September 14, 2016
Plant pathology faculty to contribute to food security symposium
Kevin McCluskey, plant pathology research professor, will present two talks at the SciColl International Symposium, "Stressors and Drivers of Food Security: Evidence from Scientific Collections" Sept. 19-20 at the United States Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland.
With scheduled presentations on the "U.S. Culture Collection Network in the context of the World Federation for Culture Collections" and "Genome Anaylsis for Mutant Characterization in a Model Plant-Associated Fungus," McCluskey will bring the perspective of valuable living microbe collections of plant pathogens. McCluskey also will discuss plant growth promoting microbes to this diverse community of researchers engaged in the topic of how collections can contribute to ongoing efforts to support food security for a growing population.
As curator of K-State's International Fungal Genetics Stock Center, McCluskey is engaged in diverse efforts including the development of big data for living collections in cooperation with the World Data Centre for Micro-organisms of the World Federation for Culture Collections, and the Phytobiome Initiative of the American Phytopathological Society.