Botany & Plant Pathology

Camila Nicolli, research assistant professor of mycotoxin fungal biology in the Department of Plant Pathology, and Matheus Zavadinack, research assistant professor in carbohydrate chemistry in the Department of Food Science, have joined Purdue University's College of Agriculture faculty this Spring semester.

Daniel Szymanski, professor of Purdue’s Departments of Botany and Plant Pathology and Biological Sciences, and Thomas Siegmund, professor in Purdue’s School of Mechanical Engineering, as well as Chelsea Davis, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Delaware, recently received an $1.1 million award to Purdue and a $345 thousand award for the University of Delaware from the National Science Foundation to advance knowledge on plant cell adhesion.

Growing up in Greenwood, Indiana, Ian Rimer was the quintessential outdoor kid, spending most of his time running around in cornfields or exploring the forest near his house. From a young age, he was aware that the natural world he loved was under threat. His father, a school principal, was an ardent environmentalist, and Rimer grew up learning about drought in Australia and the ravages of beetles in the boreal forests of the far north. “I feel very blessed to have had that awareness at such a young age,” he says. As a Purdue undergrad, Rimer initially majored in pharmacy before switching to biology, but found himself increasingly drawn to plant sciences. He emailed several plant sciences professors to see if they had any research opportunities, and was put in touch with a new faculty member, Scott McAdam. He began working in McAdam’s lab, which investigates plant water use and drought tolerance. “That really interested me because I’m a climate activist, and I knew I wanted to look at whole plant responses to the environment,” Rimer says. “So it was a good fit.” When Rimer decided to apply to grad school, McAdam suggested he consider staying at Purdue. Rimer began his PhD in botany and plant pathology in January of 2023.

Purdue University researchers found that a subset of epidermal cells in plant leaves serves as early responders to chemical cues from bacterial pathogens and communicate this information to neighbors through a local traveling wave of calcium ions. The properties of this local wave differ from those generated when epidermal cells are wounded, suggesting that distinct mechanisms are used by plants to communicate specific types of pathogen attack, the team reported Dec. 2 in Science Signaling.

Terry Torres Cruz’s path to mycology — the study of fungi — has been guided by lots of curiosity and a little bit of fate. Growing up in rural Costa Rica, Torres Cruz wasn’t sure what she wanted to study. “I didn’t know what all my options were,” she says. “Just general ideas: police officer, firefighter, doctor.” She’d seen the show “CSI,” which made criminology look interesting. So she applied to several science-related college programs, figuring she’d go with the most selective one that accepted her. That turned out to be biotechnology engineering. The program required all students to do an internship or thesis, so Torres Cruz got in touch with an alumna who had a lab at Western Illinois University. The lab focused on fungi, something Torres Cruz knew little about. But she found the work fascinating, so she stayed on for a master’s degree. For her thesis, she described a new fungal genus and species in the Mucoromycotina subphylum — Bifiguratus adelaidae, one of the “Top 50 most wanted Fungi.” “I thought that was really cool,” she says. “Not a lot of people get to do that.” She went on to do her PhD in plant pathology with a dual title in biogeochemistry at Penn State. Her dissertation project focused on a plant-fungal interaction in a type of South American grass. Her research required travel to Guyana, so her advisor told her to contact Purdue’s Cathie Aime, professor of botany and plant pathology. “Her lab has been going to Guyana yearly for over 25 years,” Torres Cruz says. “My advisor put me in touch with her so I wouldn’t have to travel there alone.” Torres Cruz joined Aime’s team conducting field research in remote areas in 2019 and 2021. The trips involved long journeys down muddy roads and sleeping overnight in hammocks. On their last day in the field, Aime asked Torres Cruz about her postgraduation plans. “She said, ‘Once you are certain, let me know. I might have a postdoc open,’” Torres Cruz recalls. Torres Cruz arrived at Purdue in 2023.

Khoma relocated to the U.S. with her son and husband through a scholar support program offered by Purdue University with additional assistance from the College of Agriculture, seeking the opportunity to continue her scientific work and complete her dissertation.