Jan Leach, "Pieces of the Phytobiome: Multitrophic and Environmental Influences on Plant Health"

Jan Leach is the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Agriculture, University Distinguished Professor at Colorado State University and an Adjunct Scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (Philippines). She is an authority on the molecular biology of plant-pathogen interactions.  Her research focuses on understanding the molecular basis of durable disease resistance, particularly in rice-pathogen interactions. Other projects currently underway in her laboratory are related to understanding the impacts of increasing temperatures associated with a changing climate on plant disease and resistance, microbiome-insect-plant interactions, the development of novel tools for detection and monitoring of microbes associated with plants, and bioenergy (genetics of biomass production). Leach is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).