RESEARCH PROJECTS

My research focuses on the role of biotic and abiotic parameters on the distribution, the emergence and the severity of plant Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs). My research spans multiple disciplines including disease ecology and plant pathology and is based on field and experimental approaches. My activities include the implementation of necessary tools to study complex ecological interactions, and aims at producing fundamental knowledge while contributing to the development of field applications through the transfer to and collaboration with field partners.
The overall goal of my main research projects is to contribute to design better management and surveillance strategies of plant EIDs. I base my research on various model systems corresponding to two identically named diseases, i.e. bacterial canker, caused by several strains from the Pseudomonas syringae complex on perennial fruit trees (e.g. kiwifruit and apricot) and by Clavibacter michiganensis susbp. michiganensis (Cmm) strains in tomato crops.

The specific questions I ask range over multiple scales:

I) Improving the diagnosis of crop health and the study of factors that drive disease severity under conditions of multiple biotic and abiotic stresses from individual hosts to landscape scales

II) Producing a better understanding of the role of wild hosts within agriculture (i.e. orchard ground covers) as potential reservoirs of pathogens

Ground cover in between tree rows in a kiwifruit orchard

III) Analyzing the structure and diversity of plant micro-organism populations in various substrates and contexts (e.g. plant samples in orchards, water that supports microbial dissemination in a river basin)

IV) Designing innovative and field-friendly tools for in situ detection of pathogens to be used as part of integrated pest management strategies.