News
Soybean production in Iowa has continued to be profitable despite SCN because of SCN-resistant soybean varieties. Good SCN-resistant varieties produce profitable soybean yields in SCN-infested fields in any type of weather and keep SCN numbers from increasing during the growing season.
Dr. Alison Robertson was recently featured on KCCI 8 (Des Moines, IA) talking about a new corn disease in Iowa. Visit KCCI's website for their video edition.
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has record enrollment for the fourth straight year. This year the Microbiology Undergraduate major is one of the Top 10 CALS College Majors with 126 students!
Visit the Microbiology undergraduate program website for more information.
Axel Elling was the featured speaker at the 13th Annual Iowa State University Plant Pathology and Microbiology Retreat held on August 28 at McFarland Park near Ames, Iowa. The title of Axel’s presentation was “There and Back Again: A Nematologist’s Tale”.
AMES, Iowa — Bayer CropScience has become an industry partner of the Iowa Soybean Research Center at Iowa State University.
Farmers Struggle With Blight
This year, Iowa corn farmers are facing a threat that may cost them a chunk of their yields and could translate to higher prices at the grocery store.
Although it is not as scary as it sounds, northern corn blight does do what it says, blighting unsuspecting corn before it can so much as blink, killing the leaves and leaving the corn stunted.
The Plant & Insect Diagnostic Clinic was recently featured on the Des Moines NBC Station 10 O'clock News, WHO channel 13! Check out Central Iowa's newest television stars at WHOtv.com
Lisa enjoyed life to the fullest and excelled at helping others. She was a tireless champion for phytosanitary issues relating to seed health and was highly regarded by seed industry colleagues from around the world for her expertise in seed-borne diseases and plant pathology. Lisa possessed natural leadership ability and an infectious enthusiasm that benefited both Iowa State University and the seed industry.
Dr. Sally Mallowa, who recently completed her PhD in the department studying with Dr. Alison Robertson, was recently involved in an effort to develop a teaching tool and extension workshop in Kenya and Uganda this summer. The team came from five different institutions, and was funded by a Global Experience Award from the APS Office of International Programs. The teaching component focused on developing a case study resource for learning about cassava brown streak virus disease (CBSD).
Greg Tylka, plant pathology and microbiology, has been named a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society. The honor will be presented at the APS annual meeting in Pasadena in August. Thomas Baum, chair plant pathology and microbiology, has been named a Fellow of the Society of Nematologists. The honor will be presented at the SON annual meeting in East Lansing in July.
Thomas Baum, chair of the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, is this year’s recipient of the Noel T. Keen Award for Research Excellence in Molecular Plant Pathology from the American Phytopathological Society. The award recognizes scientists who have made outstanding contributions and demonstrated sustained excellence and leadership in research. Baum was cited for pioneering contributions that have greatly advanced the understanding and knowledge of the molecular interactions of nematodes with host plants.
Sally Mallowa is a final year PhD candidate in Alison Robertson’s Lab. She is the 2015 recipient of the APS – Office of International programs, Global Experience Award in the amount of $4,000, in support of her multi-national extension and teaching proposal
Daren Mueller and Leonor Leandro, PLPM faculty, are principal investigators for a regional research project to identify farm management practices that help reduce Sudden Death Syndrome in soybeans. More information.
Tarek Hewezi, Thomas Baum, Parajit Juvale and Tom Maier publish on their work investigating how cyst nematodes get plants to produce feeding sites for them. A link to the abstract: http://www.plantcell.org/content/early/2015/02/24/tpc.114.135327.abstrac...
Q & A with Plant Pathology and Microbiology Alumna Dr. Jacquelyn Jackson (PhD, Genetics, 2008), Research Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Tuskegee University, AL on her work with disease resistance genes in sweet potato.
Article: http://www.cals.iastate.edu/features/2015/qa-jacquelyn-jackson-tuskegee-university
Plant Pathology & Microbiology faculty members W. Allen Miller and Steve Whitham were named Plant Sciences Institute Faculty Scholars.
Aurelie Rakotondrafara, faculty member at University of Wisconsin and an ISU alumna, wins the co-winner of the innovation of the year awarded by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
The Baum lab recently hosted a meeting with research groups from several universities throughout the United States. Our collaborative groups hold these meetings annually to discuss recent advances in the field of molecular plant-parasitic nematology. Our groups work closely with one another, and meetings like these allow our groups to work more efficiently by bringing the researchers conducting the work together for productive discussions of progress being made in each lab, trouble-shooting and long-range planning. The next meeting is scheduled for 2015 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Microbiology 302L students taught by Claudia Lemper were part of a world-wide crowdsourcing project coordinated by Yale University. The students searched the soil from the ISU campus for antimicrobial producing organisms and identified them using microbiological tests and 16s rRNA sequencing. The antimicrobial compounds were tested to determine which pathogenic organisms they might be effective agains.
ISU researchers are developing a new facility that will use a specially designed robot to gather unprecedented amounts of data on the growth of plants under different environmental conditions. Steven Whitham, plant pathology and microbiology, is the primary investigator. Stephen Howell, genetics, development and cell biology, and Lie Tang, agricultural and biosystems engineering, are collaborating.
XB Yang was invited by Brazilian Phytopathological Society to address at the opening session of their 47th Congress which was held in August 16-21 in Londrina, Brazil. Title of his talk was "Future Impact of a globalized economy on Plant Pathology in North and South America". Dr. Yang also gave a plenary speech at opening session of 10th International Congress of Plant Pathology last year, in which he addressed how globalized economy would shape our profession for countries with different levels of economic development.
Gwyn Beattie recently fielded questions about research involving new microbials that improve crop yields. In test plots, these microbials increased crop yields by as much as 10 percent. The research is part of a collaboration between Monsanto and Novozymes called the BioAg Alliance, which aims to increase crop production while improving resource management. Read more at The Gazette's website.
A group of 24 ISU students are participating in a research initiative focused on the issue of antibiotic resistance. The Small World Initiative, which includes 64 other universities from around the globe, is sponsored by the Yale University Center for Scientific Teaching. Claudia Lemper, faculty lecturer in the ISU microbiology program, said the initiative is also an attempt to get students involved in their own research. Read more at the Ames Tribune.
ISU researchers have designed a hail simulation machine to study the effects of fungicide on hail-damaged crops. Adam Sisson, extension program specialist, and Daren Mueller, plant pathology and microbiology, discuss the study in a News Service video.
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