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Characterize and assess the potential for biocontrol of different isolates of nematophagous fungi, Esteya spp., against B. xylophilus;
Unravel the transcriptomic response of the nematode to these fungal antagonists;
Evaluate their ability to suppress the nematode in maritime pine, P. pinaster, and develop sustainable management strategies for pine wilt disease.
Funding: Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, FCT), through PhD Fellowship 2021.08030.BD.
Start date | 1 January 2022 — 31 December 2025 | End date
"PurPest – Plant pest prevention through technology-guided monitoring and site-specific control" aims to exploit the specific volatile organic compounds released by pests and pathogens or the plants they attack, in order to develop a sensor prototype for the rapid detection of target pests and pathogens:
Phytophthora ramorum;
Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda);
Cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera);
Brown marmorated stinkbug (Halyomorpha halys);
Pinewood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus).
As a collaborator, I will be involved and assist in science communication and other outreach activities.
Funding: HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (RIA) from the European Research Executive Agency (REA)-Green Europe REA.B
Start date | 1 January 2023 — 31 December 2026 | End date
Other projects
During the coronavirus pandemic, I co-founded the online working group Active Plant Nematologists, which aims to foster communication and cooperation between nematologists worldwide, actively participating in monthly meetings and organizing virtual seminars and other projects in science communication of Nematology. We held two successful webinars in 2020 and 2021, both sponsored by ADAMA US, one of which included a global student competition.
Joining the group is free, but you need an invitation; fill out the contact form to request one!
Past projects
I also collaborated on "GI(PiN) – Integrated Management of Pine Forests/Pinewood Nematode", to organize a webinar and workshop for stakeholders and disseminate project outputs through a technical guide.
I contributed to "PineENEMY – Exploring the NEmatode-MYcobiota interactions in Pine Wilt Disease" as a collaborator, from late 2020 until the project's completion in the Fall of 2022, mostly engaging in outreach activities. In parallel, I also contributed to tasks of rePLANT.
In the midst of the 2020 pandemic, I joined the "PineChem – Pine host chemistry and environmental factors driving the epidemiology of the pinewood nematode" project. Despite my contract concluding in the Summer of 2021, I remained actively involved in various project tasks until its closure.
I later joined the team of the "MICROEVOLD – Host-microbe interactions and the evolution of aging" project, to study different aspects of nematodes. I was dedicated to understanding how microbes shape the evolution of aging, using experimental Caenorhabditis elegans populations, selected for early and late fecundity, while exposed to different bacterial strains (Escherichia coli and Serratia marcescens).
Upon completing my Master's thesis, I joined "COCOON – Combined sustainable strategies for root-knot nematode management in protected crops", where I contributed to maintaining and multiplying root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, populations, producing inoculum and assessing the host status of tomato rootstock cultivars to M. incognita. I also conducted bioassays to optimize coating of tomato seeds with chlamydospores of the nematophagous fungus Pochonia chlamydosporia, as well as pot trials and in vitro experiments to evaluate root and soil colonization by P. chlamydosporia in tomato rootstock cultivars.
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