Li Yang

Dr. Li Yang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences. Their research focuses on molecular mechanisms of plant immunity, plant growth-defense crosstalk, and plant disease management tools.

• Education: PhD in Genetics (University of Pennsylvania, 2011), MPhil in Plant Biology (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2005), BA in Biotechnology (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2002)

Research interests span plant immunity regulation, stress-induced developmental changes, and microbial interactions. Key projects include salicylic acid signaling in regeneration suppression, calcite-dissolving bacteria for soil calcium mobilization, and age-dependent resistance mechanisms. Current work explores proteomic aspects of pattern-triggered immunity and spatial regulation of defense responses.

The Yang Lab recently published 7 articles in 2024-2025 covering topics from evaporative cooling signals to wound healing and proteomic landscapes of immunity. Their 2023 publications focused on developmental-immunity tradeoffs, while 2022 work included novel cultivation systems for peanut pod studies.

• Scientific Awards
  • Graduate School Summer Research Grant (awarded to Carter)
  • 2nd place in Cleantech Symposium poster competition (Alan Peper)
  • 2nd/3rd places at Plant Center Spring Symposium (Joseph Balem, Mariah Lee Arnold)

Dr. Yang supervises an active research group with notable advisees including Alan Peper (published on bacterial communities), Sorrel Tran (root regeneration research), Lanxi Hu (age-related resistance), and postdoc Feng Kong (plant development-defense interplay).