We are broadly interested in plant-microbe interactions. However, we focus on powdery mildew diseases caused by fungi in the Erysiphaceae; primarily the Arabidopsis powdery mildew disease caused by Golovinomyces cichoracearum and the barley powdery mildew disease caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei.
Some of the questions of interest in the lab are what are the mechanisms of disease resistance deployed by plants against this group of pathogens and what plant processes support optimal disease development by these obligate biotrophic pathogens.