I am interested in fungal pathogens of indigenous trees. It is an established fact that tree pathogens are fundamental components of forest ecosystems around the world and have great potential in altering forests in many ways.

I am working as guest PhD student with Professor Jan Stenlid and with my supervisor Ethiopia Dr.Dawit Abate on the thesis topic entilled as  “Some fungal pathogens of Podocarpus falcatus, Juniperus procera and Olea europeae subspecies cuspidata in Ethiopian forests. The overall purpose of this study is to characterize and identify the Ethiopian isolates/specimens of pathogenic species of fungi by using morphological and molecular methods and  also to study the phylogenetic relationships between the Ethiopian isolates. In addition we are studying about the incidence and severity of the disease in forest disturbed by anthropogenic factors against areas which have fewer disturbances. We give due emphasis to fungi less studied fungi such as Pyrofomes demidoffii, and Corynelia uberata which are heavily devastating Juniperus procera and seeds of Podocarpus falcatus, respectively.