Plant Science Research Center

People at the PSRC

People

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Leisner

Scott Leisner
  Department of Biological Sciences
  University of Toledo
  Phone: 419.530.1549
  Email: sleisne@uoft02.utoledo.edu

My laboratory is focused on virus-plant interactions.  We are studying this from the perspective of the virus and their plant hosts.  From the virus perspective, we are examining the interactions of the various viral components.  By doing so, it will be possible to disrupt these interactions, thus preventing viral infection.  In addition, we are characterizing unknown plant viruses.  This will permit us to better diagnose infections in the future.  From the host side, we are examining plant defenses against viral attack. We are studying this in several ways.  First, we are examining cultivar variability as a source of virus resistance.  Second, we are studying plants with mutations in known resistance signaling pathways to determine how these defects influence viral infection.  In addition, we are also studying known plant genes involved in virus resistance to determine how their pattern of expression influences pathogen infection.  Finally, we are performing studies to determine how plant nutrition influences viral infection.  The hosts that we are using in these studies are mainly the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and ornamental plants in the genus Pelargonium (geraniums).  Thus, this research has both basic and applied components. 

weintraub

Mike Weintraub
  Department of Environmental Sciences
  University of Toledo
  Phone: 419.530.2585
  Email: michael.weintraub@utoledo.edu

Research Interests

  • Plant - soil interaction
  • Nutrient Cycling
  • Decomposition
  • Global Environmental Changes
Heckathorn

Scott A. Heckathorn
  Department of Environmental Sciences
  University of Toledo
  Phone: 419.530.4328
  Email: scott.heckathorn@utoledo.edu

Lab Research:

Plant, and more recently algal, ecological physiology and biochemistry, stress physiology and stress proteins (especially heat-shock proteins, or HSPs), photosynthesis and respiration, and nutrient relations.  Most of the current and recent research is focused on the following on-going projects:

  • effects of environmental controls associated with global climate change (e.g., CO2, nitrogen, mean temperature) on tolerance and adaptations of plants to acute heat stress [with particular focus on photosynthesis and HSPs, plant productivity, and community composition];
  • the patterns, functional consequences, and causes of natural variation in protection of metabolism by small HSPs;
  • micro-nutrient (especially boron) deficiency and toxicity effects on physiology and protein expression in plants;
  • the causes of Microcystis cyanobacterial blooms in western Lake Erie; and
  • the feasibility of using Lake Erie algae for bio-fuel production.

 

Dwyer

Daryl Dwyer
  Lake Erie Center
  University of Toledo
  Phone:
    University of Toledo: 419.530.2661
    Lake Erie Center: 419.530.5053
  Email: daryl.dwyer@utoledo.edu

The Environmental Remediation and Restoration Laboratory at the University of Toledo is under the direction of Dr. Daryl Dwyer, Associate Professor of Ecology.  Research objectives of the lab encompass modeling and understanding the interactions of soil, water, and plants and restoring converted or degraded sites to native habitat with remediation design as a sustainable goal.  Current and past funding has come from United States Department of Agriculture, National Resource Conservation Service, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Lake Erie Protection Fund, and Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments.

 

Our current projects include:

  • The design of treatment wetlands to remove pathogens and chemical contaminants from water
  • The design of landfill covers that rely on evapotranspiration (plant interaction) to control leachate formation in older landfills such as those that are prevalent in Northwest Ohio
  • Experiments that address issues important to the application of biosolids from agriculture and wastewater treatment systems to farmland, including pathogen and nutrient source identification, fate, and transport mechanisms
Gray John Gray
  Department of Biological Sciences
  University of Toledo
  Phone: 419.530.1537
  Email: john.gray5@utoledo.edu

In my laboratory we are interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms regulating cell death decisions in plants. We are also interested in understanding the response of plants to abiotic and biotic stresses and more recently nutrient stress. We employ a molecular genetics approaches to isolate and study genes involved in such processes. Currently we have two projects in the lab.

  • Lesion mimic mutation
  • Nutrient stress in plants
Bridgeman Tom Bridgeman
 
Lake Erie Center
  University of Toledo
  Phone: 419.530.8373
  Email: thomas.bridgeman@utoledo.edu
  United States Department of Agriculture

Since its establishment in late 2002, the USDA-ARS Greenhouse Production Research Group in Toledo, OH has been building a research program focused on developing solutions to greenhouse crop production problems.  We routinely visit representatives of the industry to transfer research findings to the industry and get insight into needed research for the future.  We have approached our research from the perspective of plant nutrition and the interactions between plant nutrition and biotic and abiotic stress. 

Research topics include:

  • Minimally invasive stress detection
  • Nutrient and water requirements for floriculture crops
  • Interactions between pathogens and plant nutrient status
  • The role of the environment on nutrient uptake and partitioning
  • Greenhouse production sustainability
  • Greenhouse production modeling
James Locke James Locke
  Greenhouse Production Research Group
  Agricultural Research Service
  United States Department of Agriculture
  Phone: 419.530.1595
  Email: jim.locke@ars.usda.gov
Jonathan Frantz

Jonathan Frantz
  Greenhouse Production Research Group
  Agricultural Research Service
  United States Department of Agriculture
  Phone: 567.277.0247
  Email: jonathan.frantz@ars.usda.gov

 

Charles Krause
  Application Technology Research Unit
  Agricultural Research Service
  United States Department of Agriculture
  Phone: 330.263.3676
  Email:  charles.krause@ars.usda.gov

Last Updated: 6/27/22