The following staff are available to supervise honours and masters research in the Plant Pathology research group.
Dr Niloofar Vaghefi
Niloofar conducts research on a variety of pathogens impacting grains, vegetables and horticultural crops. She is interested in the evolution of plant pathogens in agricultural ecosystems influenced by environmental changes, host resistances, and management practices. Areas of research include evolutionary mycology, genetics and phylogenomics of fungal and bacterial plant pathogens and mycoparasites.
Project topics:
- Comparative genomics of mycoparasitic Ampelomyces and Sphaerelopsis species.
- Diversity of Sphaerellopsis species in Australia and mechanisms underlying their mycoparasitism.
- Optimisation of molecular diagnostics assays for in planta quantification of Macrophomina spp.
- Molecular phylogeny and pathogenicity of fungi associated with agricultural crops and native plants.
PhD position: Aetiology and epidemiology of truffle rot in Australia
We have an open, fully funded PhD position on the causes and epidemiology of truffle rot in Australian orchards. The PhD student will be enrolled at the University of Melbourne under the supervision of Niloofar Vaghefi and Camille Truong from the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.