The lab focuses on multiple pathogens that infect barley resulting in crop loss and reduced quality, most notably net blotch and stem rust.

Team Stem Rust

Barley stem rust is a globally important disease that can cause complete crop loss, caused by the pathogen Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici. The first resistance gene Rpg1 to stem rust was cloned by Robert Brueggeman when he was a graduate student at WSU and continues to work on the pathosystem

Team Net Blotch

Net blotch is a globally important disease that causes yield losses of between 10-40% as well as reducing seed quality. Due to differing symptoms, net blotch is split into two separate diseases called net form net blotch caused by Pyrenophora teres f. teres and spot form net blotch caused by Pyrenophora teres f. maculata. The lab works on two of the most complicated and interesting loci reported within the two pathosystems.