Dr. Fabrizio Menardo - Genomics, evolution and epidemiology of microbial pathogens

Microbial pathogens are an integral part of earth’s ecosystems, and virtually all living organisms are challenged by pathogens at some stage of their life. The study of pathogens profited greatly from the improvements in sequencing techniques of the last two decades. The drop in the cost of sequencing, and the development of statistical and computational methods to analyze sequence data, opened the way to large scale population genomic analyses. For many pathogens, population genomics and molecular epidemiology have become crucial tools for research, but also for surveillance, monitoring and diagnostic. In my group we use large-scale genomics to study the population biology and epidemiology of microbial pathogens. Currently our main focus is on a pathogen of wheat, the fungus Blumeria graminis f.sp. tritici, causing  wheat powdery mildew. We are also working with a human pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causal agent of tuberculosis.