Michelle Heck

The Heck Lab is moving south in 2026! I’m honored to be joining Virginia Tech as Director of the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, where I will also have a faculty appointment. 🌱🧬👩‍🔬 I am grateful for my nearly 20 years of public service with USDA–ARS at Cornell & Boyce Thompson Institute, which shaped my commitment to collaborative research and solutions-driven science. Stay tuned for job announcements & Heck lab updates! news.vt.edu/articles/2025/12…

Pre-print for our #GroveFirst framework to find solutions for #citrus greening #HLB is live! In this work, we leveraged the grower's willingness to treat individual trees using direct injection to screen for new therapies that provide a boost to tree health & yield. Amazingly, the screen worked as intended and enabled us to advance 13 possible treatments into Phase 2 trials. The Grove-First framework engages growers as collaborators & subject matter experts. The concept can be applied broadly to find new treatments for diseases where the growers have few or no management options. This project was a true team effort & we are just getting started!

Good morning! Do you have a therapy that might work to solve #HLB but no means to test it in the field? Good news! We can test it for you at the new home to the Grove-First project! More details on the project soon to come! Email me for details!

Hello everyone, Nice to meet you! My name is Dr. Michelle Heck and this is the official X account page for my research program. I serve as a Lead Scientist and Research Molecular Biologist with the USDA ARS Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research Unit in Ithaca, NY. I have joint appointments as an adjunct professor in the Plant Pathology and Plant Microbe Biology Section @Cornell University and as an adjunct scientist at the @BTIscience Boyce Thompson Institute. I maintain productive, integral partnerships at @UFIFAS_IRREC University of Florida. Heck lab members work in Ithaca, NY and Fort Pierce, FL. Follow this page for the latest updates on citrus greening disease, cotton leafroll dwarf virus, potato leafroll virus and much more.

The @USDA Grove-First project tests injectable therapies directly in the field. These are results from Phase 1 harvest last weekend. OTC is what is available to growers now. Fruit from M36-treated trees have 3-4 points higher Brix. M36 will advance into a Phase 2 trial this year.

Lastly, if you have a bump in the road in your career, don't let it derail you. I almost did & I'm grateful to the members of my group who have been 110% behind me & our lab's mission. We are here for the science & in it to help our farmers. Our new lab logo, by @stephpreising

As 2019 ends, the Heck Lab thanks @BTIscience, @CornellCALS, @USDA_ARS, our collaborators and families for supporting our mission. Working for our farmers and training the next gen of scientists in 2020 and beyond. "You & me together, we can do anything." youtu.be/kD9CrZODlNA

It all starts by learning how to hold a bow - super lucky fourth graders. Timeless - Live (With Special Guests The Calder Quartet) youtu.be/RFrdsrLGA30 via @YouTube

Mom of twins here. I couldn't tell you, but your post tugged at my heart strings. Those years were a total blur. Lack of sleep. Juggling postdoc responsibilities. Divorce. Life. Mine are 10.5 now. Time goes by quickly so it doesn't really matter. Enjoy these days.

Fascinating session this morning on variability in research. @UnderGardener1 says "The universe would be a cold, dead place without variance!" Variation in citrus greening disease biology is found everywhere we look. A strategy of the pathogen, perhaps? #PlantHealth2019