Issue 4 •​ 2019​

​​​Please also visit the tribute to Dr. Jim Alfano in the MPMI journal​. James “Jim” Robert Alfano, 56, Charles Bessey Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), died Nov. 21, 2019, following a battle with cancer. Jim served 17 years with UNL, joining the faculty in 2002….

im Alfano was an active supporter of science (his own and that of others) using social media. He frequently tweeted about plant-microbe interactions news and updates from his account. He also maintained a Scoop.it page on plant-microbe interactions, through which he curated the literature. It is, therefore, not surprising that…

In order to include the viewpoints of our members in training in Society decision-making and Congress planning, the IS-MPMI Board of Directors (BOD) would like to add two graduate student or postdoc members to the board. The term length of these positions will be two years (Congress to Congress), although…

The United Nations (UN) has designated 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH), establishing a year to recognize and protect plant health. Designating the year as such is expected to increase awareness among both the public and policymakers of the importance of healthy plants and the necessity…

Editor’s note: This is the first article in a new series for IS-MPMI Interactions called InterConnections (because it connects Interactions with the MPMI journal), where we will highlight first authors of “Editor’s Pick” articles from the MPMI journal. The November “Editor’s Pick” is “Mai1 Protein Acts Between Host Recognition of…

​January is National Mentoring Month in the United States, but awareness of the importance of mentoring in workplace interactions is essential everywhere. Whether you are hosting a summer research intern for the first time or have mentored students and postdocs for decades, it’s a good idea to think about the…

Focus issue guest editors Aiming Wang, Tessa Burch-Smith, and Yi Li have compiled 10 research and review articles that explore aspects of the cell biology of virus interactions, both with the plant hosts and their insect vectors. Articles include: Molecular Plant-Plum Pox Virus Interactions Bernardo Rodamilans, Adrián Valli, and Juan…

In the first full-length episode of the MPMI journal podcast, Microgreens host and biology professor Raka Mitra interviews Jeff Dangl, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. When she started as a postdoc in the plant pathogenesis…