Plant Disease Resistance and Biotechnology

Thanks for your interest in the Department of Plant Pathology at UF! We are one of the largest departments of plant pathology in the country with faculty at Gainesville and at nine Research and Education Centers around the state. We are known for our research on diseases of diverse crops including citrus, strawberries, blueberries, vegetables, ornamentals, turf, field crops, sugarcane, and tropical fruits. Our department, founded nearly 60 years ago, is part of the University of Florida, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS).

Specialists

• Jeremy Brawner - Forest Health Genetic Resources, Quantitative genetics and genomics of disease resistance.
• Liliana Cano - Molecular genetics and genomics of disease resistance in citrus and other crops. Pathogen genomics.
• Svetlana Folimonova - Plant viruses, virus-host interactions and disease development, plant immunity against viral pathogens, citrus tristeza virus, citrus greening.
• Jeffrey Jones - Molecular genetics and genomics of bacterial pathogens, particularly Xanthomonads. Biotechnology of disease resistance in tomato and pepper.
• Wen-Yuan Song - Molecular mechanisms of the plant immune system. Bacterial blight disease of rice caused by Xanthmonas oryzae pv. Oryzae. Plant stress biology.
• Gary Vallad - Etiology and management of bacterial and fungal vegetable diseases. Development and implementation of bio-based disease management strategies.
• Frank White - Bacterial virulence effectors, genetics, genomics, and host interactions. Crops include rice, citrus, wheat, tomato, maize.