Researcher was in short-term internship at the Ohio State University in the Department of Plant Pathology from August 1 to September 30.
Global climate change continues to lead to more frequent and intense weather extremes, including severe drought and high-temperature events, which can kill trees outright or indirectly, via reduced resistance to pathogens. For example, Austrian pine (Pinus nigra) is under increasing pressure from the normally non-lethal shoot blight pathogen, Diplodia sapinea.
Effective management responses to emerging mortality in forest environments due to climate change will only be possible if we leverage system-level understanding of tree-pathogen interactions. Currently, the molecular and physiological mechanisms that increase plant susceptibility to pathogens under climate stress remain very poorly understood, particularly for trees.
The overall aim of this internship was to learn unique and novel techniques on working with forest plant pathogens and get a better understanding of tree interactions with their environment (investigate metabolomic responses (soluble phenolics) in Pinus nigra).
