Lab members

Dr. Matthew Bakker

Principal investigator.
Matthew completed his PhD in Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota. He did a post-doc at Colorado State University and worked as a staff scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture before joining the Department of Microbiology at the University of Manitoba. Matthew teaches Microbes In Our Environment, Introductory Biogeochemistry, and contributes to Graduate Microbiology and to Evolution of Fungal Pathogens.

Anuradha Jayathissa

PhD candidate (co-advised with Dr. Dilantha Fernando).
Anuradha is studying impacts of Fusarium spp. on malt quality, and investigating hydrophobin proteins produced by Fusarium. Anuradha is an alumnus of the EvoFunPath training program.

M. Shimosh Kurera

PhD student (co-advised with Dr. Sean Walkowiak).
Shimosh is developing methods for rapidly identifying unknown Fusarium and rust strains via MALDI biotyping. Shimosh is an alumnus of the EvoFunPath training program.

Brian Harrison

MSc student.
Brian is researching trichothecene mycotoxins that are produced by the fungal plant pathogen Fusarium graminearum. Brian is an alumnus of the EvoFunPath training program.

Kelsey Wog

MSc student (co-advised with Dr. Aleeza Gerstein).
Kelsey is studying the evolution of resistance towards fungicides in Fusarium graminearum. Kelsey is a fellow of the EvoFunPath training program.

Raveena Manikku Badu

Technician 3.
Raveena helps keep the lab running smoothly, and works on soil bacterial isolations, genome sequencing & genomics.

Anna Volakaki

PhD student (co-advised with Dr. Olivia Wilkins).
Anna is characterizing effects of different soil bacteria on plant physiology and nutrient uptake.

Laura Los

Technician 3.
Laura is profiling mixed oomycete communities from soil and diseased roots, characterizing impacts of Fusarium on malt quality, and screening wild populations of Fusarium graminearum for resistance to fungicides.

Hariniha Selvarajan

MSc student.
Hariniha is investigating interactions between Fusarium graminearum and bioactive compounds in barley.

Rebecca Pagès

PhD student.
Rebecca is using metagenomics to understand how soil microbial communities respond to plants and to agricultural inputs like urease inhibitors and nitrification inhibitors.