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Research in the McHale lab focuses on the characterization and manipulation of natural variation in crop plants, primarily soybean and chile peppers. Our goals are to identify the genes conferring disease resistance, yield, and quality traits and, in soybean, examine how best to integrate these alleles for the development of improved varieties. To accomplish these goals, we use new technologies and a cross-disciplinary approach, which includes genetics and genomics, evolutionary studies, bioinformatics, and plant pathology. 

News

  1. Congratulations Dr. McCoy!

    Jul 11, 2023

    Graduate student Jack McCoy passed his Ph.D. defense last week. Congratulations, Dr. McCoy!

  2. Congratulations Dr. Vargas-Garcia!

    Jul 11, 2023

    Graduate student Christian Vargas-Garcia passed his Ph.D. defense in June. Congratulations, Dr. Vargas-Garcia!

  3. Congratulations Hannah for Receiving IGP Funding!

    Mar 21, 2023

    Hannah was recently awarded funding from the CFAES Internal Grants Program (IGP). This funding will help further Hannah's PhD work on her project, Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) landrace diversity in resistance to Phytophthora capsici root rot.