• Home >
• College of Agriculture >
• Resumes
• > Matthew Blair

Matthew Blair
Research Professor
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
College of Agriculture

Contact Information
Office Location: 204 Farrell-Westbrook
Telephone: 615-963-7467
Email: mblair@tnstate.edu

Program Areas
Plant Breeder, Molecular Geneticist
Blair Laboratory information can be found here : https://www.tnstate.edu/faculty/mblair/index.aspx

Teaching

Graduate Courses 
1) Advanced Plant Breeding / graduate course, 3 credit course / AGSC5190 / Tennessee State University with required    reading of professional articles and supplementation with Xu (Molecular Plant Breeding) and Sleper and Poehlman, 5th Ed. (Breeding Field Crop)    
2) International Agriculture under Study Abroad / Independent Study / graduate course, 3 credits / AGSC5350 / Tennessee State University with trip to Buga, Colombia for training at Servicio Empresarial de Aprendizaje Nacional Educacional     (SENA), Sponsored by State Department and the government of Colombia through SENA under the auspices of Partners of the Americas.

Undergraduate Courses 
1) Introduction to Biotechnology / freshman or sophomore biotechnology concentration course / AGSC1600 / Tennessee State University with required reading from Thielman and Pallatino, any Ed.
2) Plant Breeding / upper level undergraduate 3 credit course / AGSC4310 / Tennessee State University with required reading of Sleper and Poehlman, 5th Ed.

Adjunct and Affiliated Faculty

Cornell University, Department of Plant Breeding, School of Integrated Plant Science, College of Agriculture & Life Science.  
Vanderbilt University, Center for Latin American Studies.

Individualized courses

Borlaug Fellow (Morocco) – Dr. Chafika Houasli
Borlaug Fellow (Malaysia) – Ms. Naransa Limpot
Borlaug Fellow (Ethiopia 1) – Mr. Girma Ayana
Borlaug Fellow (Ethiopia 2) – Mr. Habtamu Demessie
Borlaug Fellow (Kenya) – Mr. Geoffrey Karau
GCP Fellow (Ethiopia) – Dr. Asrat Asfaw

Courses on Molecular Breeding (4 since 2011)

February, 2019 – Nashville Tennessee – Illumina sequencing on NextSeq platform
July, 2018 – Nashville Tennessee – Illumina sequencing on MiSeq platform
June 2012 – Montpellier, France – molecular breeding for abiotic stress resistance
March 2011 – Accra, Ghana –molecular breeding module for West Africa Centre for Crop Improv. (WACCI)

Publications

2023 
Ambachew DA+, Asfaw A, Blair MW* (2023).  Genetic variability for root traits in a panel of Andean common beans grown under with and without Aluminum stress conditions. MDPI –.Agronomy, 13(3), 619; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13030619 
Blair MW, Londoño JM+, Buitrago A+, Wu X+, Brenner D (2023) Differentiation of Andean and Mesoamerican accessions in a proposed core collection of grain amaranths.  Front. Plant Sci., 22 March 2023; Sec. Crop and Product Physiology. v.14 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1144681 
Christian J+, Hui D, Kaur N+, Kieffer C+, Moghaddam S+, Touray A, Borlay J, Blair MW, Mentreddy SR, Tegegne F, Illukpitya P (in press) Effects of Variety and Planting Density on Mung Bean EcoPhysiology and Yield in the Southeastern US.  Agricultural Science
Islam ASMF, Limpot N, Blair MW (submitted) Zinc concentration in the grain of a world-wide mung bean (Vigna radiata) core collection as compared to other minerals.  MDPI – AGriculture, special issue Biofortification

2022 
Blair MW*, Thapa R+, Edwards M+, Damba Y+, Wu X+, Hickok D+, Mackasmiel L, Cortes AJ (2022) Use of Genomics and Phenomics for Diversity Assessment and Implications for Breeding of Grain Amaranths in Americas.  Chapter. In M. Farooq & Kadambot H.M. Siddique (eds.) 'Neglected and Underutilized Crops: Future Smart Food’. Elsevier Press Inc. , Nov 15, 2022
Campuzano LF, Blair MW (2022) Breeding strategies for Robusta Coffee (Coffea canephora) as a new crop in colombia.  MDPI – Agriculture. 29 September 2022, 12(10), 1576; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12101576 
Campuzano LF, Bejarano D, Castillo J, Torres DR, Cortes Aj, Blair MW* (2002) SNP Genotyping for Purity Assessment of a Forage Oat (Avena sativa L.) Variety from Colombia. MDPI -Agronomy 20 July 2022, 12, 1710. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12071710 
Cortes AJ, Lopez LF+, Blair MW (2022) Genome–Environment Associations, an Innovative Tool for Studying Heritable Evolutionary Adaptation in Orphan Crops and Wild Relatives.  Frontiers in Genetics – Section on Evolutionary and Population Genetics. 13:910386, 05 August 2022, Volume 13 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2022.910386 
Dharajiya DT, Trivedi GT, Thakkar NJ, Pachchigar KP, Teli B, Tiwari KK, Blair MW* (2022) Genomics-Assisted Design of Biotic Stress Resistant Vegetable Amaranths.  In: Kole, C. (eds) Genomic Designing for Biotic Stress Resistant Vegetable Crops. Springer Publishing Inc.,. ISBN-13: 15 July 2022:   9783030977849. Pp. 437
Peláez D, Aguilar PA, Mercado M, López-Hernández F+, Guzmán M, Burbano-Erazo E+, Denning-James K, Medina CI, Blair MW, De Vega JJ, Cortés AJ* (2022) Genotype Selection, and Seed Uniformity and Multiplication to Ensure Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) var. Liborino. MDPI – Agronomy 12(10), 2285; 23 September 2022 https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12102285 
Pratap A, Kumar S, Polowick PL, Blair MW, Baum M (2022) Editorial :  Accelerating Genetic Gains in Pulses. Division Plant Breeding, Frontiers in Plant Science 13:879377.  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.879377  
Wu X+, Cortes AJ, Blair MW* (2022) Genetic differentiation of grain, fodder and pod vegetable type cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata L.) identified through genotyping-by-sequencing.  Molecular Horticulture. 28 March 2022 https://molhort.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s43897-022-00028-x  

2020
Checa OE, Rodriguez M+, Wu X, Blair MW*  (2020) Use of an abbreviated method of backcrossing to introduce the afila gene into trellised garden pea (Pisum sativum) varieties.  Agronomy MDPI
Rodriguez NC+, Ambachew D+, Melgarejo LM, Blair MW* (2020)  Morphological and Agronomic Variability among Accessions of Purple Passion Fruit, Passiflora edulis f. edulis, Grown across Different Elevations.  HortScience. 
Rodriquez NC+, Melgarejo LM, Blair MW* (2020) Seed structural variability and germination capacity in Passiflora edulis Sims f. edulis.  Frontiers in Plant Science - Plant Breeding
Tamayo-Vélez A, Santana-Fonseca GE, Blair MW (2020) Evaluación agronomica de frijoles bio-fortificados en finca de agricultores de Antioquia.  Rev. Fac. Nac. Agron. Medellín 73(2): 9143-9149. https://doi.org/10.15446/rfnam.v73n2.75588
Wu X+, Islam ASM F+, Limpot N, Mackasmiel L, Mierzwa J, Cortés AJ, Blair MW* (2020).   Genome-wide SNP identification and association mapping for seed mineral concentration in Mung bean (Vigna radiata L.)  In Special Issue :  (eds. P Symkal and E Von Wettburg "Healthy Food Development through Genetic Changes during Crop Domestication“ Frontiers in GeneticsTamayo-Vélez A, Santana-Fonseca GE, Blair MW (2020) Evaluación agronomica de frijoles bio-fortificados en finca de agricultores de Antioquia.  Rev. Fac. Nac. Agron. Medellín 73(2): 9143-9149. https://doi.org/10.15446/rfnam.v73n2.75588

2019
Assefa T, Rubyogo JC, Mahama AA, Cannon EKS, Brown AV, Rao IM, Blair MW, Cannon SB (2019) A Review of Breeding and Genomics Resources for Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)  Molecular Breeding 39:20.
Hacisalihoglu G, Blair MW (2019) What we know about zinc in soils and plants for improving global food production security.  In Special Issue :  (eds.) Z Rengel Achieving Sustainable Crop Nutrition Chp16 - Micronutrients: advances in understanding zinc cycling in soils, uptake/use by plants and ways of optimising zinc use efficiency in crop production. Publisher: Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing
Rodríguez NC, Melgarejo LM, Blair MW* (2019) Purple Passion Fruit, Passiflora edulis f. Edulis, Variability for Photosynthetic and Physiological Adaptation in Contrasting Environments. Agronomy 9(5), 231; doi:10.3390/agronomy9050231
Thapa R, Blair MW* (2019) Morphological Assessment of Cultivated and Wild Progenitor Grain Amaranth Diversity.  In Special Issue :  (eds.) P Symkal and E Von Wettburg "Healthy Food Development through Genetic Changes during Crop Domestication.  Agronomy 8(11), 272; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy8110272
Yahaya D*, Denwar N, Blair MW*  (2019) Effects of Moisture Deficit on the Yield of Cowpea Genotypes in the Guinea Savannah of Northern Ghana.  Agricultural Sciences 10, 577-595. DOI: 10.4236/as.2019.104046
Yahaya D*, Denwar N, Mohammed M, Blair MW*  (2019) Screening of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) Genotypes for Enhanced N2 Fixation and Water Use Efficiency under Field Conditions in Ghana.  American Journal of Plant Sciences 10:4.
Wu J, Wang LF, Fu J, Chen J, Zhang J, Zhang SL, Wei SH, Tang YS, Zhu J, Lei L, Chen ML, Geng Q, Liu CL, Wu L, Li XM, Wang X, Wang Z, Wang Q, Xing S, Zhang H, Blair MW*, Wang S* (2019) Resequencing of 683 common bean genotypes identifies yield component trait associations across a north-south cline.  Nature Genetics.

2018
Blair MW*, Cortés AJ, Farmer A, R. Wei H, Ambachew D, Penmetsa V, Carrasquillo N, Assefa T, Cannon S.  (2018)  Uneven recombination rate and linkage disequilibrium across a reference SNP map for common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.).  PLoS ONE 13(3): e0189597. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0189597.
Cortés AJ, Hurtado P, Blair MW, Chacón-Sánchez MI (2018) Does the genomic landscape of species divergence in Phaseolus; beans coerce parallel signatures of adaptation and domestication? Frontiers in Plant Science.  http://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.01816
Cortés AJ, Hurtado P, Blair MW, Chacón-Sánchez MI (2018) Genome Diversity Reveals the Genomic Consequences of Speciation, Adaptation and Domestication in Common and Lima Phaseolus Beans. Bean Genome Diversity Reveals the Genomic Consequences of Speciation, Adaptation, and Domestication.  Chapter.  In Genetic Diversity in Plant Species – Characterization and Conservation  Ed.. M.A. El-Esawi.   DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.80512
Cortés AJ, Blair MW* (2018)  Naturally Available Genetic Adaptation in Common Bean and Its Response to Climate Change” In Chapter 3 Climate Resilient Agriculture - Strategies and Perspectives, ed. Strategies and Perspectives, Ed. A. Shanker; CoEd; C. Shanker and Ch. Srinivasarao. InTech Publishing DOI: 978-953-51-3896-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72380
Cortés AJ, Blair MW* (2018) Genotyping by Sequencing and Genome-Environment association in wild common bean predict widespread divergent adaptation to drought.  Frontiers in Plant Science 9: 128.
Islam ASM F, Blair MW* (2018) Molecular characterization of mung bean germplasm from the USDA core collection using newly developed KASP based SNP markers.  Crop Science 58:1–12; doi: 10.2135/cropsci2018.01.0044
Izquierdo P, Astudillo P, Blair MW, Iqbal AM, Raatz B, Cichy KA (2018) Meta-QTL analysis of seed iron and zinc concentration in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)  Theoretical and Applied Genetics DOI 10.1007/s00122-018-3104-8
Makoudi B, Kabbadj A, Mouradi M, Amenc L, Domergue O, Blair MW, Drevon JJ, Ghoulam J (2018) Phosphorus deficiency increases nodule phytase activity of faba bean–rhizobia symbiosis. Acta Physiologiae Plantarum 40:63.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-018-2619-6
Torche Y, Blair MW, Chougui Saida C (2018) Biochemical, physiological and phenological genetic analysis in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) under salt stress.  Annals of Agricultural Sciences 63 (2018) 153–161.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aoas.2018.10.002

2017
Asfaw A, Ambachew D, Shah T, Blair MW (2017). Trait associations in diversity panels of the two common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) gene pools grown under well-watered and water-stress conditions. Frontiers in Plant Science, 8, 733.
Bassi D., Briñez B, Santa Rosa J, Rodrigues Oblessuc P, Panhoca de Almeida C, Nucci SM, da Silva LC, Chioratto AF, Pereira Vianello R, Aranha Camargo LE, Blair MW, Benchimol-Reis LL (2017) Linkage and mapping of quantitative trait loci associated with angular leaf spot and powdery mildew resistance in common beans.  Genetics and Molecular Biology  DOI: 10.1590/1678-4685-gmb-2015-0314
Briñez B, Perseguini JM, Santa Rosa J, Bassi D, Ribeiro Gonçalves JG, Almeida C, de Carvalho Paulino JF, Blair MW, Chioratto AF, Carbonell SAM, Valdisser PAMR, Pereira Vianello R, Benchimol-Reis LL (2017) Mapping QTLs for drought tolerance in a SEA 5 x AND 277 common bean cross with SSRs and SNP markers. Genetics and Molecular Biology, 40, 4, 813-823
Cortés AJ, Blair MW* (2017) Lessons from Common Bean on how wild relatives and landraces can make tropical crops more resistant to climate change.  In. O. Grillo (Ed).  Rediscovery of Landraces as a Resource for the Future,  InTech.  ISBN 978-953-51-5806-6 
Cortés AJ, Blair MW* (2017) Naturally Available Genetic Adaptation in Common Bean and Its Response to Climate Change.  InTech.
Teshale A,  Cannon S, Wu XJ, Blair MW, Otyama P, Alemahayu F (2017)  Improving adaptation to drought stress in white pea bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L): genotypic effects on grain yield, yield components and pod harvest index.  Plant Breeding 136 (4): 548–561.  
Xue RF, Wu J, Chen J, Wu J, Ge W, Wang L, Wang S*, Blair MW* (2017)  Characterization and Hairy Root Transgene Expression of a Secretory Peroxidase (PvPOX1) from Common Bean Infected by Fusarium wilt.   Plant Science 260: 1-7.
Wu X, Blair MW* (2017)  Genotyping by Sequencing (GBS) Polymorphism Diversity in Grain Amaranths and Relatives.  Frontiers in Plant Science 8:1960;  doi: 10.3389/fpls.2017.01960
Wu X, Li N, Zhang XY, Hao JJ, Blair MW* (2017) Genetic diversity and population structure of global and Chinese Pisum core collections.  Crop Science, 57:1–11
Zhu J, Wu J, Wang L, Blair MW*, Wang SM* (2017) Novel Alleles for Black and Gray Seed Color Genes in Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)  Crop Science 2017 57:1603-1610 

2016
Blair MW*, Wu J, Wang SM (2016)  Editorial:  Food Legume Diversity and Legume Research Policies.  Crop Journal 4: 339 – 343.
Blair MW*, Wu X, Bhandari D, Zhang X, Hao J (2016) Role of legumes for and as horticultural crops in sustainable agriculture.  Chapter 9 (Ed.)  D. Nandwani Organic Farming for Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Development and Biodiversity Series No. 9, ISBN 978-3-319-26801-9 ISBN 978-3-319-26803-3 (eBook), DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-26803-3 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
Blair MW*, Wu X, Bhandari D, Astudillo C (2016) Inheritance of ICP-detected nutrient accumulation in the whole seed of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.).  Frontiers in Plant Science (Special Issue on Plant Nutrition) 7: 219.  Published online 2016 Mar 8. doi:  10.3389/fpls.2016.00219
Blair MW*, Lorigados Miranda S (2016) Diversity of common bean landraces, breeding lines and varieties from Cuba.  Crop Science 56:322-330
Darkwa K, Ambachew D, Mohammed H, Asfaw A, Blair MW* (2016) Evaluation of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genotypes for drought stress adaptation in Ethiopia. Crop Journal 4:367–376.
Fisseha Z, Tesfaye K, Dagne K, Blair MW, Harvey J, Kyallo M, Gepts P (2016) Genetic diversity and population structure of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) germplasm of Ethiopia as revealed by microsatellite markers.  African Journal of Biotechnology. Vol. 15(52), pp. 2824-2847.  DOI: 10.5897/AJB2016.15464
Mayor-Duran VM, Raatz B, Blair MW (2016) Developing drought tolerant common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) from inter genepool crosses with genotypes from different origins (Andean and Mesoamerican). Acta Agronomica 65(4): 1-15.
Parikh L, Mmbaga MT, Kodati S, Blair MW, Hui D, Meru G (2016) Broad-sense heritability and genetic gain for powdery mildew resistance in multiple pseudocross pseudo-F2 populations of flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida L.). Scientia Horticulturae 12/2016; 213. DOI:10.1016/j.scienta.2016.09.038
Zhu J, Wu J, Wang L, Blair MW, Zhu Z, Wang S  (2016) QTL Analysis and Gene Candidates for Common Bacterial Blight Resistance from a Chinese Common Bean, Longyundou 5. Crop Journal 4: 344 – 352.

2015
Ambachew D, Mekbib F, Asfaw A, Beebe SE Blair MW* (2015)  Trait relations in common bean genotypes grown under managed-stress for drought and field infestation of bean fly.  The Crop Journal 3: 305 – 316

2013
Blair MW* (2013) Breeding approaches to increasing nutrient use efficiency: Examples from Common Beans. In Z. Rengel (ed.) Improving Water- and Nutrient-Use Efficiency in Food Production Systems. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, Chp. 11.
Blair MW*, Cortés A, Penmetsa RV, Carrasquilla-Garcia N, Farmer A, Cook D (2013) Development of high throughput SNP markers for parental polymorphism screening and diversity analysis in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Theoretical Applied Genetics (in press)
Blair MW*, Díaz LM, Acosta Gallegos JA (2013) Diversity of the Mexican Core Collection of Common Bean Landraces. Crop Science (in press)
Blair MW*, Hurtado N, (2013) EST-SSR markers from five sequenced cDNA libraries in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) comparing three bioinformatic algorithms.   Molecular Ecology Resources 13: 688–695
Cortés AJ, Monserrate FA, Ramírez-Villegas J, Madriñán S, Blair MW* (2013) Drought Tolerance in Wild Plant Populations: The Case of Common Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). PLoS ONE 8(4): e62898
Garzón LN, Oliveros OO, Rosen B, Ligarreto GA, Cook DR, Blair MW* (2013) Isolation and characterization of NBS resistance gene homologues in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Phytopathology 103(2):156-68
Ramaekers L, Galeano CH, Garzón N, Vanderleyden J, Blair MW* (2013) Identifying quantitative trait loci for symbiotic nitrogen fixation capacity and related traits in common bean. Molecular Breeding 31:163–180
Sharma PN, Díaz LM, Blair MW (2013) Genetic diversity of Indian common beans elucidated with two germplasm collections and by morphological and microsatellite markers. Plant Genetic Resources 1–10

2012
Asfaw AA, Almekinders C, Blair MW, Struick PC (2012) Participatory approach in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) breeding for drought tolerance for Southern Ethiopia. Plant Breeding 131:125-134
Asfaw A, Blair MW* (2012) Quantitative trait loci for rooting pattern traits of common beans grown under drought stress versus non-stress conditions. Molecular Breeding 30 (2): 681-695
Asfaw A, Blair MW*, Struick P (2012) Multi-environment quantitative trait locus analyses for photosynthate acquisition, accumulation and remobilization traits in a common bean. G3: Genetics, Genomics and Genomes 2:579-595
Avila T, Blair MW*, Reyes X, Bertin P (2012) Genetic diversity of bean (Phaseolus) landraces and wild relatives from the primary centre of origin of the Southern Andes. Plant Genetic Resources: Characterization and Utilization 10:83-92
Blair MW*, Galeano CH, Tovar E, Muñoz-Torres MC, Velasco A, Beebe SE, Rao IM (2012) Development of a Mesoamerican intra-genepool genetic map for QTL detection in a drought tolerant x susceptible common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cross. Molecular Breeding 29:71–88
Blair MW*, Herrera AL, Sandoval TA, Caldas GV, Fileppi M, Sparvoli F (2012) Inheritance of seed phytate and phosphorus levels in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and association with newly-mapped candidate genes for the phytic acid pathway. Molecular Breeding 30: 1265-1277.
Blair MW*, Hurtado N, Sharma P (2012) Analysis and mapping of gene-derived simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Molecular Ecology Resources 12(4):661-668.
Blair MW*, Izquierdo P (2012) Use of the advanced backcross-QTL method to transfer seed mineral accumulation nutrition traits from wild to Andean cultivated common beans. Theoretical Applied Genetics
Blair MW*, Pantoja W, Muñoz LC (2012) First use of microsatellite markers in a large collection of cultivated and wild accessions of tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray). Theoretical Applied Genetics 125 (6):1137-1147
Blair MW*, Soler A, Cortés AJ (2012) Diversification and Population Structure in Common Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). PLOS One 7 (11) e49488.
Briñez B, Blair MW. Killian A, Chiorrato A, Carbonel S, Benchimol L (2012) Development of a DART platform for the evaluation of genetic diversity in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Molecular Breeding 30: 181-193
Checa OE, Blair MW* (2012) Inheritance of yield related traits in climbing beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L). Crop Science 52:1–16
Cortés AJ*, Chavarro M, Madriñan S, This D, Blair MW* (2012)Molecular ecology and selection of drought related Asr gene polymorphisms in wild and cultivated common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). BMC Genetics 13:58
Cortés AJ, This D, Chavarro MC, Madriñan S, Blair MW* (2012)Nucleotide diversity patterns at the drought related DREB encoding genes in wild and cultivated common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Theoretical Applied Genetics 125 (5): 1069-1085
Dwivedi SL, Sahrawat KL, Rai KN, Blair MW, Andersson M, Pfieffer W(2012) Nutritionally enhanced staple food crops. Plant Breeding Reviews 34: 169-262
Galeano CH*, Cortés AJ, Fernández AC, Soler A, Franco-Herrera N, Makunde G, Vanderleyden J*, Blair MW* (2012) Gene-based single nucleotide polymorphism markers for genetic and association mapping in common bean. BMC Genetics 13:
Blair MW*, Astudillo C, Rengifo J, Beebe SE, Graham R (2011) QTL for seed iron and zinc concentrations in a recombinant inbred line population of Andean common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Theoretical Applied Genetics 122:511-523

2011
Blair MW*, Díaz LM, Gil-Langarica H, Mayek Perez N, Acosta JA (2011) Genetic relatedness of Mexican common bean varieties revealed by microsatellite markers. Crop Science 51:2655–2667
Blair MW*, Fernandez AC, Ishitani M, Moreta D, Seki M, Ayling S, Shinosaki S (2011) Construction and EST sequencing of a full-length, drought stress cDNA library for the Andean common bean genotype G19833. BMC Plant Biology 11:171
Blair MW*, Fernandez AC, Pedraza F, Muñoz-Torres MC, Kapu Sella N, K Brown, Lynch JP   (2011) Parallel sequencing of ESTs from two cDNA libraries for high and low phosphorus adaptation in common beans. The Plant Genome 4(3):1-14
Blair MW*, Hurtado N, Chavarro MC, Muñoz Torres MC, Tomkins J, Wing R (2011) Gene-based SSR markers for common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) derived from root and leaf tissue ESTs: an integration of the BMc series. BMC Plant Biology 11:50
Cortés A, Chavarro C, Blair MW* (2011) SNP marker diversity in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Theoretical Applied Genetics 123: 827-845
Díaz LM, Buendía HF, Duque MC, Blair MW* (2011) Genetic diversity of Colombian landraces of common bean as detected through the use of silver-stained and fluorescently labeled microsatellites. Plant Genetic Resources: Characterization and Utilization 9(1); 86–96
Galeano CH*, Fernandez AC, Franco-Herrera N, Cichy KA, McClean PE, Vanderleyden J, Blair MW* (2011) Saturation of a unified intra- and inter-genepool common bean consensus linkage map in common bean for fine-mapping and synteny analysis. PLOSOne 6(12): e28135
Miklas PN, Fourie D, Trapp J, Larsen RC, Chavarro C, Blair MW, Gepts P (2011) Genetic Characterization and Molecular Mapping Pse-2 Gene for Resistance to Halo Blight in Common Bean. Crop Science 51:2439–2448
Soule M, Porter G, Medina J, Santana G, Blair MW, Miklas PN (2011) Comparative QTL Map for White Mold Resistance in Common Bean, and Characterization of Partial Resistance in Dry Bean Lines VA19 and I9365-31 Crop Science 51:123-139
Tako E, Blair MW, Glahn RP (2011) Biofortified red mottled beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in a maize and bean diet provide more bioavailable iron than standard red mottled beans: Studies in poultry (Gallus gallus) and an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 model. Nutrition Journal 10:113

Awards and Honors

Erasmus Fund (European Union) Fellowship for Visiting Scholars. France and Sweden 2012

CIAT’s list of most productive scientists for refereed publications: 1st place 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Bean Improvement Cooperative - Distinguished Achievement Award, 2007

Invited Speaker at Conferences: Bean Improvement Cooperative (USA) - BIC 2005, 2007; Congresso Nacional de Feijão (Brazil) - CONAFE 2008; Crop Science Society of America (USA) - CSSA, 2009; International Crop Legume Genetics and Genomics - ICLGG 2003, 2008, 2010; International Life Sciences Institute – ILSI (Colombia and USA) 2005,2006,2007, 2012; Plant and Animal Genome (USA) - PAG 2002, 2007

Invited Lectures; Cargill Series at Colorado State Univ. (Fort Collins, USA) 2009; Chinese Academy of Agri. Science (Beijing, China) 2008, 2009; Cornell Plant Breeding Seminar Series (Ithaca, USA) 2006; 2008; Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agrícola, Centro de Arroz e Feijão (EMBRAPA-CNPAF) (Goiânia, Brazil) 2004 and 2006.

Students - Where are they now?
      
       PhD Students
       MS Students
       BSc Honor Students      
       Fellowship Students

Education

PhD in Plant Breeding, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
MS in Agronomy, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, PR
BS in Agriculture, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Date joined staff:  June, 2013