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SUMMARY:Kara Lanning (student invited speaker\, Pacific University\, Oregon)
DESCRIPTION:Plant Pathology in Context: Teaching\, Research\, and Community Engagement at a Small Liberal Arts Institution.\nAbout the Presenter\nDr. Kara Lanning is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at Pacific University (Forest Grove\, Oregon\, USA)\, where she teaches courses in plant science\, and sustainability science. Her current research focuses on plant pathogens\, particularly Phytophthora species\, and their potential ecological impacts in the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Lanning mentors undergraduate students in field-based research\, fostering their engagement in high-impact learning experiences that integrate scientific inquiry with community-based environmental stewardship. \nDr. Lanning is dedicated to advancing undergraduate research opportunities\, helping students develop critical thinking skills while contributing to meaningful scientific work. Her research also emphasizes the importance of community engagement\, as she collaborates with local organizations to promote environmental conservation\, inform sustainable practices\, and provide place-based ecological information for strategic and informed decision making. Dr. Lanning’s work reflects her commitment to environmental stewardship\, particularly through efforts that bridge academic research with real-world applications in ecosystem management and pathogen prevention. \nAs an educator\, Dr. Lanning employs innovative teaching strategies to empower students\, cultivating both their academic growth and their role as informed citizens in addressing environmental challenges. \nAbstract\nThis seminar traces my professional experiences as a doctoral student at Washington State University (Ph.D Horticulture) to my current role as Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at a small liberal arts institution. I will reflect on how my disciplinary background in Horticulture and Plant Pathology is highly integrated in my present work in sustainability-focused teaching and research programs\, and how the demands of working at a teaching-focused institution has reshaped my professional identity and definitions of scholarly impact. \nA central theme of the seminar is how teaching and curriculum development differ in undergraduate versus graduate-centered contexts. While graduate education often assumes disciplinary fluency and high levels of independence\, undergraduate-focused teaching requires intentional scaffolding of research skills\, explicit cultivation of scientific identity\, and structured opportunities for experiential learning. I will share examples of pedagogical strategies I use in ENV 410: Plant Pathology that maintain disciplinary rigor and provide a strong grounding in foundational concepts. I have found that these approaches have broadened access to the field\, allow for systems thinking integration\, and highly engage students in a field that is typically offered at R1 institutions. \nFinally\, I will discuss both the challenges and the rewards of conducting research in an undergraduate-focused laboratory\, and how disciplinary expertise in Plant Pathology can translate into community-engaged scholarship and transformative student research experiences. I will describe my approach to designing field-based surveys of local plant pathogen communities that center student development alongside knowledge generation. This model requires rethinking traditional metrics of productivity\, mentorship\, and impact. \nZoom Recording\n 
URL:https://plantpath.wsu.edu/event/kara-lanning-student-invited-speaker-pacific-university-oregon/
LOCATION:Clark 151\, Pullman\, WA
CATEGORIES:2026 Spring Semester
ORGANIZER;CN="Melissa%20Bills":MAILTO:melissa.bills@wsu.edu
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260427T161000
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DTSTAMP:20260626T184159
CREATED:20260127T232350Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260528T154311Z
UID:3734-1777306200-1777309200@plantpath.wsu.edu
SUMMARY:Oleksandra Shabliy
DESCRIPTION:Title: Strategies to Improve Resistance to Wheat Powdery Mildew\nZoom Recording \n \nAbout Oleksandra\nOleksandra is a Master’s student in the Department of Plant Pathology. Originally from Kyiv\, Ukraine\, she earned her B.S. in Biotechnology and Bioengineering from the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.” Her undergraduate work focused on industrial biotechnology and the development of microbial production processes for pharmaceutical compounds. Oleksandra previously worked at the Institute of Microbiology and Virology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine\, where she was involved in research related to microbial biodegradation and bioenergy production. Her current research focuses on wheat root endophytic Actinobacteria and how they may help wheat tolerate drought stress\, suppress soilborne pathogens\, and maintain plant health under stressful growing conditions. In her free time\, Oleksandra enjoys spending time with her friends\, hiking\, and doing jigsaw puzzles \nAbstract\nWheat powdery mildew\, caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt)\, ranks among the most significant foliar diseases affecting wheat globally. Annual yield losses are estimated between 7.6% and 19.9% in affected regions (1). Research indicates that this pathogen originated in the Fertile Crescent and expanded with wheat cultivation\, enhanced by human migration and trade\, which influenced its global spread (2). \nPowdery mildew is hard to control because Bgt is an obligate biotrophic fungus and has adapted to resistance used in breeding programs. Many resistance genes (R genes) allow the plant to recognize the pathogen and activate defense responses\, but they often function only against specific pathogen strains. As a result\, this resistance can lose effectiveness as the pathogen population changes over time (2). Surveys in the U.S. showed that several older powdery mildew resistance (Pm) genes have already been broken down\, especially in eastern soft wheat production regions. Pm3a\, Pm4a\, and Pm17 are some of the main examples\, showing that resistance based on a single major gene is often not durable (3). \nBecause of this\, researchers are looking for ways to make powdery mildew resistance more effective and longer-lasting. One approach is gene stacking\, in which multiple resistance alleles are combined in a single wheat line. It was shown that stacking multiple transgenic Pm3 alleles gave better field resistance than lines carrying only one allele. This stronger resistance seemed to come from both higher total transgene expression and the combination of different allele specificities. Importantly\, the stacked lines did not show negative effects on plant development or yield. In some allele combinations\, no powdery mildew infection was observed under field conditions (4). \nA second approach focuses on susceptibility genes (S genes) instead of R genes. Editing the wheat MLO-B1 locus produced the mutant Tamlo-R32\, which had strong powdery mildew resistance without the growth and yield losses often seen in earlier mlo mutants. This line carried a 304-kb deletion in the MLO-B1 region and maintained normal plant height and grain yield while greatly reducing fungal colony formation (5). \nA third approach is to introduce resistance genes from wild relatives to broaden the wheat resistance gene pool. Durum wheat was used as a bridge to transfer Pm60 and Pm60b from diploid Triticum urartu into common wheat. Using crossing\, backcrossing\, and marker-assisted selection\, several recombinant introgression types were identified\, and resistant lines with high self-fertility were developed. Their results show that wild relatives are still an important source of new resistance genes for improving powdery mildew resistance in wheat (6). \nOverall\, wheat powdery mildew remains a major challenge because the pathogen continues to overcome widely used resistance genes. However\, strategies such as gene stacking\, susceptibility-gene editing\, and introgression from wild relatives offer promising ways to improve resistance and reduce future losses in wheat (2–6). \nPlant Pathology 515\, 3rd Semester\, 2nd Year \n\nSotiropoulos\, A. G.\, Arango-Isaza\, E.\, Ban\, T.\, Barbieri\, C.\, Bourras\, S.\, Cowger\, C.\, Czembor\, P. C.\, Ben-David\, R.\, Dinoor\, A.\, Ellwood\, S. R.\, Graf\, J.\, Hatta\, K.\, Helguera\, M.\, McDonald\, B. A.\, Morgounov\, A. I.\, Müller\, M. C.\, Shamanin\, V.\, Shimizu\, K. K.\, Yoshihira\, T.\, Zbinden\, H.\, Keller\, B.\, and Wicker\, T. 2022. Global genomic analyses of wheat powdery mildew reveal association of pathogen spread with historical human migration and trade. Nature Communications 13:4315. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31975-0\nCowger\, C.\, Mehra\, L.\, Arellano\, C.\, Meyers\, E.\, and Murphy\, J. P. 2018. Virulence differences in Blumeria graminis sp. tritici from the central and eastern United States. Phytopathology 108:402-411. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-06-17-0211-R\nSingh\, J.\, Chhabra\, B.\, Raza\, A.\, Yang\, S. H.\, and Sandhu\, K. S. 2023. Important wheat diseases in the US and their management in the 21st century. Frontiers in Plant Science 13:1010191. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1010191\nKoller\, T.\, Brunner\, S.\, Herren\, G.\, Hurni\, S.\, and Keller\, B. 2018. Pyramiding of transgenic Pm3 alleles in wheat results in improved powdery mildew resistance in the field. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 131:861-871. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-017-3043-9\nLi\, S.\, Lin\, D.\, Zhang\, Y.\, Deng\, M.\, Chen\, Y.\, Lv\, B.\, Li\, B.\, Lei\, Y.\, Wang\, Y.\, Zhao\, L.\, Liang\, Y.\, Liu\, J.\, Chen\, K.\, Liu\, Z.\, Xiao\, J.\, Qiu\, J.-L.\, and Gao\, C. 2022. Genome-edited powdery mildew resistance in wheat without growth penalties. Nature 602:455-460. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04395-9\nZhang\, Q.\, Li\, Y.\, Li\, Y.\, Fahima\, T.\, Shen\, Q.\, and Xie\, C. 2022. Introgression of the powdery mildew resistance genes Pm60 and Pm60b from Triticum urartu to common wheat using durum as a ‘bridge’. Pathogens 11:25. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11010025\n\nZoom Meeting Information\nZoom Link\nZoom Meeting ID: 959 0545 7360\nZoom Password: 2488
URL:https://plantpath.wsu.edu/event/oleksandra-shabliy/
LOCATION:Clark 151\, Pullman\, WA
CATEGORIES:2026 Spring Semester
ORGANIZER;CN="Melissa%20Bills":MAILTO:melissa.bills@wsu.edu
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