The following article by Derek Norman, VP of Agriculture Venture Investments, Leaps by Bayer, was posted by Forbes on August 25, 2026. The research by Dr. Eduard Akhunov and his Team that this article refers to can be found here. More than 22 million people in the U.S. have food allergies, and that number is growing […]
08.25.2026
The Wheat Genetics Resource Center (WGRC) has wrapped up its 2026 harvest season with wheat crops spanning multiple locations and states including Kansas (Rocky Ford, Colby, and Hutchinson), Arizona (Yuma), and Texas (Castroville). In Colby, KS, this season’s efforts centered on wild relative introgression materials that contain targeted genetic segments introduced from wild relatives. These […]
07.27.2026
In the past month, five members of the Wheat Genetics Resource Center (WGRC) took their work from international stages in Europe to a major plant-breeding conference in Texas, sharing new findings on wheat disease resistance, genomics and advanced field phenotyping. WGRC Director, Dr. Eduard Akhunov, represented the Center at the 4th International Wheat Congress (IWC) […]
06.25.2026
The Wheat Genetics Resource Center (WGRC) is now accepting project proposals for a funding opportunity focused on mobilizing genetic diversity from wild wheat species and unique germplasm collections developed over the past decade. Eligible applicants include colleges, universities, research foundations, and other research institutions and organizations. The funding program seeks projects with tool and methodology […]
03.19.2026
The Wheat Genetics Resource Center community recently gathered to celebrate the retirement of John Raupp, honoring a remarkable career that spanned 45 years of dedicated service. John’s retirement party was held on January 23, 2026, marking a milestone moment for colleagues and friends who have worked alongside him across decades. John began his career at […]
01.26.2026
Six members of the WGRC, including two PhD students, attended the annual Plant and Animal Genome (PAG) conference in San Diego, CA from January 9-14, 2026. Dr. Zitong Yu, Dr. Jason Zurn, Yoonha Ju, Buket Sahin, & Dr. Yan Li presented posters during the conference showcasing their research on the following topics: stem rust, stripe […]
01.21.2026
On January 20, 2026, director of the WGRC, Dr. Eduard Akhunov, was on news station KSHB 41 Kansas City, MO. Dr. Akhunov discussed the research taking place at the WGRC to improve bread wheat varieties for those with celiac disease. Check out the news clip by clicking “Go to Original Story.”
01.21.2026
The National Fusarium Head Blight Conference took place in Denver, CO December 7-9, 2025 where Jaime Knight presented her poster, “Ancestral Germplasm as a Source of Fusarium Head Blight Resistance in Bread Wheat.” Jaime is a master’s student at the WGRC. Her research primarily focuses on discovering novel genetic sources of Fusarium head blight resistance […]
12.19.2025
Buket Sahin won third place in the competitive poster competition at the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) 2025 conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah November 9-12, 2025. Her research poster was titled “Genome-Wide Association Study of Stripe Rust Resistance in a Diverse Spring Wheat Panel.” Buket is a graduate research assistant at the […]
11.14.2025
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State University researchers and the state’s farmers are putting their collective support behind a project to reduce the allergenicity of gluten in wheat, while maintaining the grain’s ability for bread and other products. Eduard Akhunov, a University Distinguished Professor in K-State’s Department of Plant Pathology, said his team is identifying proteins […]
10.16.2025
The Climate Resilient Cereals Innovation Lab (CRCIL) at Kansas State University convened with international partners in Senegal September 15-19, 2025 to review two years of collaborative research aimed at strengthening food security in challenging climates. Benjamin Osae attended the CRCIL meeting as the representative for the Wheat Genetics Resource Center (WGRC). Representatives from ISRA-CERAAS, Clemson […]
10.15.2025
The Wheat Genetics Resource Center (WGRC) is proud to announce that Dr. Zitong Yu, a postdoctoral fellow, has been awarded second prize in thematic area B of the prestigious Carlotta Award. The award was announced in Bari, Italy last month at the “From Seed to Pasta 5” conference. As a winner of the Carlotta award, […]
10.01.2025
Dr. Akhunov was invited to speak at From Seed to Pasta 5 in Bari, Italy, on September 26, 2025. His talk, “Landscape of Structural Variation in the Wheat Genome: Functional and Phenotypic Consequences,” explored genomic variation in wheat. Dr. Akhunov is a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Wheat Genetics Resource Center (WGRC) at Kansas […]
09.27.2025
This summer the WGRC welcomed Mark Marchetti as an REU student as part of the K-State Plant Pathology Summer Program. The REU program is a U.S. National Science Foundation funded project that supports intensive research by undergraduate students. Mark is a sophomore at Texas A&M studying agronomy, and at the WGRC, he learned about wheat […]
08.07.2025
Dr. Jason Zurn with the WGRC received 3rd place for the post-doc/grad student oral presentation competition at the 17th International Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildews Conference in Vancouver, Canada. His talk, A protein kinase fusion gene from Aegilops speltoides provides broad resistance against wheat stem rust, reports on the cloning of the stem rust resistance gene Sr39. This gene originates from […]
07.31.2025
The obituary of Dr. Bernd Friebe was published in the Chromosome Research journal. Dr. Friebe was a pioneering cytogeneticist whose distinguished career was marked by groundbreaking contributions. Bernd served over five decades in editorial roles and was a beloved mentor, colleague, and teacher. Outside the lab, he was a blues guitarist, fossil collector, and devoted […]
06.24.2025
A talented group of three graduate students and two Postdoctoral Fellows served as representatives of the Wheat Genetics Resource Center (WGRC) and Kansas State University at the McFadden Symposium, which took place on March 3-4, 2025 in Lincoln, Nebraska. The researchers shared their latest findings and innovations in wheat genetics research. Each researcher presented compelling […]
04.28.2025
Eduard Akhunov is selected as one of the 2024 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows, one of U.S. science’s highest distinctions. https://www.aaas.org/programs/fellows/2024-aaas-fellows https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adx6365
03.27.2025
During the 2024 budget cycle, the Texas Wheat Producers Board (TWPB) voted to join other state wheat organizations and industry representatives to support the Wheat Genetics Resource Center Industry University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC). This partnership is a critical step in advancing wheat research on a regional level, with a specific focus on the center’s […]
03.10.2025
Congratulations to one of our Postdoctoral Fellows, Dr. Zitong Yu, for receiving the 2024 Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum (WIT) Early Career Award! Dr. Yu was one of five individuals from around the world to receive this recognition. The WIT award is named after Jeanie Borlaug Laube, who is a strong advocate for women in […]
03.13.2024
The K-State Today highlighted the exciting research recently published by the WGRC and USDA Agricultural Research Service in the Plant Biotechnology Journal. Researchers at Kansas State University, in collaboration with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Kansas Wheat, have made a breakthrough in developing wheat-based foods with lower levels of gluten. Using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene […]
12.12.2023
Congratulations to Dr. Zitong Yu and her collaborators on the recent publication of their article, “CRISPR-based editing of the ω- and γ-gliadin gene clusters reduces wheat immunoreactivity without affecting grain protein quality” in the Plant Biotechnology Journal! Zitong is a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Eduard Akhunov’s lab at Kansas State University, and her research focuses […]
12.11.2023
Congratulations to Nick Stelling, Ph.D. student of Dr. Eduard Akhunov, on winning 3rd place in the poster competition at CSSA 2023! Nick is a WheatCap student in his first year of his Ph.D. program at Kansas State University, and he is already making a huge impact in the wheat community. Nick’s abstract for his award-winning […]
11.15.2023
MANHATTAN —The Feed the Future Climate Resilient Cereals Innovational Lab (CRCIL) project, led by Kansas State University, aims to address the challenges posed by climate change on crop production. With a recent $22 million award from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the project brings together U.S. and international partners to advance the breeding of […]
10.27.2023
The Wheat Genetic Resource Center (WGRC) in the department of Plant Pathology at Kansas State University is seeking a Computational Biologist or Bioinformatics Scientist. The successful candidate will join a vibrant team of researchers investigating diverse aspects of wheat genetics and genomics focusing on the development of resources, tools, and strategies to identify and deploy […]
04.03.2023
SAN DIEGO, CA-Eduard Akhunov gave three talks at the 2023 Plant and Animal Genome Conference in San Diego, California. On January 14, 2023, Eduard presented Application of Multiplex Genome Editing Strategies for Engineering Regulatory Regions and Complex Gene Loci in Wheat. On January 15, 2023, Eduard spoke on the topic Prioritizing Adaptive Diversity from Wild Relatives for […]
01.14.2023
BALTIMORE, MD-Eduard Akhunov received the Calvin Sperling Memorial Biodiversity Lectureship award from Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) at the 2022 ASA-CSSA-SSS International Annual Meeting on November 8, 2022. Eduard gave a lecture titled, “The Quest to Find Adaptive Diversity in Wild Relatives to Improve Wheat.” The Quest to Find Adaptive Diversity in Wild […]
11.08.2022
BOLOGNA, Italy: On October 26, 2022, Eduard Akhunov, director of the WGRC, was invited to give two talks at the international conference “From Seed to Pasta.” His first presentation was titled, “Leveraging modern genomic resources to identify adaptive variants and optimize breeding strategies in wheat.” His second talk was titled, “Uncovering the regulatory landscape of […]
10.26.2022
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Two U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists working on the Kansas State University campus are part of a national team that has earned praise for its pioneering work in building sturdy resistance to a highly-virulent strain of stem rust in wheat. The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative awarded its 2020 Gene Stewardship award to […]
10.19.2020
MANHATTAN — A Kansas State University wheat geneticist is receiving nearly $1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, through its Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, for two projects to improve the genetic diversity of wheat. Modern wheat is historically a genetically narrow species. Centuries of focused breeding to […]
06.18.2020
Punya Nachappa, assistant professor at Colorado State University explains how wheat curl mites avoid insecticides, how climate change is leading to increasing populations and why breeding for host plant resistance is key to preventing outbreaks.
04.13.2020
Join us for a virtual tour of wheat’s wild relatives in our greenhouse space at the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center
04.05.2020
K-State scientists are part of an international team of researchers that have deciphered the genetic code of a wild ancestor of wheat.
07.07.2017
K-State researchers have identified a gene that will provide resistance to the wheat streak mosaic virus.
06.08.2017
Kansas State University wheat scientists have completed the first study of a chromosome in a tertiary gene pool and have called it a breakthrough in exploring wheat wild relatives for future crop improvement.
10.06.2015
Kansas State University wheat researchers are leading efforts to develop a better understanding of the wheat genome.
08.04.2015
Can a wasp feed the world?
It can help.
If its larvae are nurtured near millet fields where a devastating moth steals harvests from the field, they can grow to become predators that destroy the pests and save a crop. And that just might put more food in more mouths and earn money for struggling farmers in the world’s poorest countries.
11.09.2014
Will the public swallow science’s best solution to one of the most dangerous wheat pathogens on the planet?
05.31.2014
To accelerate the continual development of new and improved wheat varieties, novel approaches are needed to extend conventional selection methods, according to Dr. Jesse Poland, an assistant professor at Kansas State University and director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Applied Wheat Genomics.
03.27.2014
The tech sector and Silicon Valley
are synonymous. The Research Triangle embodies biotech and life science innovation.
Where is the world’s nucleus of global food systems? Kansas State University leaders and experts will tell you they’re in it.
01.01.2014
The National Science Foundation has named Kansas State University as its lead institution for the world’s first Industry/University Cooperative Research Center on wheat.
08.19.2013
The dun wheat field spreading out at Ravi P. Singh’s feet offered a possible clue to human destiny. Baked by a desert sun and deliberately starved of water, the plants were parched and nearly dead.
06.04.2011
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