ross-Ibarra J, Yang J*, Liu H* (2026) Nature Communications 17: 72804.

David Holding

  • Toward an Emerging Public Health Paradigm: Agriculture and Food Production for Health. Wallace, R., Frels, K., Ibba, M. I., Lyford, C., Rose, D., Baltensperger, D., & Baenziger, P. S. (2026). Foods, 15(3), 527.
  • Breeding colored sweet corn for improved micronutrient content. Niyorukundo J, Wehrbein C, Fischer A, Alvarez S and Holding DR (2026) Front. Plant Sci. 17:1813937. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2026.1813937 
  • Opaque-2 induced zein reduction and lysine increase suggest a route to quality protein sweet corn. Niyorukundo J, Yobi A, Wehrbein C, Angelovici R and Holding DR (2026) Front. Plant Sci. 17:1814115. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2026.1814115 
  • Breeding for Colored Quality Protein Popcorn with Improved Amino Acid Composition. Niyorukundo J, Yobi A, Sithole C, Wehrbein C, Angelovici R, Holding DR (2026) Front. Plant Sci. 17: doi: 10.3389/fpls.2026.1844370/abstract

Lirong Zeng

  • The RING-Type Ubiquitin Ligase XBAT35. 2 Positively Modulates Plant Immunity by Promoting FLS2 Protein Accumulation. Zhang, Y., Wang, C., Zhou, B., Verma, P., Hamera, S., & Zeng, L. (2026). Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, (ja).
  • A novel strategy to boost Huanglongbing resistance via MYC2 stabilization in plants. Zhang C, Zeng L, Wan X. Sci Bull (Beijing). 2025 Dec 15;70(23):3925-3926. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.08.031. Epub 2025 Aug 19. PMID: 40897625.

Clemencia Rojas

  • Award: Outstanding Postdoc mentor. Office of Graduate Studies, UNL
  • Advancing the Development of Pseudomonas protegens PBL3 Secretome as a Biopesticide to Control Bacterial Panicle Blight in Rice. S Dahal, K Grosz, CM Rojas. Plant Pathology 75 (1), e70102
  • AtNHR2A and AtNHR2B: two players of plant secretory pathways functioning in stress responses. Maia, T., Ojha, B., Alvarez, S., Naldrett, M. J and Rojas, C. M.  Phytopathology. doi: 10.1094/PHYTO-07-25-0237-R
  • Understanding Rice Responses to the Combination of Bacterial Panicle Blight and High Night Temperatures. Ghimire S, Dahal S, Liew CS, Ortega L, Riethoven JJM, Shrestra K, Rojas C (2026) Rice (N Y). May 12. doi: 10.1186/s12284-026-00899-4.

Yufeng Ge 

  • A parametric maize leaf model quantifying morphology and geometry via 3D triangle mesh. Z Xiang, Y Ge. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 243, 111218, 1, 2026
  • Corrigendum to “Integrating proximal sensing data (soil spectra and magnetic susceptibility) with the common covariates to predict soil carbon pools in semiarid regions”[Soil …K Azizi, S Zhao, S Ayoubi, A Kamangarpour, K Nabiollahi, Y Ge, K Zhao, ...Soil and Tillage Research, 107149, 2026
  • Research on real time mapping and transfer learning based 3D semantic segmentation of unstructured orchardsS Li, S Wen, F Liu, H Zhang, Y Ge, Z Deng Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 242, 111323, 2026
  • Integrating proximal sensing data (soil spectra and magnetic susceptibility) with the common covariates to predict soil carbon pools in semiarid regionsK Azizi, S Zhao, S Ayoubi, A Kamangarpour, K Nabiollahi, Y Ge, K Zhao, ...Soil and Tillage Research 256, 106840, 1, 2026
  • Can generative AI make farming decisions? Current status and future pathways – A case study in row crop production with ChatGPT. Nipuna Chamara, Yu Pan, Saleh Taghvaeian, Cory Walters, Christopher Proctor, Daran Rudnick, Daren Redfearn, Joe Luck, Yufeng Ge. Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture, Volume 16, Issue 2, 2026.
  • Assessment of soybean response to irrigation variability in eastern Nebraska using the AquaCrop model. Anmol Singh , Saleh Taghvaeian , Yufeng Ge , Derek Heeren, Frank Bai., Agricultural Water Management 330.

Katarzyna Glowacka

  • High‐Throughput Screen of NPQ in Sorghum Shows Highly Polygenic Architecture of Photoprotection. RL Vath, SB Fernandes, B Monier, K Głowacka, J Walter, AE Lipka, ... Plant‐Environment Interactions 7 (1), e70114
  • Combination of abiotic stresses accelerates photoprotection in exceptionally chilling tolerant C4 grass by fine tuning content of multiple pigments. Turc B., Kumari A., Carter M., Glowacka K. Journal of Experimental Botany.

Jeffrey Mower

  • Aromatic patch in whiB-like transcription factors facilitates primary sigma factor interaction in mycobacterium tuberculosis. D Guiza Beltran, T Wan, J Seravalli, M Horová, C Jones, S Li, P Ma, J Mower...Communications Biology, 2026
  • Rapid turnover of mitogenomic repeats and congruent phylogenomic signal among Digitalideae genomes. JP Mower, J Wang, R Ahmed, Z Wu Genomics Communications 3 (1).

Sabrina Russo

  • Benefits and Costs of Mycorrhizal Associations Vary along the Acquisitive–Conservative Plant Strategy Spectrum. Yang, Yuguo, Glenn Ledder, and Sabrina E.Russo. 2026. Ecological Monographs 96(1): e70057.
  • Leaf photoprotection and water relations traits reveal novel axes of coordination and trade-offs in leaf function. McNichol, B., R. Wang, J.A. Gamon, S.E. Russo. 2026. Functional Ecology 00, 1–22.