Associate Professor Jonathan Plett works at the Western Sydney University flagship Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment. Jonathan did his PhD at Queen’s University in Canada followed by a post doctoral research position at L’Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), France. One of the main aims of his research is to functionally characterizing the protein- and metabolite-based language that coordinate symbiosis (both pathogenic and mutualistic) between fungi and plants – interactions that impact the continued health and productivity of agriculture. Jonathan specializes in combining a range of different techniques from molecular biology and biochemistry to achieve his research goals. The outcome of this research will be a better understanding of the biological mechanisms used by fungi to colonise plant tissues that can be leveraged in future to mitigate the negative effects associated with biotic and abiotic stressors.
