Plantopia Episode 3_V2
Tue, 6/28 2:26PM • 36:11
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
fungi, plant pathology, students, diseases, marin, people, aspergillus, plant, fungus, jim, research, class, plant pathologist, molecular techniques, work, interested, treat, university, georgia, tomatoes

00:00
Jim: Welcome back to the Plantopia podcast. Plantopia is produced by the American Phytopathological Society. And I'm your host Jim Bradeen, a professor of plant pathology and Associate Vice President for strategy at Colorado State University. And today I'm talking with Marin Talbot Brewer. Marin is a soon-to-be professor of mycology at the University of Georgia, where she will be promoted later this fall. She holds a research and teaching position and in this episode, we're going to talk about both research and teaching. So I'll hold off on describing that for just a moment. Marin has also held several high profile leadership positions and has pursued service activities including until very recently a stint as executive vice president of the Mycological Society of America. She is currently senior editor of Phytopathology. She has held numerous service roles at the University of Georgia, and she in 2021, was an invited plenary speaker at the plant health online annual meeting of the American Phytopathological Society. And you can find Marin on Twitter @marintallbrew, that's m-a-r-i-n-t-a-l-b-r-e-w. Marin, welcome to Plantopia. 

01:24
Marin: Thanks, I'm happy to be here. 

01:27
Jim: We're delighted to have you and your research is really fascinating. I think it's outside of the norm for what we might think of as a typical plant pathology impact. I'd love to sort of jump into research right away. If you don't mind, sir. That'd be great. So as your website describes, your research focuses on population biology of emerging fungal diseases in plants and people and your research has been funded by what we might think of as really traditional sources for Plant Pathology research, including USDA,AFRI, the National Science Foundation and commodity groups. But, your research has also been funded by what I think is an unusual source, the CDC, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Earlier this year you published in the journal G3, a paper with the intriguing title Evidence for the Agricultural Origin of Resistance to Multiple Antimicrobials and Aspergillus Fumigatus, a Fungal Pathogen of Human. Now first, I want to start with a background question. We're all acutely aware that viruses are very important to human health. I've heard of numerous bacterial pathogens of humans, beyond athletes, but I don't really think of fungal pathogens as being much of a threat to humans. So could you give us a little background on Aspergillus fumigatus, what it is and why we really care about that? 

02:31
Marin: Sure. Yeah. So Aspergillus fumigatus, is a plant associated fungus, and it's thermotolerant. So it can withstand high temperatures, it's found a lot on plant material, it's found in compost. And because it has this thermal tolerance, it can also grow inside the human body. And when it does, is inhaled from the environment. The spores of this fungus are inhaled. And then in people who are immunocompromised, or people who have lung disease, such as COPD or asthma, it can actually colonize the lungs and start to grow causing a disease known as aspergillosis. And in people who are immunocompromised, or being treated for cancer, people undergoing chemotherapy, if this fungus grows inside the lungs, and they're not able to treat it very well, it can be fatal, and a lot of cases so having effective treatments are really important. And the thing that has been happening lately with Aspergillus fumigatus is when people are acquiring the disease and are being treated, they aren't able to treat it because it's resistant to the first line of therapy, which are antifungal drugs. So this has made it a really big problem. Not only is this a serious disease, but it's even more serious when it can't be treated with these antifungals that are used in medicine. And fungal diseases in general have been increasing. So like you mentioned, bacteria and viruses are the infectious agents people usually think of when they think about human disease, but fungi probably over the last 30 years have been getting a lot more attention, especially these really scary fungi so things like athlete's foot and ringworm. Those are pretty mild and can be treated pretty easily. But these ones that actually grow inside the body. These invasive fungi can cause really serious problems and frequently can lead to people dying. The reason a lot of these have been increasing is just the population has been changing. So people are living longer people are older, we see more people who are immunocompromised, a lot more people are able to get organ transplants and be treated with different drugs that allow them to live a lot longer and survive, you know if they have an organ transplant, but in a lot of cases, these people are immunosuppressed. And then that makes them susceptible to a lot of these really scary fungal diseases, including aspergillosis. 

02:52
Jim: It's incredibly interesting. I understand that there are in the U.S., or perhaps worldwide, 300,000 cases of this per year. Yeah. So it is a pretty big problem. And could you talk a bit about how you got involved in this line of research? 

05:49
Marin: Sure. Yeah. And actually, one thing I wanted to mention, too, when you brought up the 300,000 cases, that number is probably going to increase because there's a condition called CAPA, c-a-p-a, which stands for COVID-19  Associated Pulmonary Aspergillosis. So COVID, being a long issue, increases the susceptibility of people to aspergillosis. So that is also playing a role making aspergillosis an even bigger problem. But yeah, it is interesting how I got into this area, because I am traditionally a plant pathologist, not a person who works on human diseases. So the way it started is I had a graduate student who was working on diseases of watermelon. And my main background is looking at population biology of fungi that cause plant diseases. And that's what he was doing. He was looking at these different fungi that are very closely related, but they're morphologically indistinguishable, genetically distinct. And one of the things that makes them distinct is they varied in their fungicide resistance profile. So one was resistant to a group of fungicides that are known as the azoles, or the triazoles. And then the other closely related species was resistant to the Kyoto eyes, or the quinone outside inhibitor group of fungicides. And so this is really kind of interesting. And one reason why we want to know more about population biology, because you might want to manage these diseases different with different fungicides and know what's out in your watermelon field. So anyway, my student was working on this and he wanted to present and what's great at the University of Georgia is we have this group of researchers known as fungal group. And when I first got here, 12 years ago, there were probably around maybe 10 different researchers and all of their students and all of their postdocs. And we would participate in this fungal group every week and hear from different people. Some of the researchers are in microbiology, some are more in genetics, some are in Plant Biology. And then there are a lot of us in plant pathology. And it's a really great way to exchange different information about the world of fungi. But what was so great about the time when my student was presenting, he was presenting and one of the other fungal researchers who works on Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus fumigatus. Michele Momony, who's here at the University of Georgia. She was shocked when she heard that trials are applied to watermelons. And she was like, "wait, are these the same trials that are used to treat human diseases?" And I was like, "yeah, yeah, those are the same things." And she was then telling us about how this is such a serious problem with Aspergillus fumigatus. Because it's difficult to treat people who are infected with this fungus because it's become resistant to triazoles, as well. And so she was just surprised that they're sprayed and, you know, large amounts on all sorts of different crops. And so we started talking about it. And a couple months later, a call came out from the president's office here at the University of Georgia, for enough people to apply for this interdisciplinary seed grant. And we thought, well, this would be a perfect opportunity to bring up the interdisciplinarity of our work and work maybe with people at the CDC and see if they would be interested. So we reached out to the mycotic diseases group and put together this proposal and it was one of 12 across the entire university that was funded, and we pretty much hit the ground running with this work. And it was so interesting what we were finding that shortly thereafter, that first small seed grant was funded. We received additional funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and more recently have received funding from the US Department of Agriculture AFRI to continue working in this area and try to understand where most of this resistance is developing and where we're finding Aspergillus fumigatus.

06:29
in the environment because it is associated with plant material, and it is found in a lot of environments where we have crop plants. So yeah, that was kind of how it started. And there's been a lot going on since then. But it just shows how having this fungal group or all these different people come together to talk about fungi, and some are very basic, some are very molecular, but it really spins off a lot of new ideas. And now we've had a lot more people join fungal group, people with more medical backgrounds, people looking at chromatin structure, all sorts of different areas, and it just keeps growing. There's this huge interest in fungi right now among students, graduate students, undergraduates, postdocs, so the group has really grown, we used to meet in a conference room. And now we have to meet in like almost like a lecture hall, because so many people are part of the group now. 

09:59
Jim: That's really incredible, fascinating story. And I think it really underpins the idea that plant pathology is such a broad interdisciplinary field unto itself. And I think it really prepares us for career paths that may not always be obvious, in your recent research on the touches on human health really underscores that that's really great work. Now, in addition to that project, you still are very committed to crop pathology, and in particular, emerging diseases of crop plants. Could you talk a bit about that? 

11:21
Marin: Sure. Yeah. So I am at heart, a plant pathologist, and my favorite fungi are ones that are associated with plants and ones that cause plant disease. So there are several different areas I've been working on. One being the fungus that causes target spot, which is a disease that did emerge several years ago, on cotton, it's caused problems on tomato, and soybean, it's really started causing a lot of problems throughout the south east. So we were interested in understanding why is it the same fungus and the same populations of fungi that are causing disease on cotton, tomato, and soybean? Are they different, and this is a big concern, because in a lot of areas, we grow cotton and soybean in rotation with each other? So it is the same fungus that really influences how the disease would be managed. So we looked into that and found it was actually three completely different populations. And it wasn't that the fungus that was causing a lot of problems on cotton had come from soybean or vice versa. And the same with tomato. They're independent populations that are causing the same disease, and it's the same species. So I am still interested in understanding disease emergence, there's also another emerging disease on pecan and it's caused by this fungus that was identified as a Neofusicoccum. But we weren't really sure which species it was, and ended up it's a completely new species that's causing this new disease and it kills the terminal leaflets of pecan. So yeah, we studied it found it's a completely new species and never been described. So we described that, and right now that one doesn't seem to be too much of a problem, because it's controlled by the fungicides that are used to control other diseases. But if it ever develops fungicide resistance, it could end up being a big threat to the pecan industry. So yeah, those are just some examples of some of the plant pathogens that I still work with. 

13:17
Jim: So when we're talking about emerging diseases, how do you first learn about these emerging disease problems that you're working on? 

13:25
Marin: From my colleagues, the plant pathologists that work more closely with the growers. They're the ones who tell me about these problems. So when I started at the University of Georgia target spot was really starting to become a problem on cotton. And my colleague,  Bob Kemerait was hopeful that this is something I'd be interested in. So he told me about it told me how it also affected tomatoes told me how it affected soybean and how now it was really causing a lot of problems on cotton. And they had a lot of questions about where it came from, if it also affected soybean if it was the same thing. So I started looking into it and thought this is actually a really interesting system, because here you have this fungus with a really broad host range, but it specialized on certain crops. It's actually emerging on a lot of other crops across the world. It's a fungus that kills its host using toxins. I was fascinated by it and very interested in working on it. So together, we were able to get funding from a commodity group, Cotton Incorporated, to study this. And then the same with the pecan problem to Brennaman who works on pecans told me about this issue and that they wanted to know what it was. And so he works with people out in the field knows what these problems are, but needed my help trying to figure out what the actual fungus was, if it was a new species, how we go about normally describing new species. And so that one I was really interested in too especially because there's this issue where if it could develop fungicide resistance, it would be a really big problem and that's how some diseases emerge as well. It might be because a disease that used to be able to be controlled with certain fungicides is now resistant, and all of a sudden causing problems again. So that's another area, I'm interested in kind of the non target effects of using fungicides and how that causes other diseases, including the aspergillosis problem. But yeah, I learned about these from the people I work with here at the University of Georgia and other universities, especially in the southeast. So at the University of Florida, Clemson, Auburn, other areas where we work on kind of the same crops. 

13:47
Jim: Yeah, those networks are incredibly important. And certainly, you know, those interactions with farmers and producers were those diseases first show up most of the time. 

15:39
Marin: Right. Yeah. And always like, so my area is much more basic trying to figure out why the disease is emerging, where it came from, you know, what's the host range? Does it affect other crops that are in rotation with that crop, but it really does help the growers and other people I work with to figure out the basic biology and population biology of these diseases so that they can then figure out the best management strategies. So it really does help the other researchers doing more of the applied work trying to manage diseases, but then that gets transferred to the growers who can use this information to improve crop production and manage diseases better and hopefully, you know, have less inputs and better yield and all the things that help the farmers. 

16:26
Jim: And pathology really is a spectrum, isn't it?

16:31
Marin. Right. Yeah, that's why it's such a great field. And it's an opportunity to learn all sorts of new things all the time. I mean, there's biochemistry, genetic, insects are involved sometimes with these different diseases, field work, lab work, greenhouse work. It's very dynamic. And I really like being a plant pathologist because I learn new things all the time. 

16:54
Jim: Absolutely. I can relate to that. I'm hearing a lot of passion there. So when you were a young child to life goal to be a plant pathologist?

17:03
Marin: I didn't know what a plant pathologist was until after I had graduated from undergrad. But as a kid, I did always like plants. My mom had a lot of plants. And I remember once when I was really little, there was this little tomato kit and you can grow tomatoes. And this was just like a little tray. And then you put water in one side and there was cotton or something that would wick the water into the soil. And I had forgotten to water it and the little tomato seedlings all dried out, I was very upset. But it was my first experience with plants and plants dying. But I had no idea what plant pathology was when I was little, but I did always like plant. And so when I was an undergrad at the University of Cincinnati, it took me a while to get back to plants. But I was definitely interested in biology. And I took some plant classes later, it must have been my junior year. And that's when I realized I really did find plants much more interesting than other areas of biology. So I took a few more plant classes, I did some undergrad research looking at the effects of plant root exudates on soil microbial communities. And that work was to better understand phyto remediation. So in some cases, you can plant plants in areas that are contaminated and the plants are able to break down certain compounds in the soil. And in this case, we were interested in how the plants would stimulate the bacteria to break down the compounds in the soil. So I started off I guess it was after I graduated with really strong interest in the relationships between plants and bacteria and other microbes in the soil. And then the way I found out about plant pathology is I don't know if this was through a friend or how I decided I wanted to be a federal employee, but I was really interested in federal jobs. And I was looking for jobs that involve either field work or working with plants or working in a lab, anything that had to do with plants. And I came across a position that was with the USDA and the ARS, which I didn't know about the ARS, the Agricultural Research Service, before that. And the job was about looking at the effects of different crop rotations and how they would affect the soil microbial communities and how that would reduce plant diseases so that less fungicides or other inputs would be needed. And that's where I first saw the term plant pathology. And so I wanted to apply for the job but I wanted to know more about this plant pathology. So I went to the local library and looked up plant pathology and found that there was this book- this agrios book - that was the main reference for Plant Pathology. 

19:42
Jim: We've all cut our teeth on I agree else I think. 

19:45
Marin: Yeah, exactly. And it just a funny looking back when I remember pulling the book off the shelf at the library. I mean, that's how I learned about plant pathology and I ended up getting the job and fell in love with plant pathology. I loved working at first with the bacteria and soil but then I was introduced to the fungi in the soil and took some classes there. This was in me and I took some classes at the University of Maine and learned about fungi and decided that's what I wanted to do with the rest of my life is work on fungi that were associated with plants or causing plant diseases or living in the soil. But that's where I realized that I love mycology and plant pathology was there at the University of Maine and at the ARS, and what came after that. So, yeah. So after that, I had taken some classes at the University of Maine that were more molecular. So this was the late 90s, early 2000s, when I started and I wanted to learn more about molecular techniques. And I really loved the class and wanted more experience doing research with different molecular techniques. And so for about three years, I worked at Ohio State University in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Sciences, and learned a lot of ways to look at tomatoes using molecular techniques. And I really enjoyed what I was learning there. But one of the most exciting things that happened was there was this outbreak in the greenhouse and all the tomatoes had this condition, we weren't really sure what it was. And we tried to figure out what's going on with the tomatoes, we thought maybe with some soil borne issue or some other disease, it ended up it was one of the compounds used to treat the different pruning tools that we had had burned all of the plants. But that's when I realized, oh, my gosh, I have to go back to plant pathology. I like learning all of this molecular work, I liked working with tomatoes and understanding the different genetics of tomatoes, but I realized I really need to go back to plant pathology. And I was looking at different programs and decided I was interested in going to Cornell University, which has a really amazing plant pathology department. So I applied and was accepted and started there. And that's where I was really able to expand my plant pathology from more of a soil microbiology, and more looking at crop rotations, and how those could minimize disease into looking at population biology and trying to use these molecular techniques that I learned at Ohio State to understand kind of how fungi evolved to cause disease and how they move around the globe, and how we could use this information about fungi and how they evolved to understand how diseases might spread. So I was working on powdery mildew and how closely they're related and how diverse they are in the place where they originate compared to where they've been introduced. So powdery mildew and grapes are native to the Eastern US. And we found a lot more diversity there compared to where the powdery mildew was introduced. So in Europe, and then we were able to track that actually, it looked like the powdery mildew strains from Europe were introduced into California when grape vines were introduced. So it was an interesting project. And I did a lot more with powdery mildew that I don't need to go on and on about. But it was such a great experience. And it made me realize how much I liked working on fungal population biology and plant diseases. So when I was finishing up, I was looking for job opportunities. And I had been a teaching assistant at Cornell. And I really liked teaching a lot. And I knew I wanted a position that had a good balance of research and teaching. And so the position for mycologist opened up in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Georgia. And I almost didn't apply because it said postdoctoral experience strongly preferred or something like that. So I almost didn't apply. And I'm so glad I did. Because here I am now at the University of Georgia, and I've been here for 11 years. 

23:41
Jim: We're glad you applied to you mentioned teaching that to say I love having conversations with you because you're so passionate about plant psychology. And your experiences are so diverse. And I always come away completely excited about what I do. So thank you for that. I think that translates really well into teaching. You've earned multiple teaching awards, as well as student mentoring awards. I understand that up to 500 students a year are enrolled in your course "Fungi, Friends and Foes." Can you tell us a little bit about that?

24:15
Marin:  So when the course was taught online, I was able to open enrollment up to 500 because that's what zoom would support in the biggest classroom we can get holds about 375. So this past year, we had to cut back a little bit but there were students emailing me Please can I get in and it was unfortunate that that was the most we could accommodate. But "Fungi, Friends and Foes" is a class that introduces students to fungi and their impacts on human civilization. And I knew of course, like this is something that could happen because at Cornell University there's a similar course called magical mushrooms, mischievous molds, and when I was there, George Hodler taught it and I was able to see what that class was like and see his enthusiasm. So when I was here at UGA, the first time I taught the class there were around 90 students in it. And I had all this enthusiasm for fungi and how they impact people, I made some changes to the way the class was taught here use some of the ideas from George Hodler, or from some other people to make it kind of my own. And the next year, the enrollment went up to about 125. The next year, we had to get a bigger room that could hold like 250 students so we could fit more people. And then we kept expanding to bigger and bigger rooms, because the students love this class. They love that it's an introduction to fungi, and all the amazing things they do. And I really make sure that in the class, I bring up all the important things of how fungi affect their lives, and why they are so important. And one of the things the students say a lot at the end of the semester, and some of the reviews that they leave is that they took the class because one of their friends recommended it. And they didn't think much of fungi. But after they took the course now they have this huge appreciation for fungi. And they see fungi everywhere and the world around them. So one of the things I've done over the past couple years since we can't do some of the activities we had before where we had these lab demos, or I'd have this big fungal feast at the end of the semester, I created these fungi days where the students would, instead of coming to lecture, they would just go out on their own and try to find a fungus and identify it using an app that's available. Or they would make some sort of meal with fungi. Or they would read a paper about fungi. And then they would respond and tell me about what they did. And they really liked that too, because it gets them interacting with fungi. And the past couple of years I've gotten a lot of feedback from students that they love that fungi day part of the class. So there were two fungi days where they would just kind of do their own thing with fungi in kind of experienced the world of fungi on their own. So yeah, the class it's very popular here at the University of Georgia. And I like it because a lot of these students are maybe even they're not interested in going into science necessarily, or they're not interested in plant pathology. But they have this love of fungi for the rest of their lives because I've taken this class. And sometimes they'll email me years later, like "Dr. Brewer, look at this, this fungus I found you know what this is," or "I found out this story, I want you to know this." Or one student sent me something about how a mushroom production facility opened up near where he lives. And he wanted me to know about it. So it's great getting all these stories from the students about how they're still involved in the world of fungi even after taking my class. 

27:29
Jim: That's really a testament to your passion, and also the incredibly cool field of mycology, that's really a heartwarming story. You mentioned that you, for reasons that are probably obvious to all of us, moved this course online. It sounds now as though it's back in person. Could you comment a little bit on that thought process? Why not teach this online? 

27:49
Marin: So yeah, that's actually something I'm struggling with right now. So when the class was online, the online Zoom format worked really well for this class, because it's such a huge class. And the students sometimes are in the back, they can't hear as well, they can't participate as much. So on Zoom, it was actually really fun, because we would have the chat open. Some students found that chat distracting, so they'd have to close that, but we'd be commenting in the chat. And people would be talking about some fungus they saw the other day, they also have a group meet, where I've seen this stuff where students are like sharing all these pictures with each other. So it was really engaging, even though it was on Zoom. This past semester, I had to teach an in person, because any course that's traditionally in person had to be in person, but I did allow kind of a hybrid option, because a lot of students were still having a quarantine. So students would show up in person and I would be there in person, but a lot we're participating online. So it was kind of hybrid this past year, and it made me think this class works so well online, maybe I should just permanently take it online, because we would then be able to have more students instead of what's limited by this classroom. I think the largest class here accommodates 375. So online would be great. The only thing then is it would have to be a fully online e course here at UGA. And I'm not sure if it was exclusively an E- or an online course if students who are on campus would be able to take that easily because they'd have to find a place to do the class in between their other in person classes. So it's something I've actually discussed with the administration here, and I'm still debating which might be a better approach, because in persons great, but with this class, I think online actually worked better, but it would have to be a completely different format and then I'm afraid I might lose enrollment. 

29:38
Jim: Yeah, I think a lot of us are struggling with those issues and institutions instructors as well as students online. There are certain advantages, including accessibility, you could make this amazing class available to more students that way. It'll be interesting to see how things play out over the next year. 

29:56
Marin: They really appreciated it too because then they could watch the lectures later students could be able to access better from home they can see the material better because it was right on their computer. My other course I haven't talked about mycology, which is an upper level grad level course about the biology of fungi. That one definitely works much better in person. Because we have discussions. We have fungal collections. We have a lab, it was online for one semester, and we were able to make it work just that one is not it's not as conducive to online as the large lecture class fungi, friends and foes but yeah, mycology is one. So many students take fungi, friends and foes and they all want to take mycology. And now that class which when I first started maybe had 20 students in it, I've had to cap it at 45 and all the undergrads and roll as soon as they can, because they've taken fungi, friends and foes and they want to, you know, get more fungal content. And I could probably grow that one to like 200 or something, too, but it just doesn't work for that kind of class. So I've had it limited to 45, which is a huge amount of students for a psychology class. But it's a lot of fun. 

31:05
Jim: That's really great. And like, again, I see that passion in your voice. And that must translate beautifully to the classroom that we're talking. I'm right at the end of spring semester. Are you looking forward to a nice quiet summer? What are your summer plans? 

31:20
Marin: Yeah, I have people always when they hear that I'm a professor. They're like, "Oh, it must be nice to have this summer off." And it's like, "Yeah, no, I do a lot of research in the summer" of course. But also for the past few years, I've been the faculty coordinator for a research and extension experiences for undergraduate, we just got this continued. So it's crop genetics and genomics to and we bring in 10 to 13 different undergraduates from different universities. We really encourage students from historically excluded groups to apply. So we want to get more students involved in science and in plant science, including Plant Pathology, but we bring these students in, and they are placed in a lab with a research mentor. And they learn about plant science research and what graduate school is like. And they participate in career workshops and hear about different people who work in the plant sciences. And we have science communication workshops, they make up poster, a scientific poster based on the research that they do in the lab, they're in for nine weeks. And then we have a cross campus Research Symposium at the end where the students all present what they've done for this summer. And students from the REEU programs and REU NSF REU programs across campus all participate. So it's a really great kind of event to end the summer. And it's really just a great experience for the students because they're paid and they get to stay in the dorm and they get to see what it's like to be in a lab and work in a lab and figure out if plant science is something they want to do for a career. And if grad school is something that would work for them. So that's what I'm doing this summer, I'm working with the REU students and continuing to do my research.

33:10
Jim: Sounds like a lot of fun for you and for the students. I hope you have a wonderful summer. And before we go, I want to take a moment to plug an upcoming webinar that you'll be part of this is sponsored by the CDC and it's called "Antimicrobial Resistance Exchange" webinar. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that before you go? 

33:28
Marin: Sure. Yeah, so they hold these AMR exchange webinars on a fairly regular basis. And the main audience is practitioners around the world who want to know more about AMR, so mostly in the medical field. And now fungi, and AMR and fungi is a big issue. And the World Health Organization actually just made it a critical issue that we need to understand more about resistance and fungi because it's an increasing threat to public health. So this webinar is going to be with the Associate Director of the CDC, who works on my chronic diseases, and then another mycologist, who works on human diseases, an epidemiologist and a dermatologist and me from kind of the more environment side of AMR. And it's just to talk about this issue of One Health where we can't just look at treating people in the clinic, or we can't just look at treating plants in the environment are looking at treating animals in the veterinary environment. It's like all of these are interrelated. And we have to look at how we affect when we're using fungicides to treat plants that some of the non target effects are that these plant associated fungi that can cause human diseases then become resistant or for treating animals or just how it's all interconnected. And we all kind of have to work together to come up with the best solution. So it's going to be a webinar ,very conversational, discussion panel discussion amongst all of us that are going to be there. And so far there have been about 3000 people who've registered for it. So it's going to be a huge audience, people from around the world. So I'm really looking forward to that. And I'll be talking more about this issue of not just Aspergillus fumigatus, how we use these kind of similar compounds to treat plant diseases and how that relates to then the treatment of human diseases caused by fungi.

35:28
Jim: That sounds really, really exciting. I should mention that this CDC webinar will be recorded, and we will include a link to that on the Plantopia web page when that becomes available. I wish you well. Break a leg with that. And thank you for representing plant pathology. 

35:44
Marin: Thanks.

35:44
Jim: Marin, it's been really wonderful having this conversation today. Again, always enthused when I talk to you and thank you so much for your insights on plant pathology. 

35:53
Marin: Thanks, Jim. This has been fun. 

35:55
Jim: We just heard from Professor Marin Talbot Brewer from the University of Georgia and this is the Plantopia podcast produced by the American Phytopathological Society. I'm host Jim Bradeen and we will talk to you next time.