Speaker Bio: 

Lisa Morano is a professor of Biology & microbiology at the University of Houston - Downtown. She has studied both plant pathogens, the friendly microbes growing inside plants (endophytes), and the microbes in healthy soil that support plant health. She also teaches Environmental Biology and Sustainability Courses and is patient about the intersection of social justice, humanities, and science to create a healthy future for humanity.

Speaker Topic: Shifting Microbial Communities from Antagonistic to Friendly

To modify from William Shakespeare, there are not good microbes and bad microbes - it is thinking that makes them so. The Idea that we can separate all microbes into good or bad is over simplistic. Whether something is bad often depends on other conditions in the system. These conditions may be the evolutionary history of the organism in question, the current environmental variables or community interactions. This talk will review how shirts in microbial communities impact plant health and review some particular microbial players that have shown to protect plants from disease.