August 2025: Martins Lab publication “The use of synthetic microbial communities to improve plant health” has been recognized as a Highly Cited Paper by Clarivate for ranking in the top 1% by citation count for its field and publication year!
Collapsible text for fig. 1: The figure shows three tomato plants in the left column. The top plant illustrates dysbiosis in diseased tomatoes. The middle plant shows changes in root exudation, representing a chemical “cry for help.” The bottom plant shows recovery to a healthy state due to the recruitment of beneficial soil microbes. This shift to eubiosis is associated with soil microbiome abundance and connectivity within phytobiome networks. These complex networks influence plant phenotypes and microbial traits. Application of synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) can enhance plant immune system priming (ISP), microbe-triggered immunity (MTI), microbial volatile organic compound (mVOC) production, secondary metabolite release, and biofilm formation.
August 2025: Samuel Martins earned the 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award; the top teaching honor by the American Phytopathological Society (APS).
August 2025: Congratulations to
Roshni Panwala for earning the
Storkan-Hanes-McCaslin Research Foundation at the 2025 APS Plant Health meeting for her research in soil disease!
Collapsible text for fig. 3: Picture of Dr. Martins and Roshni
June 2025: Samuel Martins earned the UF’s 2025 Excellence Award for Assistant Professors in his college and at the University level!
This prestigious university-wide award recognizes the top Assistant Professors at UF for their outstanding research and impact.
Collapsible text for fig. 4: Picture of Dr. Martins and Dr. Jarquin who both win the 2025 UF's excellence award for Assistant professors.
May 2025: Congratulations to
Sameerika Mudiyanselage and
Toi Ketehouli winning the
1st and 2nd places in the poster student competition at the 2025 Florida Phytopathological Society Meeting!
Collapsible text for fig. 5: Left: Picture of Dr. Martins, Samee and the judge. Right: Picture of Dr. Martins, Toi and the judge.
April 2025: Samuel Martins receives the
2024 Large Grant Leadership Award
from UF/IFAS Research.
Collapsible text for fig. 6: Picture of 4 people including Dr. Martins, Dr. Paret, and another award recipient standing in front of Fifield Hall entrance.
February 2025: Congratulations to Toi Ketehouli for passing the qualification exam!
Toi is now a Ph.D. candidate!
Collapsible text for fig. 7: Head shot of Toi.
November 2024: Congratulations to Roshni Panwala for passing the qualification exam!
Roshni Panwala is now a Ph.D. candidate!
Collapsible text for fig. 8: Head shot of Roshni.
Fall 2024: Discovering new talents in Martins’ lab members with a night of bowling!
What a blast!
From left to right: Toi, Mason, Samuel, Olivia, Jessica, Sammerika, Roshni Sawlani.
Collapsible text for fig. 9: Seven members of Dr. Martins’ lab playing bowling together.
May 2024: A BIG congrats to Roshni Panwala for receiving the 1st place oral presentations award at the UF Plant Pathology Symposium 2024.
Collapsible text for fig. 10: Picture of Roshni holding the award certificate.
August 2023: A big congrats to Josie Pasche for receiving the Luis Sequeira AND the Agricultural Microbiomes Thinkathon Travel Awards to attend the American Phytopathological Society (APS) meeting #PlantHealth2023.
Josie (in the brown shirt) presented her poster on Cultivating Success: How Soil Management Practices Affect Bacterial Assemblages and Reduce M. enterolobii infections.
Collapsible text for fig. 11: Picture of Josie explaining her poster to the audiences.
Fall 2024
Martins’ Lab and collaborators are awarded a $3.5 million grant from the USDA OREI program
This project led by Samuel Martins will sample soil at 12 organic tomato farms in California, Connecticut, Florida, and Pennsylvania to investigate the impact of different organic amendments on micro-predator diversity.
Collapsible text for fig. 12: A slide showing a seedling holding by hands in the middle, and connected to four factors: organic compounds, soil properties, micro-predator dynamics, and prey dynamics. Through multi-omic approach.
Martins' Lab members (Josie, Hiago, Toi, and Samuel) presented a day-long workshop about plant diseases for teachers from Title I schools in Florida
Collapsible text for fig. 13: Four photos from the “Plants Get Sick Too” workshop showing presentations and hands-on demonstrations.
Summer 2024: Congratulations Toi Ketehouli for being selected to receive the American Phytopathological Society (APS) Student Travel Award to attend and present at the national Plant Health conference in Memphis, TN #PlantHealth2024.
Celebrating with the team, from left to right: Mason, Victor, Josie, Toi, Samuel, Roshni
Collapsible text for fig. 14: Six members of Dr. Martins’ lab playing billiards together.
Martins’ Lab and collaborators are awarded a $3.5 million grant from the USDA SCRI program
Nov. 2023
In collaboration with researchers from Penn State University, Lehigh University, and University of Delaware the grant will support work on white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) health. Martins lab's research will focus on identifying the bacterial strains causing blotch on white button mushrooms as well as finding ways to sustainably manage the disease.
Collapsible text for fig. 15: A white mushroom in the left. Seven objectives to the right: Virus, mushroom flies, bacterial blotch, post-crop steaming, bio-pesticide screening, Cropsmarts App, and economics & Extension to the stakeholders.
Spring 2023: Tasting some delicious African food in celebration of Toi Ketehouli earning the Grinter Fellowship 2022-2023. Congratulations, Toi!
From left to right: Erica, Kayleigh, Kyle, Josie, Toi, Hiago, Roshni, Carrie, Samuel
Collapsible text for fig. 15: Seven lab members having lunch with Dr. Martins and his wife.
Fall 2023: Josie (left) and Hiago (right) showing off their Phytopathology mugs and celebrating their new publication:
The Use of Synthetic Microbial Communities (SynComs) to Improve Plant Health.
Collapsible text for fig. 16: Picture of Josie and Hiago showing off their phytopathology mugs
Spring 2023: Martins (bottom right and left) and his collaborators Emerson from UC Davis (left) and Bull from Penn State (right) presented on soil micro-predators at EcoFarm 2023 meeting in California and at the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture 2023 meeting.
Collapsible text for fig. 17: Pictures of Dr. Martins and his collaborators presenting their work in conferences.
Martins' Lab paper on Predators of Soil Bacteria in Plant and Human Health entered the list of Most Read in Phytobiomes Journal.
Collapsible text for fig. 18: A paper authored by Dr. Martins ranked as the most-read article in Phytobiomes journal.