Robigalia Roundup XXXVIII

Hello {{first_name | Robigalia Readers}},

Welcome back to another edition of the Robigalia Roundup!

If you’re new here, Robigalia is your weekly roundup of the latest research, researchers, scholarships, and opportunities in plant pathology globally. Make sure you’re a subscriber to have these opportunities and events delivered directly to your inbox every Monday.

During one of my procrastinatory scrolls* this week, I came across a new pipeline for the surveillance of pathogens using population genomics and sequencing developed by Oregon State Uni and the USDA. The tool integrates automated reference retrieval, rapid identification, and phylogenetic analysis and outputs an interactive HTML report. It promises a lot, so I’d love to know if you’ve used it successfully.

Onto this week’s Roundup. I highlight several recent plant pathology studies, and introduce Ibukunoluwa Bankole as our Research Student of the Week.

There are also several new jobs listed, an upcoming PhD opportunity, and details for a disease resistance training course.

Let’s dive in!

* _{During this scroll, I also came across the trailer for Project Hail Mary and had a good giggle. Apparently, having a PhD in molecular biology means you can be launched into space to save the world… who knew?!}

⭐ Meet Ibukunoluwa Bankole ⭐

This week, I’m thrilled to introduce Ibukunoluwa Bankole, a PhD student from the University of Florida. Her research focuses on phytobacteriology and the investigation of host-pathogen interactions in key food crops.

Ibukunoluwa’s passion for plant pathology was cultivated early in life. Growing up in Nigeria, she saw firsthand the importance of food availability to human health and sustainability. With the support and inspiration of her lecturers, mentors, and supervisors, her passion for safeguarding human health was directed towards plant pathology, with the hope that her contributions would aid in protecting food crops and ensuring food availability.

During her recently completed Master’s at North Dakota State University, Ibukunoluwa worked on Xanthomonas translucens pv. undulosa (Xtu) causing bacterial leaf streak on wheat. Her project focused on the molecular characterisation of the pathogen to understand its local population diversity by comparing it to historical collections worldwide (you can read her impressive co-first author publication here). For a deeper insight into the molecular basis of the pathogenicity of the pathogen, she also explored the functional characterisation of its type III effectors in virulence on wheat.

Now, in the first year of her PhD program at the University of Florida, her project focuses on the comparative genomics of Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pv. perforans strains causing bacterial spot fruit infection in tomato. Beyond her PhD, she aims to continue as a plant molecular research scientist, either in academia or industry, dedicated to improving our understanding of plant diseases that affect food crops and supporting global food security.

Ibukunoluwa’s advice to other plant pathology research students is, “Research is full of challenges, so don’t be afraid of failed experiments. Be persistent and view setbacks as opportunities to learn. Work hard but take breaks when you have to, it helps to refuel and strategize. Finally, keep learning by asking questions, you are not expected to know it all, but you should aim to be better version of yourself in your research and personally every day.”

Although more of an indoor person, one of the tools Ibukunoluwa used to decompress is to sing and dance, even if it’s just to herself 💃

If you would like to learn more about Ibukunoluwa’s research, you can contact her via LinkedIn or post your questions in the comments.

New opportunities below are indicated by two asterisks at the start of the entry **

Sorry to tell you PhD readers, you still cry in your postdoc 🥲

Until next week,

Alyssa

_{** Disclaimer: No dogs were harmed in the production of this newsletter.}