People Type: Committee

Understanding how beneficial associations between plants and microbes develop is an important biological question that is particularly relevant in modern agriculture and economy. Our goal is to use microbes better to maintain the sustainability of our agriculture by protecting the environment over the long term and reducing costs for food, feed and biofuel production.

Biography Fungi are the primary agents of plant disease and mutualism, thus representing both threats and opportunities for grower incomes and global food security. Yet mitigating the harm of pathogens and maximizing the benefit of mutualists is challenging because many of the mechanisms underlying fungal evolution are poorly understood. Our goal is to investigate the …

Biography My research focus lies in genetically dissecting those aspects of Aspergillus spp. that render them potent pathogens and superb natural product machines. We are interested in elucidating the mechanism of fungal sporulation and host/pathogen interactions; processes intimately linked to secondary metabolite (e.g. mycotoxin) production. My tactic has been to use the genetic modelAspergillus nidulans …