Lab News

The PI received two major honors spanning 2025–2026 in recognition of research excellence and scientific leadership.

In August 2025, Dr. Gadhave was named a Schroth Faces of the Future recipient and delivered an invited talk titled “Genomic, phylogenetic, and functional characterization of novel resistance-breaking Tomato spotted wilt virus strains” at Plant Health 2025 in Honolulu.

In January 2026, Dr. Gadhave received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Early Career Research from Texas A&M AgriLife during the AgriLife Connect event held on January 7, 2026.
The official press release announcing the award is available here:
https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2026/01/07/texas-am-agrilife-vice-chancellors-awards-in-excellence-honor-faculty-staff/

We’re excited to welcome two new PhD students to the lab, strengthening our work across ecological and molecular dimensions of plant–virus–vector systems.

Richard Smith joined the lab in August 2025 as a part-time PhD student in the Department of Plant, Soil, and Environmental Sciences at West Texas A&M University. Richard also serves as Assistant Vice President for Risk and Compliance at WTAMU. His doctoral research focuses on developing ecology-based integrated pest management (IPM) strategies for thrips and tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV).

Rohith Sasi, an Erasmus Mundus Scholar, began his PhD in Spring 2026 in the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on molecular interactions within the TSWV–tomato–thrips pathosystem, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms governing virus transmission and host manipulation.

Welcome to the lab, Richard and Rohith—we’re excited to have you both on board.

We’re delighted to share that Ms. Udvashika Puri, our first graduate student, has completed her coursework for the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 semesters at Texas A&M University and has now joined the Gadhave Lab full-time to begin her Ph.D. research. Ms. Puri will be working on our FFAR-funded iRNA project (see the Research page for more details). She holds an M.S. in Agriculture from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a B.S. in Agriculture from Purbanchal University, Nepal. We’re excited to have her officially on board and look forward to the great work ahead. Welcome, Udvashika!

We’re excited to welcome Dr. Rahul Singh, who joined our lab in March 2025. Dr. Singh comes to us from the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Kentucky. He earned his Ph.D. from the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, India, and brings with him extensive experience in virology and molecular biology, with a particular focus on plant defense signaling and plant–virus protein interactions. We’re thrilled to have him on board and look forward to the expertise and insight he brings to our growing team. Welcome, Dr. Singh!

I am deeply honored and humbled to receive the 2024 William Dugas Early Career Award for Research Excellence. The award was presented by Dr. Cliff Lamb, Director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, and Dr. William Dugas, Former Vice Chancellor and Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University. The ceremony took place at the Director’s Award Banquet on January 7, 2025, at the Stella Hotel in College Station. I am grateful for this recognition and the support of my team, colleagues and mentors. Here’s the press release in AgriLife Today: https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2025/01/07/agrilife-research-directors-awards-honor-faculty-staff-projects/