---
title: A UMD Researcher Puts the Squeeze on the Disease Ravaging Citrus Groves
date: 2026-11-13T05:30:00-05:00
author: Anne Krakower
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/a-umd-researcher-puts-the-squeeze-on-the-disease-ravaging-citrus-groves"
section: Articles
---
# A UMD Researcher Puts the Squeeze on the Disease Ravaging Citrus Groves

*November 13, 2026* — by [Maryland Today Staff](/author/maryland-today-staff)


> Citrus greening disease has no cure, so plant virologist Anne Simon takes aim at killing the bacteria infecting trees.

[Saving Citrus | Beyond the Field](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7cD3ruw0pw)



<span>A disease that decimated Florida’s orange and grapefruit industries is now spreading worldwide, and a University of Maryland plant virologist is racing against time to stop it.</span>

<span>Anne Simon, a professor of cell biology and molecular genetics and a renowned plant virologist, has developed a virus vector that, when it infects a citrus tree, kills the bacteria carried by insects that is responsible for citrus greening.</span>

<span>Simon and her brother launched the company Silvec Biologics to develop therapeutics, and field tests this year have shown that young orange trees injected with the otherwise-harmless virus advanced in Simon's lab have stayed healthy after one and a half years. </span>

<span>Her work is the subject of the 2026 “Beyond the Field” video, a partnership with Maryland Athletics that celebrates how UMD researchers are tackling the grand challenges of our time. </span>




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics](https://today.umd.edu/topic/cell-biology-and-molecular-genetics), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-computer-mathematical-and-natural-sciences)