The Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology's weekly Plant Pathology 250 seminar series is presented this week by:

Ioannis Tzanetakis, Professor of Plant Virology, University of Arkansas & Director of the Clean Plant Center, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture

Seminar Title: “A systems-based approach to combat berry virus diseases.”

Biography: Yannis Tzanetakis began his studies in Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry at the Agricultural University of Athens. He then relocated to Oregon State University, where he pursued a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology, specializing in berry viruses. Subsequent to his PhD, he undertook a postdoctoral position, delving into the translational enhancers of tymoviruses and the bioinformatics analysis of coupled translation in eukaryotes.
Currently, he holds the position of Professor of Plant Virology at the University of Arkansas and serves as the Director of the Clean Plant Center within the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. He actively participates in several national and international associations, including the National Clean Plant Network, the International Council for the Study of Virus and other Graft Transmissible Diseases of Fruit Crops, and the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.
Yannis’ primary research emphasis lies in the epidemiology and detection of plant viruses. A significant aspect of his work revolves around the creation of vertical diagnostic pipelines. These span from wet lab protocols to the design of specialized bioinformatics tools aimed at the detection and discovery of pathogens via high throughput sequencing.

Faculty Hosts: Georgios Vidalakis (georgios.vidalakis@ucr.edu)