Dr Alba Pacheco-Moreno

Alba is a postdoctoral scientist in the Arora group. Her research aims to characterise the composition of the fungal disease complex known as pea root rot.

Pea root rot is caused by different fungal species such as Aphanomyces, Fusarium, Didymella or Pythium which can produce enormous loses in the pea crop.

Alba will implement the use of Nanopore sequencing to study the dynamics of this pathogenic consortium in different locations within the UK. Additionally, we will optimise the use of LAMP technology to quantitatively determine the composition of the pea root rot complex that enables the implementation of a rapid in situ diagnostic tool for pea growers.

In previous research for her PhD project “Identifying the genetic determinants of barley colonisation by the growth-promoting biocontrol agent Pseudomonas fluorescens” Alba studied the plant–microbe recognition process in the rhizosphere. The main goal of this research was providing the basis for plants with an improved ability to recruit beneficial microbes.