Invasive Species Research

The Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Pests and Plants Center (MITPPC) has announced ten new projects to investigate some of the serious invasive species causing environmental and economic harm to Minnesota. Five of these projects are being led by MSI PIs. This research will improve how Minnesota can detect and manage invasive species. The projects are funded by the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. Projects led by MSI PIs are:

• Understanding spread and development of corn tar spot in Minnesota
  • Dean Malvick (professor, Plant Pathology)
  • Professor Malvick uses MSI for genomic analysis of fungal pathogens.
• Developing pest-resistant soybean for sustainable management of soybean aphids and Japanese beetles
  • Aaron Lorenz (associate professor, Agronomy and Plant Genetics)
  • Professor Lorenz uses MSI resources as part of genomics research for soybean breeding.
• Biological control of buckthorn using fungi
• Studies of entomopathogenic fungi for effective biocontrol of emerald ash borer, phase 2
  • Robert Blanchette (professor, Plant Pathology)
  • Professor Blanchette uses MSI for projects that study fungi associated with the invasive emerald ash borer, and the root-rot pathogen Heterobasidion irregulare.
• Genetic biocontrol of invasive insects, phase 3
  • Michael Smanski (associate professor, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics; BioTechnology Institute)
  • Professor Smanski uses MSI for genomics and bioinformatics investigations of microbial gene clusters and for SNP analyses on large datasets.

The complete list of new projects can be found on the MITPPC website: Announcing 10 new research projects.