Sushan Ru

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. Horticulture, Washington State University 2011─2016
• M.S. Horticulture, Washington State University 2009─2011
• B.S. Horticulture, Southwest University, China 2005─2009

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Assistant Professor, Auburn University 2021–present
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Minnesota 2017–2021
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Wisconsin-Madison 2017–2018

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• American Society for Horticultural Science
• National Association of Plant Breeders

Delicious, aromatic, and nutritious berries are the drive of my research. I am excited to lead the first small fruit breeding program at Auburn University to develop the finest blueberries for Alabama and nearby regions. My program aims to improve southern highbush blueberries for better spring frost tolerance, disease resistance and fruit quality, while improving rabbiteye blueberries for early maturity, better fruit quality and disease resistance. My research focuses on improving the efficiency of blueberry production and breeding through high-throughput phenotyping, dissecting the genetic architecture of important traits such as disease resistance using interdisciplinary tools. My lab is always looking for passionate, intelligent, and creative students and postdocs, especially candidates with good programming and data analysis skills.

• Plant Breeding for Specialty Crops (3 credit hrs.)
• Plant Biotechnology (4 credit hrs.)

• Ru S*, Ding S, Oliver JE, Amondu A (2023) A review of Botryosphaeria stem blight disease of blueberry from the perspective of plant breeding. Agriculture, 13(1), 100. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13010100
• Barth E, de Resende JTV, Mariguele KH, de Resende MDV, da Silva ALBR, Ru S (2022) Multivariate analysis methods to improve the selection of strawberry genotypes with low cold requirement. Sci Rep 12, 11458. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15688-4
• James T, Johnson A, Schaller A, Peace C, Luo F, Sandefur P, Ru S. As it stands: the Palouse Wild Cider Apple Breeding Program. Plants, 2022, 11, 517 https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11040517
• Jung S, Lee T, Gasic K, Campbell T, Yu J, Humann J, Ru S, Edge-Garza D, Hough H, Main D (2021) The Breeding Information Management System (BIMS): An online resource for crop breeding. Database, 2021, baab054. https://doi.org/10.1093/database/baab054
• Ru S, Hardner C, Carter PA, Evans K, Main D, Harshman J, Sandefur P, Edge-Garza D, Peace C. (2021) Empirical evaluation of multi-trait DNA testing in an apple seedling population. Tree Genetics & Genomes 17:13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-021-01494-y
• Ru S*, Bernardo R (2020) Predicted genetic gains from introgressing chromosome segments from exotic germplasm into an elite soybean cultivar. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 133:605─614. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-019-03490-2
• Ru S, Bernardo R (2018) Targeted recombination to increase genetic gain in self-pollinated species. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 132:289─300. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-018-3216-1
• Jung S, Lee T, Cheng C, Buble K, Zheng P, Yu J, Humann J, Ficklin SP, Gasic K, Scott K, Frank M, Ru S, Hough H, Evans K, Peace C, DeVetter L, McFerson J, Coe M, Kahn M, Wegrzyn J, Staton M, Main D (2018) 15 years of GDR: New data and functionality in the Genome Database for Rosaceae. Nucleic Acids Research 47:D1137–D1145. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gky1000
• Ru S, Hardner C, Carter PA, Evans K, Main D, Peace C (2016) Modeling of genetic gain for single traits from marker-assisted seedling selection in clonally propagated crops. Horticulture Research 3:16015. https://doi.org/10.1038/hortres.2016.15
• Ru S*, Main D, Evan K, Peace C (2015) Current applications, challenges and perspectives of marker-assisted seedling selection in Rosaceae tree fruit breeding. Tree Genetics & Genomes 11:8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-015-0834-5
• Jung S, Ficklin SP, Lee T, Cheng C, Blenda A, Zheng P, Yu J, Bombarely A, Cho I, Ru S, Evans K, Peace C, Abbott AG, Mueller LA, Olmstead MA, Main D (2014) The Genome Database for Rosaceae (GDR): year 10 update. Nucleic Acids Research 42:D1237–1244. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkt1012