Current Lab Members

The lab in 2022 at the opening of the  new Plant Science building. From left to right: former postdoc Tatsiana Shymanovich, Amanda Mainello, Allison Coomber, Jean Ristaino and Amanda Saville.

Not shown, Inga Meadows or Jyotsna Acharya

Amanda Saville  is the lab manager and works on a variety of projects involving  mostly Phytophthora infestans.

Allison Coomber was a PhD graduate student in Functional Genomics and graduated in December 2023. She worked on a project to understand the evolution of virulence in Phytophthora infestans. She has also developed a T-BAS phylogentic tool for Emerging Phytophthora species. Allison defended her thesis in the fall of 2023 and is a recent graduate! She is working as a Bioinionformatics Scientist at Monceros Biosystems

Amanda Maniello was a plant pathology PhD graduate student working on a project to develop LAMP detection diagnostics for two invaisive Phytophthora species, P. ramorum and P kernoviae. She  developed a TBAS phylogenetic tool for P ramorum and studied the pathogen population structure in Ireland and Norther Ireland. Amanda defended her thesis in January 2-25 and graduated in May!. She has moved to Maryland.

PhD student Inga Meadows. Inga is a full time extention faculty member in DEPP and is based in Waynesville NC. Her PhD thesis involved a survey of ornamental greenhouses for Phytophthora species. She found that P. nicotianae was the dominant species and she genotyped the populations using microsatellites. She also provided management solutions to ornamental and nursery growers. Inga defended her thesis in February 2025 and has graduated! She is currenly remaining as an extension faculty member at the Mountain Horticulture Research Center in Waynesville NC.

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