Carolina Ballen-Taborda

Postdoctoral Fellow
Plant and Environmental Sciences Department

Office: 105 Collings St, BRC Lab 113, Clemson, SC 29634
Phone:

Email: acballe@clemson.edu

Educational Background

Ph.D. Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
University of Georgia 2019

B.S. Biology
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana 2009

Profile

Her research interests have been the development, implementation and promotion of advanced breeding, genetics and genomics tools and methods, exploration for genetic diversity, and leveraging large genomic and phenotypic data to discover and deploy new genes to improve crops. This to protect crops from devastating diseases and pests, with enhanced adaptation to changing environmental conditions and improved nutritional quality. Her objective is to keep supporting the improvement of crops, to contribute to global food security and to sustainably increase crop production. I look forward to the opportunities and challenges ahead of me as a researcher in the agricultural sector.

Research Interests

Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics.
Data analysis.

Publications

Barnes EC, Leal-Bertioli SCM, Ballén-Taborda C, Timper P, Abernathy B, Brown N, Brenneman TB, Bertioli DJ (2025) Elite agronomic performance in cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea) with strong resistance to root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne spp.) introgressed from Arachis stenosperma. Crop Science 65:e70096

CSA News (2024) Leveraging Genomics to Identify Promising Crosses for Superior Wheat Lines. CSA News 69:21-21. https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ftr/10.1002/csan.21393.

Ballén-Taborda C, Lyerly J, Smith J, Howell K, Brown-Guedira G, DeWitt N, Ward B, Babar MA, Harrison SA, Mason RE, Mergoum M, Murphy JP, Sutton R, Griffey CA, Boyles RE (2024) Predicting superior crosses in winter wheat using genomics: A retrospective study to assess accuracy. Crop Science 1:17

Ballén-Taborda C, Maharjan N, Hopkins M, Guimarães, LA, Lindsey D, Bertioli D, Leal-Bertioli SCM (2023) A study of pod constriction in a peanut population with mixed wild and cultivated genetics. Crop Science.

Roychowdhury R, Ballén-Taborda C, Chaturvedi P (2023) Editorial: Characterizing and improving traits for resilient crop development. Frontiers in Plant Science 14

Kumar N, Boatwright JL, Sapkota S, Brenton ZW, Ballén-Taborda C, Myers MT, Cox WA, Jordan KE, Kresovich S, Boyles RE (2023) Discovering useful genetic variation in the seed parent gene pool for sorghum improvement. Frontiers in Genetics 14

Kumar N, Boatwright JL, Brenton ZW, Sapkota S, Ballén-Taborda C, Myers MT, Cox A, Jordan K, Kresovich S, Boyles RE (2023) Development and characterization of a structured sorghum multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population for capturing diversity among seed parent gene pool. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics

Ballén-Taborda C, Lyerly J, Smith J, Howell K, Brown-Guedira G, Babar MdA, Harrison SA, Mason RE, Mergoum M, Murphy JP, Sutton R, Griffey CA, Boyles ER (2022) Utilizing genomics and historical data to optimize gene pools for new breeding programs: A case study in winter wheat. Frontiers in Genetics 13

Essandoh DA, Odong T, Okello DK, Fonceka D, Nguepjop J, Sambou A, Ballén-Taborda C, Chavarro C, Bertioli DJ, Leal-Bertioli SCM (2022) Quantitative Trait Analysis Shows the Potential for Alleles from the Wild Species Arachis batizocoi and A. duranensis to Improve Groundnut Disease Resistance and Yield in East Africa. Agronomy 12:2202

Ballén-Taborda C, Chu Y, Ozias-Akins P, Holbrook CC, Timper P, Jackson SA, Bertioli DJ, Leal-Bertioli SCM (2022) Development and genetic characterization of peanut advanced backcross lines that incorporate root-knot nematode resistance from Arachis stenosperma. Frontiers in Plant Science 12

Korani W, O’Connor D, Chu Y, Chavarro C, Ballen C, Guo B, Ozias-Akins P, Wright GC, Clevenger J (2021) De novo QTL-seq Identifies Loci Linked to Blanchability in Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) and Refines Previously Identified QTL with Low Coverage Sequence. Agronomy 11:2201

Bertioli DJ, Clevenger J, Godoy IJ, Stalker HT, Wood S, Santos JF, Ballén-Taborda C, Abernathy B, Azevedo V, Campbell J, Chavarro C, Chu Y, Farmer AD, Fonceka D, Gao D, Grimwood J, Halpin N, Korani W, Michelotto MD, Ozias-Akins P, Vaughn J, Youngblood R, Moretzsohn MC, Wright GC, Jackson SA, Cannon SB, Scheffler BE, Leal-Bertioli SCM (2021) Legacy genetics of Arachis cardenasii in the peanut crop shows the profound benefits of international seed exchange. PNAS 118:e2104899118

Korani W, O’Connor D, Chu Y, Chavarro C, Ballen C, Ozias-Akins P, Wright GC, Clevenger J (2021) Accurate analysis of short read sequencing in complex genomes: A case study using QTL-seq to target blanchability in peanut (Arachis hypogaea). bioRxiv:2021.2003.2013.435236

de Blas FJ, Bruno CI, Arias RS, Ballén-Taborda C, Mamani E, Oddino C, Rosso M, Costero BP, Bressano M, Soave JH, Soave SJ, Buteler MI, Seijo JG, Massa AN (2021) Genetic mapping and QTL analysis for peanut smut resistance. BMC plant biology 21:312

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