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Christie Williams
Dr. Christie Williams of the Crop Production and Pest Control Research Unit in west Lafayette IN, traveled to Stockholm Sweden on April 22. The reason for the trip was to participate in a panel reviewing a research program for MISTRA, the Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research. The other three panel members were from Denmark and Finland. The program that was reviewed, PlantComMistra,is a large project focusing on plant communication and aphid control using a strategy that encompasses ecological, biochemical, breeding and molecular genetic research. During this review, the panel met with the core researchers, assessed their first two years of progress as well as the approach proposed for the next two years, and wrote a 15-page report. Although the review process was intense, the down-time was enjoyable as the Swedish hosts accompanied the panel members on a walking tour of downtown Stockholm and out for meals where traditional Swedish food was featured.
Steve Scofield
Purdue and USDA-Agricultural Research Service scientists have discovered that a type of gene in grain-producing plants halts infection by a disease-causing fungus that can destroy crops vital for human food supplies. The research team is the first to show that the same biochemical process protects an entire plant family - grasses - from the devastating, fungal pathogen. The naturally occurring disease resistance probably is responsible for the survival of grains and other grasses over the past 60 million years. More:http://news.uns.purdue.edu/hp/JohalGrassgene.html
Steve Goodwin
Dr. Stephen Goodwin will travel to Ede, the Netherlands during October
15-22. He will serve for two days on the Scientific Advisory Group for
the European project BioExploit. This will entail hearing summaries of
research conducted on wheat and potato diseases during the past year, and
will provide an excellent way to get caught up on the latest scientific
research in Europe. After the meetings, Dr. Goodwin will spend two days
visiting the lab of long-term collaborator Dr. Gert Kema at Plant Research
International in Wageningen (a ten-minute drive from Ede). The purpose
of that visit is to finish the draft of a manuscript on the genome sequence
of Mycosphaerella graminicola. Most of Dr. Goodwin???s travel expenses will
be paid by the BioExploit project so the cost to his CRIS project will
be minimal. Dr. Goodwin is a co-organizer of a Dothideomycetes Comparative
Genomics Jamboree to be held in Walnut Creek, CA, November 10-12. The purpose
of the workshop is to facilitate and perform comparative genomics analyses
of seven sequenced fungal genomes to better understand pathogenicity, evolution
and gene function. So far, it looks like at least 25 scientists from nine
countries will participate and a broad range of topics will be covered,
hopefully leading to one or more publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Stephen Goodwin will attend the celebrations of the 50th anniversary
of the All-Russian Research Institute of Phytopathology, Golytsino, Russia
(near Moscow), November 24-29. The trip also will satisfy an annual site
visit required as part of a collaborative research project funded by the
U.S. State Department (through ARS) and the International Science and Technology
Center. The event will be attended by at least nine ARS scientists and
employees who are part of the grant program. Hopefully we can have a Thanksgiving
abroad, as the meetings are the same week as our holiday, despite efforts
to get the Russians to change the date. Dr. Goodwin is interested in borrowing
any Russian language tapes you may have. All expenses for the trip will
be paid by the grant program, so there will be no cost to Dr. Goodwin???s
CRIS project.
ARS News Articles
| Strengthening Sorghum Against a Worldwide Fungal Threat |
| Feb 02, 2023 |
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| ARS, Collaborating Scientists Tackling "Tar Spot" Threat to U.S. Corn |
| Oct 25, 2021 |
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| Microbial Marauder of Potato, Tomato Crops Has an Accomplice |
| Nov 05, 2019 |
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| Grasses' Guardian Gene Found |
| Jan 29, 2008 |
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| Genes Foil Hessian Flies' Feeding on Wheat |
| Apr 05, 2007 |
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| Virulent Hessian Flies Renew Attack on U.S. Wheat |
| Jan 24, 2007 |
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| Silencing Wheat and Barley Scab |
| May 26, 2006 |
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