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PLEASE NOTE: If a candidate gives a layman's talk, the livestream will start fifteen minutes earlier.

Soil-borne diseases like Fusarium wilt pose a growing threat to global agriculture, causing significant yield losses and undermining efforts toward sustainable food production. Although breeding disease-resistant plant varieties remains a common approach, it is often time-consuming and may compromise important agronomic traits such as yield potential, quality, or local adaptability.

In my research, I explored an alternative strategy: enhancing the plant’s ability to recruit beneficial microbes in the rhizosphere. These soil microorganisms, including specific bacteria and fungi, can naturally suppress pathogens by outcompeting them or producing antimicrobial compounds.

I found that disease-resistant banana plants tend to attract a distinct set of microbial partners that help fend off Fusarium wilt. Further analysis revealed that certain rhizosphere metabolites, selectively released by the roots, play a key role in shaping this protective microbiome. Building on these findings, I developed a nature-inspired approach to designing synthetic microbial communities. By combining beneficial microbes with specific root-associated metabolites, these communities were able to significantly reduce disease severity in susceptible plants under controlled conditions. Moreover, I demonstrated that transferring legacy soil or microbiomes from resistant plants to susceptible ones could confer partial resistance, highlighting the potential of microbiome-assisted plant protection.

This work underscores the dynamic relationship between plants and their microbial allies, offering a promising path beyond conventional breeding or chemical treatments. By better understanding and leveraging these plant-microbe partnerships, we can move toward more resilient and sustainable agricultural systems.