Welcome...to one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious departments of Plant Pathology. Our team of 29 faculty, over 40 graduate students, and 80+ staff have dedicated their careers to research on filamentous fungi and the interactions of plants with pathogenic and symbiotic microbes. With our sister department in Geneva, we cooperate with other Cornell departments to train undergraduate students for careers in biology, applied agriculture, and horticulture, and help prepare them for graduate study. Alumni of our graduate program hold prominent positions in academia and government agencies around the world.
We are proud of the high quality of our research, teaching and outreach efforts. You can learn more about us on these pages, or contact us. We're glad you're here.
George W. Hudler
Chair
Turgeon and JGI Sequence the maize pathogen, Cochliobolus heterostrophus, genome
Gillian Turgeon
Professor Gillian Turgeon of our Department and her collaborator Dr. Scott Baker of the DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in partnership with the DOE Joint Genome Institute, announce the release of the genome sequence of the model fungal pathogen of maize, Cochliobolus heterostrophus race O. A highly isogenic C. heterostrophus race T isolate, sequenced earlier when Turgeon was on leave of absence at the Torrey Mesa Research Institute (Syngenta) in 2000-2001, is expected to be released by Syngenta but is not yet publicly available.
Plant Pathology
Research on the biology and integrated management of plant disease organisms.
Fungal and Oomycete Biology
Research on fungi and oomycetes including genomics, ecology and systematics.
Plant-Microbe Biology
Research on the molecular genetics of interactions between microbes and plants.