Similar to animals, plants are targeted by a variety of pathogenic organisms. Unlike animals however, fungal infections are the most damaging and contain the must numerous pathogenic species. In addition to fungal infections, plants also suffer extensively from bacteria, viruses, and nematodes. A better understanding of the life cycles, infection cycles, and survival structures of all of these organisms will help promote safe handling, research, and disposal of these highly destructive pathogens.
My educational background is in molecular genetics and developmental biology. Model systems I have worked on are: fruit flies, brown algal zygotes, flowering plants, and bacteria/phage. At Iowa State University I teach plant pathology and microbiology courses. My current research involves finding viruses (phage) from soil and water samples which can specifically target and kill plant pathogenic bacteria with a goal towards developing novel bio-controls to combat post-harvest soft rots.
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