Past PMB Seminars

For a schedule of all Plant & Microbial Biology events, seminars, and lectures visit our calendar.

Wed, 10/06/2021 - 00:00
Wed, 10/06/2021 - 00:00

Competition, Coevolution, and Pathogen Suppression in the Microbiome
Wednesday October 06, 2021
Microbes and plants exist within complex networks of interacting plant and microbial species. Our work explores the roles of plant community diversity, plant host, and fungal and bacterial species interactions in determining the pathogen-suppressive potential and composition of plant-associated microbiomes. Unraveling the complex competitive and coevolutionary interactions occurring within plant and soil microbiomes suggests novel insights for active management of microbiomes to support plant productivity.
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Wed, 09/22/2021 - 00:00
Wed, 09/22/2021 - 00:00

Fighting with phages: how epidemic Vibrio cholerae defends against viral attack
Wednesday September 22, 2021
The arms race between genomic parasites like viruses and their host organisms is a key driving force shaping the evolution of all forms of life. Predatory bacterial viruses, known as phages, select for bacteria that evade predation and influence the mobilization and dissemination of genetic material. To understand how these dynamics play out in nature, my lab has focused on the infectious...
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Yasasha smiling next to a large leaf.
Wed, 09/15/2021 - 00:00
Wed, 09/15/2021 - 00:00

Innovation, Conservation and Repurposing in Root Cell Type Development
Wednesday September 15, 2021
Plant root cell types are able to integrate environmental stresses with their developmental programs for adaptive outcomes. In this seminar, I will discuss our lab's efforts to map cell type resolution molecular signatures, to understand their diversity in multiple plant species and how these programs can be repurposed across different cell types.
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Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00
Wed, 09/08/2021 - 00:00

Siobhan Braybrook: What do walls have to do with it? Multiscale implications for growth and survival
Wednesday September 08, 2021
Carbohydrate-based cell walls show up all over the tree of life, including in several multicellular lineages. In this talk, we will explore how cell walls are central to the growth and survival of organisms in two groups: plants and brown algae (seaweeds).
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Wed, 05/26/2021 - 00:00
Wed, 05/26/2021 - 00:00

Micro-crowdsourcing: how a swarming bacterial pathogen utilizes identity information for collective behaviors
Wednesday May 26, 2021

In the Gibbs research group, our goal is to identify the mechanisms that underlie self versus non-self recognition in cells. Self recognition is an essential building block of nature observed at many levels of biological complexity ranging from immune cells to bacteria.

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Wed, 04/28/2021 - 00:00
Wed, 04/28/2021 - 00:00

Investigating the cell biology of plant infection by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae
Wednesday April 28, 2021
Professor Nick Talbot FRS is Executive Director of The Sainsbury Laboratory. His research is focused on the biology of plant diseases. He utilises a range of cell biology, genetics and genomics approaches in his research. He is interested in fungal infection-related development and understanding how fungi are able to invade plant tissue and suppress plant immunity.
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Fri, 04/23/2021 - 00:00
Fri, 04/23/2021 - 00:00

Fungi and Friends: Uncapping Ingredients for Better Living
Friday April 23, 2021
Perhaps you’ve been foraging for mushrooms this season? Or are you just casually curious about the world’s continuing appetite for, and fascination with, fungi? This moderated discussion featuring a panel of UC Berkeley experts will pore over the myriad ways modern civilization interacts with fungi. The panel will speak to our millennia-long appetite for them in cuisines throughout the world, as...
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Wed, 04/21/2021 - 12:00
Wed, 04/21/2021 - 12:00

Talia Karasov: Plant-Pathogen Evolution and the Maintenance of Genetic Diversity
Wednesday April 21, 2021
Microbes have an amazing capacity to evolve to colonize new environments. The capacity for rapid adaption is particularly true for plant microbial pathogens as they evolve to circumvent their host’s defenses. Nonetheless, most (if not all) pathogens are restricted in the hosts they can successfully colonize and some pathogens can only colonize single host species.
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Kristin Parent
Wed, 04/14/2021 - 17:00
Wed, 04/14/2021 - 17:00

Kristin Parent: Deciphering virus entry mechanisms: from bacteriophages to giant viruses
Wednesday April 14, 2021

Viruses infect their respective hosts efficiently through a regulated process of recognizing highly specific receptors and subsequently transferring genomic material across cell membrane barriers. To understand the underlying mechanisms that control virus infection, it is important to characterize viral events in a biologically relevant manner. My laboratory focuses on a correlated approach to...

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Wed, 04/07/2021 - 17:00
Wed, 04/07/2021 - 17:00

Klara Scharnagl: What's going on in there? A multi-pronged approach to investigating mechanisms of the lichen symbiosis
Wednesday April 07, 2021

The goal of my research is to use fungal symbioses, such as lichens, to address large scale questions such as mechanisms driving the latitudinal diversity gradient and projected outcomes of global climate change. My work emphasizes the importance of long-term ecological studies, and promotes cross-disciplinary approaches to fundamental questions.

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