New faces at the Department

Evagelia Daskalaki joined us on 4 April for a ten-week course in ''Practical Research Training''. She will study the role of a novel effector protein in Magnaporthe oryzae.

Eliverta Hotaj recently finished her MSc at the University of Pisa, and is here for an internship working together with Magnus, Mukesh and Vahideh. Her work involves isolation, identification and characterization of maize ear rot pathogens including Fusarium and Aspergillus.

Francesca Sasso is here to do her MSc-thesis project together with Mukesh and Magnus. She will focus on functional characterization of a transcription factor in the biocontrol fungus Clonostachys rosea, by creating gene deletion mutants and screening for phenotypic effects on biocontrol and plant growth promotion.

Thomas Scotti is currently doing his MSc in Montpellier and is here for a four-month internship. He will work with cereal cyst nematodes, specifically in oats, and PCR-based detection methods. He will work together with Magnus and Mukesh, and Zahra Omer and Sofia Dubusc from the Rural Economy and Agricultural Society.

Susmita Sigdel is an Erasmus exchange student from the University of Padua, Italy. Susmita will perform her Master degree project in the department with Magnus, Georgios and Mukesh on the topic “Investigating the role of CFEM domain proteins in mycoparasitic and beneficial-fungus plant interactions”. She is in the department until September 30.