FALL 2025

As the weather gets cold and the campus slows down, I like to look back on all the accomplishments that our department has made over the last year. 

The 2025 achievements of our faculty, staff and students include million-dollar grants, distinguished awards and publications in esteemed journals. 2025 also brought us new faculty whose expertise and ambition continue to strengthen the department.

While we celebrate the accomplishments of G&B in 2025, we are equally excited for the opportunities that lie ahead in 2026. I’m confident that our creativity and dedication will keep driving our department forward.

Thank you for being part of our journey — your support and connection advance G&B in achieving our mission.

Happy New Year and Go Tigers!

Sekhon along with a group of researchers have been awarded a $2.4 million, four-year grant to map genes that control leaf senescence in corn.

Rajan Sekhon led a study with recent Ph.D. graduate Manwinder Singh Brar that found staygreen lines in corn, which retain leaf greenness longer, amass antioxidant flavonoids that shield tissues from damage.

Both Evgenia Zheltov and Elizabeth Polatty are sophomore biochemistry majors.

Two biochemistry students Evgenia Zheltov and Elizabeth Polatty joined the National Scholars Program (NSP) 2025, which offers unmatched learning experiences to a select group of Clemson University undergraduate students who demonstrate a unique combination of academic excellence.

October 20 is World CRISPR Day and celebrates the day CRISPR was first used to edit a human genome.

Clemson News highlighted two G&B faculty who use CRISPR in their research to advance human health: Stephen Dolan and Jennifer Mason. Dolan uses CRISPR technology to “break genes” in pathogenic fungi, and Mason uses CRISPR-Cas9, an enzyme for DNA repair research.

The Board of Trustees recently approved the elevation of the Center for Human Genetics to the Institute for Human Genetics. Read more about this and other honors and awards.

Tara Doucet-O’Hare was invited to give a seminar to the Department of Biology at UNC Asheville. Read more about this and other events.

Trudy Mackay was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine. Read more about this and other honors and awards. 

The Witt Dillon lab published “The MUC19 gene: An evolutionary history of recurrent introgression and natural selection” in Science. Read more about this and other publications.

Visit the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry website

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