Faculty engage in collaborative research efforts with other departments, institutes, colleges, universities, and nations and provide leadership in interdisciplinary research and education through intercollegiate programs.
Our lab applies a variety of techniques, including high-throughput sequencing approaches, to understand how the manipulation of environmental microbiomes affects soil function and plant growth.
The focus of our research is Translational Taxonomy of Bacterial Plant Pathogens. We use taxonomic inquiry to develop management strategies for bacterial diseases of plants and cultivated mushrooms. Management strategies include biological control, host plant resistance, inoculum detection and management, and changes crop production practices (e.g., crop rotation).
We study the most effective delivery methods to help our learners understand plant pathology, environmental microbiology, and mushroom taxonomy and production while applying these understandings to yield better crop outcomes
Our goal is to understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of plant pathogens and pests that reduce productivity of agricultural systems. We strive to achieve this goal through teaching, research and extension activities.
Our research focuses on understanding soilborne plant disease dynamics in managed (agricultural) and natural systems (forests, dunes). We investigate the functional mechanisms that shape root and soil microbiomes in response to disease and environmental stress at different spatial and temporal scales.
Welcome to the Plant Disease Epidemiology and Field Crop Plant Pathology Program at Penn State University!
The Gorgo Applied Research and Extension Lab works closely with research faculty, graduate students, extension specialists and county-based educators to develop outreach programs, design and publish extensive grower education materials for several agricultural industries on pest management information, IPM solutions, as well as pesticide and farm safety education in both urban and agricultural settings.
The goal of our adaptive research and extension program is to develop integrated management strategies for important and emerging diseases of the major vegetable crops grown in Pennsylvania.
My research program focuses on how organismal and molecular interactions affect the ecology and evolution of plant-associated microorganisms. I utilize bacteriocin-mediated interactions within the important plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae as my model system.
In my program we study the population-level processes that lead to the evolution of plant pathogenicity, virulence, and the emergence of fungicide and antibiotic resistance in microbial populations. We use molecular tools to study these processes within a population biology approach that connects population genetics and epidemiology.
The goal of the Plant-Parasitic Nematodes Lab is to apply an integrated approach to the identification and classification of plant-parasitic nematodes of importance to Pennsylvania crops.
The Kuldau lab merges lab, chamber, and field studies using observational, molecular, and chromatographic methods to research mycotoxin problems in food and forage.
Roman-Reyna lab develops and uses next-generation approaches to Plant Health in the context of Climate Change. The lab focuses on using modern technologies to understand the adaptation of plant diseases in the context of changing environments.
The Roossinck lab has long been fascinated by the evolution and ecology of RNA viruses. Using Cucumber mosaic virus as a model system for experimental evolution, we have studied various aspects of virus evolution including population structures, bottlenecks during systemic infection and transmission, and recombination frequencies. We have also studied the biodiversity of viruses in wild plants, and this research led to the realization that although almost all of the well-characterized plant viruses have an acute lifestyle, persistent viruses are more common and found in many plants, including many crop plants.
In our program we employ a variety of techniques to understand the fundamentals of plant virology and to predict changes in disease dynamics under the pressure of climate change and globalization.
