Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/14
Outputs Target Audience: The target audience for this project included many groups as follows: 1.University of Delaware undergraduate students:Melanie Allen, Sara Laskowski, Sarah Thorne and Jaqueline Hoban were all interns with on this USDA-ISE project for approximately one year. During the summer of 2012, the students were paired with UD Project Directors (listed above) to plan out modules to be incorporated into their courses in future years. 2.University of Lavras (UFLA; Brazil) graduate "Sandwich" students: a. Glauco Teixeira (2012; Donofrio lab - targeted deletion of genes involved in membrane structure in the rice blast fungus) b. Henrique Montero Ferro (2012; Bais lab - developed a FISH technique to identify a specific Bacillus in cotton plants for plant protection and growth) c. Silvino Moreira (2013; Donofrio lab - establishment of mating types and sexual reproduction in our rice blast fungus strains; gene expression patterns of genes involved in mating; confocal microscopy of sexual reproductive structures) d. Fabiano Perina (2013; Wisser lab) e. Matheus (2013-2014; Schmidt lab) f. Antonio (2013-2014; Schmidt lab) g. Camila Alves (2014; Donofrio lab - comparative genomics of rice blast strains; targeted deletion generation in rice blast fungus) h. Iracema Luz (2014; Barton program - worked for UD Botanical Garden's and shadowed Dr. Barton in her extension roles) i. Samuel Julio Martin (2014-2015; Bais lab - studying seed exudates from common bean to enhance efficacy of Bacillus to bind bean plants and promote growth, health and drought tolerance) j. Thaís Ramos (2015-2016; Kniel lab - pre-harvest food safety; microbial inactivation by natural compounds) k. Mariana Coelho (2015-2016; Kniel lab - pre-harvest food safety; microbial inactivation by natural compounds) 3. Faculty at UD and UFLA UD faculty (and Co-project directors) include: Nicole Donofrio, James Sims, Kirk Czymmek (re-located mid-project, but still helped from afar), Harsh Bais, Sue Barton, Greg Shriver, Angelia Seyfferth, Kali Kniel, Randy Wisser, Carl Schmidt, Eric Benson, Titus Awokuse UFAL faculty and (and Co-project directors) include: Antonia dos Reis Figueira, Eduardo Alves, Flavio Medeiros, Patricia Duarte de Oliveira Paiva, Julio Louzada, Luiz Guilherme, Rosane Schwan, Disney Dias, Joao Candido de Souza, Luciano Perreira, Joel Sugano Changes/Problems: The only change to report is that Co-PI Kirk Czymmek relocated roughly half-way through the project, however he did attempt to contribute for the following 6 months thereafter. It was problematical to the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Three of the Sandwich students have presented at either regional or national meetings, and almost all of the Sandwich students have presented their research at departmental seminars or similar venues. Sandwich students who worked in the Donofrio lab often were provided with training opportunities by having to train undergraduate students. UD students working with Co-Project Director Carl Schmidt worked with many poultry farmers in Brazil over several trips to collect specimens. During this time, they learned poultry husbandry in Brazil. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Dissemination Information from this project has been disseminated in several different ways; through UD faculty teaching at UFLA and vice versa, through continued contacts and collaborations between faculty at UD and UFLA, through Sandwich students attending and presenting at regional and national meetings, and through planned manuscripts for peer-reviewed publications. This partnership between UFLA and UD and this particular project, has been advertised widely across the entire UD campus, which resulted in the Symposium being widely attended by faculty and students from other departments and colleges, including Dr. Peter McLaughlin, who had spent six months sabbatical at a different University in Brazil, and works in the Delaware Geological Survey Department at UD. Dr. McLaughlin gave a talk during the Symposium, and now is bringing in Sandwich students of his own. The main vehicle through which information is disseminated in a wider forum is via our website, which can be found at this link: http://sites.udel.edu/brazil-usda-ise/. It is an ongoing process, and will continue to be updated throughout the rest of the year. Colleagues at UFLA have access to this website, as well. Finally, information about our project is disseminated through UDaily, which is UD's online news service. Links to these stories can be found at the following websites: 1. 2011 Initial article about receipt of USDA-ISE award and description of project: http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/mar/brazil-students-030712.html 2. 2012 First delegation of UD faculty and students to UFLA: http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/apr/ud-ufla-brazil-042412.html 3. 2012 Science w/out borders UFLA undergraduates attend UD for about 1 year (working in labs of USDA-ISE Project Directors): http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/mar/brazil-students-030712.html 4. 2012 Dr. Joel Sugano visits with Dr. Titus Awokuse to teach in his classes at UD: http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/mar/brazil-agriculture-031912.html 5. 2013 Second delegation of UD faculty and students to UFLA: http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2013/may/brazil-chickens-research-050113.html 6. 2013 Student Interns visit UFLA for one month: http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2014/oct/ufla-brazil-studies-100213.html 7. 2014: three UDaily articles about the UFLA-UD Symposium. Two before (advertisements; descriptions): http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2014/feb/brazil-symposium-021914.html; http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2014/apr/brazilian-spring-041514.html And after: http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2014/may/brazil-053014.html What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
University of Delaware Student Intern Training and Module Development Melanie Allen, Sara Laskowski, Sarah Thorne and Jaqueline Hoban were all interns with on this USDA-ISE project for approximately one year. During the summer of 2012, the students were paired with UD Project Directors (listed above) to plan out modules to be incorporated into their courses in future years. The overall goal was to "internationalize" various curricula, and this including many facets of our college from plant pathology, to applied economics, to food safety. In June of 2013, the interns traveled to UFLA for one month to finish work on their modules by collecting additional data from UFLA colleagues and students, as well as participated in numerous educational and experiential field trips led by the UFLA Project Directors (listed above). During this month, several UD PDs also accompanied the students to UFLA, including Drs. Shriver, Schmidt, Barton and Seyfferth. Three of the students have now graduated (Thorne is in vet school; Allen is in graduate school in wildlife ecology; Laskowski works for the Peace Corps in Africa) and Hoban will graduate this year. Overall, the interns provided extremely positive feedback from their trip, gained a global perspective on aspects such as wildlife conservation and ecology, agriculture and landscapes. Several of them became proficient in Portuguese. Of the modules developed, four of them have been taught in courses in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources; of note is Dr. Kniel's class "Food for Thought" which enrolls upwards of 200 undergraduate students per semester, who are receiving a "globalized" view of food safety issues through this module. Guest Lecturing Thus far, Drs. Barton, Donofrio, Seyfferth, Wisser, Shriver and Schmidt have guest lectured at UFLA during their visits, or via video conference calls. Dr. Donofrio taught a one week lab course at UFLA in 2012, and Dr. Schwan provides a lecture in Dr. Donofrio's Fermentation Sciences course on fermented beverages of Brazil, via video conference. This course exchange will continue into the foreseeable future, as it is in keeping with UFLA's goals of lecturing in English, and having their faculty provide in-English lectures to other Universities. We have hosted or are hosting a total of 10 Sandwich, and one masters' student(s) through this project, in project PD's programs as follows: 1. Glauco Teixeira (2012; Donofrio lab - targeted deletion of genes involved in membrane structure in the rice blast fungus) 2. Henrique Montero Ferro (2012; Bais lab - developed a FISH technique to identify a specific Bacillus in cotton plants for plant protection and growth) 3. Silvino Moreira (2013; Donofrio lab - establishment of mating types and sexual reproduction in our rice blast fungus strains; gene expression patterns of genes involved in mating; confocal microscopy of sexual reproductive structures) 4. Fabiano Perina (2013; Wisser lab) 5. Matheus (2013-2014; Schmidt lab) 6. Antonio (2013-2014; Schmidt lab) 7. Camila Alves (2014; Donofrio lab - comparative genomics of rice blast strains; targeted deletion generation in rice blast fungus) 8. Iracema Luz (2014; Barton program - worked for UD Botanical Garden's and shadowed Dr. Barton in her extension roles) 9. Samuel Julio Martin (2014-2015; Bais lab - studying seed exudates from common bean to enhance efficacy of Bacillus to bind bean plants and promote growth, health and drought tolerance) 10. Thaís Ramos (2015-2016; Kniel lab - pre-harvest food safety; microbial inactivation by natural compounds) 11. Mariana Coelho (2015-2016; Kniel lab - pre-harvest food safety; microbial inactivation by natural compounds) Our Project Directors from University of Delaware have made strong connections with Project Directors at UFLA, as per the following table: UD Project Director UFLA Project Director Topic Nicole Donofrio Eduardo Alves Molecular Plant Pathology Antonia dos Reis Figueira Molecular Plant Pathology Harsh Bais Flavio Medeiros Beneficial Plant Microbes Susan Barton Patricia Duarte de Oliveira Paiva Sustainable Landscapes/Horticulture Greg Shriver Julio Louzada Wildlife Ecology/sustainability Angelia Seyfferth Luiz Guilherme Soil/Plant Interfaces Kali Kniel Rosane Schwan Food Safety Disney Dias Food Safety Randy Wisser Joao Candido de Souza Plant Breeding and Genetics Carl Schmidt, Eric Benson Luciano Perreira Poultry Science, Genomics Titus Awokuse Joel Sugano Agricultural Economics Tom Powers Pedro Neto Ethics of Biofuel Usage and Consumption Tom Sims Jose de Lima Water and Soil Resources
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Teixeira, G. A.; Alves, E.; Faria, M. D. R.; Moreira, S. I.; Mathioni, S. M.; Donofrio, N. M. 2013. Characterization and targeted deletion of Bin1 in Magnaporthe oryzae and its effect on fungal development and plant infection process. PHYTOPATHOLOGY Volume: 103 Issue: 6 Supplement: 2 Pages: 143-144
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs OUTPUTS: The goals of our international project with the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA) in Brazil are manifest in two objectives: (1) Internationalize UD and UFLA Curricula and (2) Build research links and partnerships between faculty and students at UD and UFLA that enhance graduate student education and research. Our work towards these goals is outlined below. Activities: PI Donofrio taught one course at UFLA in Brazil in March, 2012. Donofrio was accompanied by two co-PIs, Drs. Greg Shriver and Tom Powers. Two graduate students also came on this trip, Zachary Ladin (student of Dr. Shriver) and Emily Alff (advised by Dr. Bais, a co-PI on this project, and worked with Dr. Donofrio). Ms. Alff and Dr. Donofrio conducted a week long class on fungal transformation, in the lab of Dr. Eduardo Alves, Donofrio's collaborator. Since the beginning of this project, the co-PIs have mentored four UFLA students in their labs as part of the Brazil "sandwich" program; the Brazilian government pays for their stipend, while this USDA-ISE grant provides a supply budget for the hosting PI's lab. The students are Glauco Teixeira, who worked in the Donofrio lab, November 2011 - June 2012; Henrique Ferro in the Bais lab, November 2011 - November 2012; Silvino Moreira in the Donofrio lab, August 2012 - May 2013; Fabiano Perina in the Wisser lab, September 2012 - June 2013. The PIs on this grant are also mentoring four undergraduate interns from UD who applied and were accepted into our internship program. They have been working closely with UD PIs, as well as the visiting students and professors from UFLA, to generate "modules" for UD courses. These modules cover specific topics that (a) fit nicely into both Objectives 1 and 2 listed above and (b) help the undergraduates gain an international perspective of agriculture, economics and research ethics in a developing country with a booming agricultural sector. These modules will be taught in PI's courses in fall 2013, and spring 2014 at UD. Events: We hosted a "mini-workshop" at UD in October, 2011, where a soils science professor, Dr. Guilherme from UFLA came to UD with two graduate students and one post-doc. They each gave a presentation, and then there was time to make more connections between UD professors and the UFLA delegation. Dr. Guilherme has since sent his two graduate students to UD for the sandwich program. All of this was facilitated through this mini-workshop, partially supported with funds from this project. Products: As mentioned above, all of the co-PIs on this project have working drafts of course "modules" in hand, and these will be utilized in the next academic year, after the four interns travel to Lavras in June 2013. Dissemination: Email exchanges and visits have been the primary means of communication, however the in the final months of this project, UD will host a Symposium with co-PIs on this project and UFLA PIs and students. All proceedings will be recorded and added to the website, which will be developed over the coming months. This website will host all aspects of the project, and will be supported by the UD web developer, as described in our project narrative. PARTICIPANTS: There is a large team of researchers and students at UD working on this project, as listed below: Co-PIs: Dr. Donofrio: Lead PI on project; has traveled to UFLA in March 2012, and taught one course; has hosted two sandwich students from UFLA in her lab; has worked with one intern on course modules, and facilitates communication between PIs at UD and UFLA. Dr. Sims: Lead PI on project; has assisted with all accomodations for visitors from UFLA and has parlayed this project into an agreement between UD and UFLA for "Science without Borders", an undergraduate program for UD to host UFLA undergraduates for one year for classes and research. Was also the force behind interviewing and selecting team of four undergraduate interns for course module development. Dr. Shriver: Co-PI, traveled to UFLA in March 2012, will teach a course in June 2013, collaborates with a PI at UFLA, has worked with an intern on course module. Dr. Powers: Co-PI, traveled to UFLA in Match 2012, will travel there again in June 2013 to facilitate student exchange in research ethics and science policy. Dr. Wisser: Co-PI, will travel to UFLA in June 2013, is hosting one sandwich student in his lab. Dr. Bais: Co-PI, will travel to UFLA in June 2013, has hosted one sandwich student in his lab. Dr. Benson: Co-PI, will develop training certificate for UFLA in poultry practices, is working with intern. Dr. Taylor: Co-PI, is working with intern, and is a forage biologist. Dr. Barton: is working with intern, and will likely travel to UFLA in June 2013; Dr. Barton specializes in functional roadside landscapes, and is already very familiar with Rio de Janeiro, but wants to see other urban and rural settings. Dr. Kniel: Co-PI, traveled to UFLA in March 2011 with Dr. Awokuse (another co-PI on project) on other monies, but worked to set the stage for this project. Both are working with interns, and will likely take a sandwich student for next year to be co-advised. Interns: Four interns, Ms. Jaqueline Hoban, Ms. Melanie Allen, Ms. Sara Laskowski and Ms. Sarah Thorne, have been receiving a stipend, and working on course modules with UD professors since about May, 2012. Their stipends are finished, however the students have completed rough working drafts of approximately ten course modules. They will also travel to UFLA for the month of June, where they will attend courses, interview faculty and students, and put the final touches on their course modules and capstone course. Partner Organizations and collaborators: UFLA; Dr. Antonia dos Reis Figuera; Dr. Eduardo Alves, Dr. Julio Posada. Training and professional development: Thus far, the faculty who have traveled to Brazil have received professional development; for Donofrio and for other faculty who will teach courses there, this includes a formal certificate from UFLA, and teaching in an international setting, which requires a different skill set than teaching in the US. TARGET AUDIENCES: As mentioned in a previous section, one course has been taught at UFLA in March, 2012 on fungal transformation techniques. This was taught by PI Donofrio, and TAed by a UD graduate student, Ms. Emily Alff. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Project Modifications: Since the beginning of this project, we have lost Dr. Greg Binford, a nutrient management specialist, and Dr. Kirk Czymmek (a microscopy and fungal pathology expert), both of whom left UD for different jobs. We have since recruited onto the project Dr. Carl Schmidt, who is an evolutionary biologist, focusing on poultry. He brings his knowledge of evolution and bioinformatics expertise to this project, both of which were originally lacking. We would like to recruit Dr. Amy Shober, a nutrient management specialist to this project, however she just joined faculty at UD in September 2012, and so needs some time to adjust. We hope she will join starting in June 2013, for the final year of the project.
Impacts Change in knowledge: The four interns mentioned in the preceding section have learned immensely about a topic (agriculture in Brazil) upon which they knew little to nothing prior to this experience. Further, they have gained more knowledge and appreciate of what professors in the Ag and Arts and Sciences colleges do at UD, since many of them are working with project co-PIs on topics outside their majors. The four UFLA sandwich students I know have benefited immensely from their experiences here: as an example, Donofrio's first student, Mr. Teixeira, learned very basic methods in her lab on growing sterile cultures of fungus. This practice was not in place when she went to visit UFLA in 2012. He has not only learned this skill for himself, but he has brought it back to his home lab in UFLA, and will be able to teach others. The PIs who have thus far traveled to Brazil have also benefited by learning more about their agriculture, both applied and basic, at UFLA. We have also learned and will continue to learn, a great deal about biodiesel at UFLA; they have "model" biodiesel plants, right on the University campus, where students may learn a practical and important process; along these lines, professors in the animal sciences are experimenting with different types of grasses to determine what they can use to (a) graze cattle and (b) also use as fuel for biodiesel. This is a fascinating aspect of what is happening at UFLA. These practices will be taught to students at UD, and hopefully, eventually adopted here.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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