Students present their research at APS Southern Division Meeting in Atlanta - 2/2/2015

2/2/2015 - At the annual American Phytopathological Society (APS)-Southern Division meeting in Atlanta (1-2 February), several students from LSU gave oral and poster presentations on their research. Eduardo Chagas gave an oral presentation discussing his observations of the association (or lack) of Cercospora soybean leaf blight symptoms with the toxin cercosporin. Maryam Shahrtash presented her findings using seed treatments on peppers and tomatoes to control several Xanthomonads. Rebecca Sweany discussed her findings of volatile interactions between separate cultures of Aspergillus flavus. Brian Ward presented the effect of minor elements contributing to soybean resistance to rust and Cercospora leaf blight. Dongfang Hu presented a poster on her RNA-seq data looking into differential gene expression during infection with soybean rust. Other graduate students attended including Sebastian Albu, Mary Helen Ferguson, Teddy Garcia and Ally Lunos. Former PPCP students also present included the current president of Southern Division, Dr. Nicole Ward-Gauthier, recent graduates Dr. Rebecca Melanson and Jake Fountain, and not so recent graduate Dr. Baozhu Guo.

LSU contingent at APS Southern Division:  Back row starting from the left: Jake Fountain, Ray Schneider, Sebastian Albu, Teddy Garcia, Brian Ward, Melanie Ivey, Rebecca Sweany, Dongfang Hu, Maryam Shahrtash, Clayton Hollier, Baozhu Guo.  Front row starting from the left: Nicole Ward-Gauthier, Mary Helen Ferguson, Lawrence Datnoff, Eduardo Chagas and Rebecca Melanson.