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Nov - Cara Haney

Speaker: Cara Haney

Talk Title: Functional genomics in plant-microbiome interactions

Event Details

Date/Time:

Wednesday, November 18th, 2020 11:00am ~ 12:30 pm (Pacific Time)

Location:

Virtually on Zoom at: https://sfu.zoom.us/j/84361906664?pwd=M3lXNXRjcjNqaWlabTBKU1ZScWxOUT09

Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UBC

Bio:

Dr. Cara Haney is an assistant professor and Canada Research Chair in plant-microbiome interactions in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of British Columbia. Prior to joining the UBC faculty in 2016, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School. Her lab uses high throughput screening combined with genetic and comparative genomic approaches to identify the genetic basis of beneficial traits in plant-microbiome interactions. Her work focuses on elucidating basic mechanisms in host-microbiome interactions, and in finding sustainable solutions for agronomically important challenges.

Abstract:

Plant root-associated microbial communities (the rhizosphere microbiome) influence plant growth and defense. Closely-related bacteria can have dramatically different effects on plant growth and range from pathogenic to mutualistic. Using Pseudomonas fluorescens and related species and the model plant Arabidopsis as a tractable rhizosphere microbiome model, we are using comparative genomics and genome-wide screening to identify the genomic basis of lifestyle transitions between closely-related P. fluorescens strains. I will discuss our use of comparative genomics, TnSeq, and low-cost genome sequencing to elucidate the genomic basis of host-association in bacteria.


Introductory Speaker: Jimmy Liu (UBC/BC CDC, William Hsiao lab)

Talk Title: High resolution characterization of global Salmonella​ subpopulations