Jan E. Leach

University Distinguished Professor, Agricultural Biology

Associate Dean for Research, College of Agricultural Sciences

Co-PI, co-lead Theme 4, RT 2, 4

Jan Leach is a plant pathologist who studies how pathogens cause disease on plants, and how some plants resist the pathogens. Her research has largely focused on rice and pathogens of rice and has involved collaborations with scientists around the world. She is interested in how microbes are adapted to survive and move in the aerobiome. Other projects currently underway in her laboratory are related to understanding the impacts of increasing temperatures associated with climate change on plant disease and resistance, microbiome-insect-plant interactions, and the development of novel tools for detection and monitoring of microbes associated with plants.