Professor

Focus

Research

The overall goal of our research is to help understand how specific signaling pathways are induced during host-pathogen interaction, how these pathways communicate with each other and the molecular, genetic and biochemical mechanisms underlying such regulations. We are using Arabidopsis as a model plant system and are studying its interaction with bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae, viral pathogen turnip crinkle virus (TCV) and fungal pathogens Colletotrichum higginsianum and Botrytis cinerea. With regards to signaling mechanisms our main interest is to decipher the role of fatty acid, lipid and cuticular pathways in local and systemic acquired resistance, to characterize resistance (R) protein-mediated signaling and to understand interaction between light and defense signaling.

Teaching

• PPA 500: Physiology of Plant Health and Disease
• PPA 673: Advanced Plant Disease Resistance

Employment Highlights

• Professor, University of Kentucky, 2013-present
• Associate Professor, University of Kentucky, 2007-2013
• Assistant Professor, University of Kentucky, 2002-2007
• Senior Research Associate, Boyce-Thompson Institute, Cornell University, 2000-2003

Awards

• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science 
• Thomas Poe Cooper Award for Agriculture Research- University of Kentucky 
• Noel T. Keen award for research excellence in molecular plant pathology – American Phytopathological Society 

Professional Affiliations

• American Association for Advancement of Science
• American Society of Plant Biologists
• American Phytopathological Society
• International Society of Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions