The stockinger lab has two major research interests and focus areas. One is the mechanistic understanding of freezing tolerance and winter hardiness in the Triticeae cereals at the gene and gene regulatory level. The second is the development of winter malting barley adapted to Ohio and the neighboring Great Lake and Midwest state regions. The latter project grew out of the longstanding research interest in the genetics of winter-hardiness in the cereal grain crops wheat, barley, and rye. The breeding project is now a major focus of the lab and has resulted in the lab transitioning to a full-fledged winter malting barley breeding program.