with Wolfgang Schweigkofler Ph.D. of Dominican University, San Rafael
Wednesday, March 20th, 2024 ~ 7:30 – 8:30 pm at Terra Linda High School’s Innovation Hub
Description:
Invasive organisms are animals, plants or microorganisms, which evolved in a different ecosystem and then were introduced into a new area by human activity. In the new environment, these invasive organisms can express some very negative effects on native biodiversity, e.g. by overgrowing native plants, killing native animals or spreading animal or plant diseases. Our research group at Dominican University studies the effects of tiny microorganisms on our forests in Coastal California. A ‘fungus-like’ pathogen, called Phytophthora ramorum, can infect many tree species (e.g. oaks) and causes a disease called ‘Sudden Oak Death’. We try to better understand the biology of the pathogen and develop methods to control its spread. We use a number of different methods, e.g. microscopic observations, immunotests and DNA-sequencing, to study the disease in our research lab, our research field site and in the natural environment.
Bio: Wolfgang Schweigkofler grew up on a small family winery in Bozano/Bozen (Italy). He holds a master degree in Microbiology from the University of Vienna, Austria, and a PhD in Applied Biology from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna. Wolfgang was a Postdoctoral fellow first at the Research Center Laimburg, Italy, working on bio-control of soil-dwelling insects, and then at UC Berkeley,US, working on forest pathogens. From 2004-2011 he worked as a senior plant pathologist at the Research Center Laimburg. He then moved to the USA, working shortly at a biotech start-up before accepting a position at the Dominican University of California in San Rafael. Currently he is a Research Associate Professor and program manager at NORS-DUC, the National Ornamentals Research Site at Dominican University. His research interests include diseases of grapevine, apple and ornamentals, forest pathology, biological control, biodiversity and invasive biology. Wolfgang co-authored two book chapters on fungal biodiversity and published more than 30 scientific and technical papers.
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