Posted: October 1, 2019

The Barbercheck Lab is seeking one Master’s student to start in the Summer or Fall of 2020.

The student will examine the effects of biotic and abiotic stress in mediating endophytic colonization by the fungal insect pathogen, M. robertsii in field, greenhouse, and laboratory-based studies. The student's project can focus on the prevalence of endophytic colonization of corn grown from non-inoculated and M. robertsii-inoculated seed in on-going organic cropping systems experiments; the relative ability of M. robertsii to establish colonization in corn by seed and soil inoculation under non-competitive and competitive conditions in greenhouse tests; the effects of drought and soil saturation on recruitment and establishment of endophytic M. robertsii by corn, and on plant growth and defense gene expression; or the effects of the interaction of abiotic stress and biotic stress from the black cutworm. For more information, please contact .