Madison welcomes new Research Microbiologist with barley focus
Dr. Kristi Gdanetz MacCready joined the USDA-ARS Cereal Crops Research Unit in Madison, Wisconsin as a Research Microbiologist in July 2024. She comes to the ARS from a postdoctoral research position at Michigan State University. At MSU Dr. Gdanetz MacCready characterized the microbial communities on apple fruit, with a focus on cider apples. In addition, she conducted cider cultivar susceptibility analysis to fungal pathogens new to the Great Lakes region but commonly observed in southern fruit growing regions. Kristi has experience with numerous microbe-host systems; fungal and bacterial pathogens of fruits, fungal pathogens of cereals, bacteriophage to control bacterial phytopathogens, in addition to some non-plant systems.
At the CCRU Kristi will integrate her expertise to investigate relationships between microbial communities, biotic and abiotic stress, and host response, with a focus on barley. This will be achieved initially through four research projects (1) analysis of microbial community diversity and microbial function during malting; (2) microbial community response to abiotic stress across genotypes; (3) carbohydrate/cell wall content across barley genotypes and how these influence microbial colonization of the seed; (4) barley defense response and microbial community modulation during pathogen infections. The long-term goal is translating microbiome-plant interaction findings from laboratory to field grown barley, resulting in actionable recommendations to growers and maltsters.
Connect with Kristi
Photo courtesy of USDA-ARS. Dr. Gdanetz MacCready pictured in USDA-ARS Cereal Crops Research Unit-Madison's greenhouses, with barley plants in the background.
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