University of California, Berkeley | Plant & Microbial Biology
News Archive
Sep 2022 - new preprint!
Amanda G. McRae, Jyoti Taneja, Kathleen Yee, Xinyi Shi, Sajeet Haridas, Kurt LaButti, Vasanth Singan, Igor V. Grigoriev, Mary C. Wildermuth. Spray-induced gene silencing identifies pathogen processes contributing to powdery mildew proliferation doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.09.13.507682
Sep 2022 - DOE Agile Bio Foundry Project was selected!
This collaborative project with DOE teams at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs addresses the pressing need for a scalable method for dsRNA production for Agriculture employing microbial strain engineering and fermentation scaleup.Aug 2022 - Congrats to Hang on getting the Andre Tchelistcheff & Dr. Richard Peterson 2022 scholarship awards!
Aug 2022 - Congrats to Hang Xue for receiving the Andre Tchelistcheff & Dr. Richard Peterson 2022 scholarship awards.
The Andre Tchelistcheff and Dr. Richard Peterson Scholarship funds established by the Monterey Wine Festival Educational Foundation support deserving graduate students doing promising research work in viticulture or enology.
July 2022 - Congrats to Claudine Tahmin for selection as a NIH Genetics Training Grant Fellow.
The NIH Genetics Training program provides advanced multidisciplinary PhD training for students in Years 2 and 3.
June 2022 - Lab receives 16K from the Gloeckner Foundation
The Fred C. Gloeckner Foundation awarded 16K to the Wildermuth Lab for their study of the powdery mildew-host interaction and novel methods to control powdery mildew of horticultural species.
May 2022 - Undergraduate Cameron Blondino graduates from UC Berkeley!
Cameron Blondino worked on research projects related to powdery mildew proliferation on grapevine. Research included powdery mildew isolation and propagation, field trials for spray-induced gene silencing of powdery mildew, and analysis of RNASeq data. He participated in the UC Berkeley Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program and served as an Undergraduate Agricultural Innovation Fellow in the Wildermuth Lab.
May 2022 - Wildermuth lab receives $137,400 from American Vineyard Foundation
Wildermuth lab received $137,400 from the American Vineyard Foundation to support their work developing novel dsRNA biologicals against powdery mildew of grapevine.
May 2022 - Welcome new undergraduates Lianne Wong and Catalina Kemmer to the Wildermuth Lab
Welcome new undergraduates Lianne Wong and Catalina Kemmer to join the Wildermuth Lab field trials 2022, along with returning undergraduates Michael Alexander and Elena Ochoa! This year, we have grapevine field sites at UC Davis , Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, and local private vineyards in Napa and Moraga. Summer research for undergraduates is funded through NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates, American Vineyard Foundation, and the UC Berkeley Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program.ultural Research and Extension Center, and a couple local private vineyards in Napa and Moraga.
April 2022 - Undergraduates present at RCNR Undergraduate Research Poster Session
Undergraduates Amanda Hill and Elena Ochoa presented their research at the RCNR Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium Poster Session. Amanda Hill's research included examining powdery mildew effector translocation to the chloroplast. Elena Ochoa's work explored the use of adjuvants and formulations to enhance dsRNA stability for spray-induced gene silencing of powdery mildew.
New initiative with DOE JGI focuses on powdery mildew comparative genomics
With resources from the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), a DOE Office of Science user facility, UC Berkeley Plant and Microbial Biology Associate Professor Mary Wildermuth and Professor Shauna Somerville, also affiliated with the Energy Biosciences Institute, will lead a team of international researchers to obtain genome sequences for eleven powdery mildew fungi that are phylogenetically diverse and adapted to very different host plants.