Maher Rwahnih, Director, UC Davis Foundation Plant Services, presents "Delivering new genetics in clean plants: how Foundation Plant Services partners with UC Davis breeding programs".

Dr. Al Rwahnih is the director of Foundation Plant Services at University of California, Davis, and a lecturer in the university’s Department of Plant Pathology. Foundation Plant Services is committed to maintaining and distributing elite disease-tested plant propagation material, and providing plant importation, quarantine, and virus elimination services, all of which rely on sensitive and effective screening for viral pathogens. His ongoing research focuses on the discovery, ecology, genetic diversity, and pathogenicity of viral and other infectious diseases of annual and perennial plants. His primary research goal is developing improved and more cost-effective diagnostic tools for the detection and analysis of plant viruses. Working closely with regulators at USDA-APHIS and California Department of Food and Agriculture, he was instrumental in the acceptance of high throughput sequencing (HTS) as a diagnostic tool for quarantine and/or certification of Prunus, grape, and rose materials. Research conducted by Dr. Al Rwahnih has resulted in over 120 publications and policy development and change at US and international organizations for plant protection.

Host: Mitchell Feldmann (mjfeldmann@ucdavis.edu)