Research projects in my laboratory involve beneficial and pathogenic soil fungi and are focused
on understanding the complex ecological interactions and relationships of fungi with the
environment, plants and microorganisms, which contribute to their success in both space and
time. Our results are providing fundamental knowledge of fungal taxonomic and phylogenetic
relationships, genetic diversity and structure of field populations, genome organization and
developmental biology and have provided resources for the scientific community. This
information has been useful for developing rapid fungal identification methods, enhancing plant
growth and suppressing plant disease with strategies involving plant host resistance or
introducing beneficial microbes and biological control agents to seeds or soil.