Contact information

Dr. Brendon Juengst

brendon.juengst@usda.gov

Foreign Disease/Weed Science Research
1301 Ditto Avenue, Fort Detrick, MD 21702
Phone: (301)-619-1922
Fax: (301) 619-2880

Brendon Juengst completed his Ph.D. in Plant Biology at Penn State University studying the mechanisms of mitochondrial iron uptake and homeostasis in the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana. Dr. Juengst is currently an ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow in the Rogers lab studying the genomics of Citrus Greening tolerance in bitter and sweet oranges.

Research Emphasis

Huanglongbing (HLB) or Citrus Greening is a bacterial disease of citrus plants that has devastated the citrus industry in the U.S.
Sweet oranges are very susceptible to the disease, but Poncirus trifoliata (trifoliate orange or bitter orange) along with Poncirus/sweet orange crosses are tolerant to the disease. My research is focusing on comparing the genetic and transcriptomic response to citrus greening between the “sweet” and “bitter” oranges to try to determine what may allow for Citrus Greening tolerance.

During my PhD I studied the function of a gene involved in mitochondrial iron uptake in Arabidopsis thaliana. Iron deficiency anemia impacts around 2 billion people worldwide. An improved understanding of iron uptake and homeostasis in plants and particularly crop species can help mitigate this issue.

Publications

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Education

Ph.D. Plant Biology, Pennsylvania State University
B.S. Biology, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

Research Experience

• ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow USDA-ARS Foreign Disease Weed Science Research Unit, 2024-present
• PhD Candidate Pennsylvania State University, 2015-2023
• Research Intern Geisinger Medical Center, 2014
• Undergraduate Research Assistant Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, 2015

Honors and Awards

• Penn State Huck Graduate Research Initiative Grant, 2019
• Invited Speaker – ASPB National Conference, San Jose, Ca, 2019
• University Graduate Fellow – Penn State, 2016-2017