The International Phytobiomes Conference 2026 will bring together a broad community of U.S. and international scientists from the public and private sectors as well as agricultural stakeholders.
The Conference program will cover a wide range of topics related to phytobiomes and the list of speakers & panelists below reflects the interdisciplinarity of phytobiome science.
Plenary Speakers – Invited Speakers – Selected Speakers – Panelists
Special Guest
The Honourable Robert Black, P. Ag. (Hon)
Senator for Ontario
The Honourable Rob Black, P. Ag. (Hon.) has worked in the rural, agricultural, and leadership arenas for much of his career, with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), 4-H Ontario and the Ontario Soybean Growers. Representing Ontario in the Senate since 2018, he has worked on issues of importance to Canadians related to agriculture and rural communities. He chaired the Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry from 2022 to 2026, and is now Deputy Leader of the Canadian Senators Group.
Senator Black is an Honourary Member of the Canadian Society of Soil Science (2024) and received the Distinguished Service Medal of the International Union of Soil Sciences (2025), the highest recognition of the IUSS presented to world soil leaders who have translated soil science into action. In 2026, he received the CropLife Canada Grassroots Award for advancing the plant science industry and was inducted into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame.
Plenary Speakers
Trevor Charles
University of Waterloo, CA
Trevor Charles is Professor of Biology at the University of Waterloo. Trained as a microbiologist and bacterial geneticist, he holds a B.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of British Columbia, a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from McMaster University, and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Washington. He held a faculty position at McGill University before joining the University of Waterloo, where his research group works at the intersection of microbial genomics, plant-microbe interactions, and environmental surveillance.
Current research activity spans beneficial bacteria in field and controlled environment agriculture, functional metagenomics and novel gene discovery, bacterial genome engineering for the conversion of food waste to bioplastics, and wastewater-based pathogen surveillance, all situated within a circular bioeconomy framework.
Trevor has been actively involved in translating research from his lab into commercial products and services, and as Founder and Executive Director of the Lanterna Black Innovation Hub, is deeply committed to increasing the participation of Black youth in STEM, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Talk Title: From field to greenhouse to barn: Exploring the phytobiome potential across Ontario’s diverse agricultural systems
Kwang-Hyung Kim
Seoul National University, KR
Kwang-Hyung Kim is a Professor at Seoul National University, South Korea, jointly affiliated with the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and the Interdisciplinary Program in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. His research focuses on agro-climatic analytics, plant disease epidemiology, and climate-informed decision support systems for agriculture. Kim’s research integrates machine learning, explainable AI, remote sensing, and process-based modeling to improve crop yield prediction, plant disease forecasting, and agricultural risk assessment under changing climate conditions. His work emphasizes bridging advanced analytical approaches with field-level applicability and operational decision-making in real-world agricultural systems.
With over a decade of international consulting experience, he has collaborated with organizations including FAO, UNDP, CIAT, ADB, and KOICA to support the development of national agro-climatic services and digital agriculture systems across developing countries. His broader research vision centers on multidisciplinary and systems-based approaches that connect climate, crops, and agricultural management for resilient and sustainable food production.
Talk Title: Machine learning meets the field: Agro-climatic analytics for a changing climate
Danica Lombardozzi
Colorado State University & National Center for Atmospheric Research, US
Danica Lombardozzi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability at Colorado State University and a Project Scientist in the Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Her research integrates ecological observations with global-scale modeling to better understand how terrestrial ecosystems respond to and influence environmental change.
Her work has shown how ground-level ozone reduces ecosystem carbon storage, projected future shifts in food availability due to climate change, and evaluated agricultural practices that mitigate climate impacts while supporting food security. Lombardozzi leads the development of the agriculture module in the Community Land Model and co-founded the National Ozone Garden Network, where she directs community science efforts.
She earned a BA in Environmental Science from Colorado College and a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University.
Talk Title: Terrestrial ecosystem responses and feedbacks to changing climate
Invited Speakers
Bridget Emmett
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, UK
Bridget Emmett is a Principal Scientist at UKCEH and leads the inter-disciplinary and multi-partner Environment and Rural Affairs Monitoring and Modelling Programme (ERAMMP) funded by the Welsh Government since 2012 and is PI for other projects which require an inter-disciplinary approach and a focus on policy evaluation and development. Bridget is a Trustee and recent Past President of the British Ecological Society and is a Member of the EU Mission Board for ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’.
Bridget was formerly UKCEH’s Science Area Head for Soils and Land Use (SLU), leading and managing more than 120 research staff and 40 postgraduate students across three UKCEH sites. She often leads projects requiring the coordination of a large number of partners to improve integration across different disciplines and sectors from catchment/landscape to national scale to improve the evidence base and support national policy development and outcome reporting in the areas of e.g. soil health, ecosystem services, agri-environment schemes and natural capital.
Bridget was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her Services to Soil and Ecosystem Sciences in 2023 and the Marsh Award for her Climate Change Research by the British Ecological Society in 2016. She has published over 180 ISI articles, has an h-index of 66 (Scopus) and has a publication record with over 17,000 citations. She sits on a wide range of advisory boards both national and international for governments and research organisations. She served as the Specialist Adviser for the UK Parliamentary Inquiry into Soil Health in 2016.
Talk Title: Soil health, agri-environment schemes and policy evaluation and development
Adrien Frémont
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, US
Adrien Frémont is a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (California) in the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology division.
His research focuses on characterizing the chemical diversity of plant root exudates and their impact on soil microbial communities to develop strategies for climate-resilient agriculture. Adrien completed his PhD in 2024 at the University of Montreal (Canada), where he worked at the Montreal Botanical Garden investigating plant root exudation responses to soil contamination. He earned his Master’s degree in Plant Physiology in 2016 from the University of Rennes 1 (France), during which he studied root exudation adaptations of native Australian plant species at the University of Western Australia in Perth.
In his current work, he employs advanced rhizosphere meta-omic approaches to unravel the intricate biochemical cross-talk between plants and microorganisms in the soil environment, with particular emphasis on cover crops as a natural solution to restore soil health and enhance agricultural sustainability.
Talk Title: Cover crop exudate metabolomes drive rhizosphere microbiome assembly and function
Julia Kelliher
Michigan State University, US
Julia Kelliher obtained her bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Skidmore College and her MS in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University. She has worked in microbiology and microbiome science for ten years and is currently at Michigan State University in the Department of Microbiology, Genetics, & Immunology. Her current research focuses on bacterial-fungal interactions and mycoviruses, as well as soil and plant-associated microbiomes. She also works to develop tools, resources, and educational materials for microbiome research and data management. Towards these goals, she recently led the effort to develop the Standards for Technical Reporting in Environmental and host-Associated Microbiome Studies (STREAMS) guidelines.
Talk Title: STREAM-lining phytobiome research: Community-driven guidelines for data management and reuse
Van Schepler-Luu
IRRI (International Rice Research Institute), PH
Van Schepler-Luu leads the Plant Pathology and Host Plant Resistance Group at IRRI. Her group works on multiple bacterial, fungal, and viral diseases of rice and aims to discover new resistance genes for improving the rice plant’s ability to withstand devastating diseases.
Before joining IRRI, she led the Rice Team Group at the University of Düsseldorf where she focused on the interaction between rice and the bacterial blight pathogen and developing advanced genome editing platforms for rice. Van earned her PhD from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany where she studied different layers of plant defense against fungal pathogens ranging from defensive genes to phytohormone signaling, the production of antifungal secondary metabolites, and the association of beneficial microbes.
Van also has a master’s degree in molecular bioscience from the University of Heidelberg in Germany and a diploma in biotechnology from Vietnam National University of Agriculture.
Talk Title: Linkages between methane emissions, rhizosphere microbiome and bacterial blight resistance
David Sherman
Inria (National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology), FR
David James Sherman is a research director with Inria, the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology, where he leads a multidisciplinary Inria-INRAE team that builds computational tools for digital microbial ecology. He is scientific lead of the MISTIC flagship project of the French PEPR Agroecology and ICT program. Educated at the University of Chicago (SB’86 Mathematics, SM’89 PhD’94 Computer Science) in compilation and logic, he developed formal methods for industrial systems reliability before turning in 1999 to modeling complex biological systems and conducting large-scale comparative genomics. His personal focus is reasoning over large knowledge bases to support biological decision making. Sherman was an Associate Professor at Bordeaux INP from 1996-2007 before joining Inria.
Talk Title: Computational microbial ecology in aid of agricultural transition and adaptation to climate risks
Shengjing Shi
Bioeconomy Science Institute, NZ
Shengjing Shi is a Senior Scientist in the Resilient Agriculture Group at the Bioeconomy Science Institute, New Zealand. Her work focuses on soil microbiome function, plant-microbe interactions and their responses to climate change, with a strong emphasis on translating microbiome science into sustainable agricultural solutions.
Shi is dedicated to advancing beneficial microorganisms to improve plant performance and agricultural resilience. Working closely with industry partners and farmers, she has led multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research programs that bring together research institutes, universities, and industry to address key challenges in sustainable food production. She currently co-leads the multi-year program Plants and Microbiomes of the Future, which aims to strengthen the resilience of forage-based agricultural systems under climate change through the development and deployment of novel forage cultivars and their associated beneficial microbiomes. Within this program, her team integrates microbiome science, plant genetics, systems biology, and phenomics to better understand and optimize plant-microbe partnerships under environmental stress.
Talk Title: A roadmap for plant-microbiome breeding to enhance plant stress tolerance
Selected Speakers
Speakers selected from submitted abstracts. Bios will be added as they are received; see the program for the full list of talks.
Yinxiao Chen
University of Toronto Scarborough, CA
Yinxiao Chen completed an HB.Sc. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and is currently pursuing an M.Sc. in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Toronto Scarborough under the supervision of Prof. Ruby Sullan. Chen’s research focuses on developing microfluidic platforms to investigate plant–bacteria interactions under precisely controlled microenvironments. In particular, the research examines how fluid flow influences rhizobacterial attachment to plant roots and the early stages of biofilm formation. Recent work also explores how emerging environmental contaminants, including nanoplastics, affect plant health and interactions with beneficial bacteria.
Talk Title: ORBIT: A root-on-chip platform for studying rhizobacterial colonization in controlled microenvironments
Kari Dunfield
University of Guelph, CA
Kari Dunfield is a Professor and Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Environmental Microbiology of Agro-ecosystems (2012-2023), in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph.
She received her BSc in the Biological Sciences Department at the University of Calgary in 1995, and her MSc in the Department of Plant Agriculture (1999) and PhD in the Department of Soil Science at the University of Saskatchewan (2002). She worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maine, Darling Marine Center, and joined the University of Guelph in 2004.
Working at the intersection of microbiology, ecology, and soil science, her work investigates the microbial communities and microbial processes driving the global processes that help support life on Earth, and focuses on climate change, soil conservation, human pathogens and antimicrobial resistance genes in the environment, and food security. She is passionate about educating the public about the importance of soils, and is the Executive of a knowledge mobilization and outreach program, called Soils@Guelph, and the North American Representative for UN-FAO Global Soil Partnership (Pillar 1). Dunfield is also an incoming Vice-President for the Canadian Society of Microbiology, and is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Microbiology.
Talk Title: Beyond the microbe: A conceptual framework for successful biological nitrogen fixation in cereals
Alonso Favela
University of Arizona, US
Alonso Favela is an Assistant Professor in the School of Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona, where he studies plant-microbiome interactions in agricultural soils. His research in microbial ecology examines how plant genetic variation shapes rhizosphere microbial communities and microbiome-associated traits that influence nutrient cycling, plant health, and soil function. By investigating the ecological roles of understudied soil microbes, his lab seeks to uncover new ways to harness the microbiome to conserve water and nutrients and build more sustainable agricultural systems in arid regions.
Talk Title: Soils get slimy: Reimagining water use in agriculture through the power of microbes
Suzanne Fleishman
The Pennsylvania State University, US
Suzanne Fleishman is an Assistant Professor of Root Biology in the Department of Plant Science at Penn State University. Her lab, the Root Agroecology Lab, investigates how root dynamics underpin both crop productivity and soil health in resilient agricultural systems. Her current research focuses on how roots shape plant-soil-microbial interactions, with an emphasis on perennial agricultural systems and subsoils. Projects in the lab span deep soil health in forage systems, fruit rootstock foraging strategies, and field methods for deep root multi-omics.
Talk Title: Digging deeper: Controls on root-soil-biota interactions in perennial agroecosystems
Nichole Ginnan
University of California, Riverside, US
Nichole Ginnan is an Assistant Project Scientist in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology at the University of California, Riverside. She earned her Ph.D. at UC Riverside studying citrus-microbiome interactions and plant disease, followed by postdoctoral training at the University of Kansas investigating how precipitation history creates persistent soil microbiome legacies that influence plant responses to drought. Her research integrates microbial ecology, plant-microbe interactions, root and rhizosphere biology, and multi-omics to understand how environmental conditions and management practices shape plant-associated microbiota and their consequences for plant health and performance.
Talk Title: Orchard management alters citrus root and rhizosphere microbiomes with functional consequences for plant performance
Lauren Hemara
University of Toronto Scarborough, CA
Lauren Hemara is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto Scarborough in the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences. As part of the Genome Canada-funded BENEFIT project, her research uses high-throughput evaluation and adaptive laboratory evolution of candidate agricultural bioinoculants to identify traits required for broad environmental compatibility and better align in vitro inoculant evaluation with in situ success. Lauren completed her M.Sc. and Ph.D. at the University of Auckland and New Zealand’s Bioeconomy Science Institute, investigating the evolution and pathogenicity of the devastating kiwifruit pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae.
Talk Title: Fit for purpose: Evaluation and evolution of agricultural bioinoculants across production landscapes
Livleen Kaur
The Pennsylvania State University, US
Livleen Kaur is a Ph.D. candidate in Plant Pathology with a dual-title in Microbiome Sciences at Penn State University. Her doctoral research explores the phyllosphere microbiome as a resource for sustainable plant disease management, with a focus on understanding and experimentally developing disease-suppressive microbial communities. She earned her M.S. in Plant Pathology from Auburn University in 2023, where her research focused on fungicide resistance and integrated management of leaf spot diseases of peanut. Her research experience bridges applied plant pathology, microbial ecology, biological control, and fungicide resistance, with the broader goal of developing innovative and sustainable strategies for crop disease management.
Talk Title: Unraveling phyllosphere microbiome dynamics associated with disease suppression in tomato
Tanja Kostic
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, AT
Tanja Kostic is Head of the Bioresources Unit at AIT Austrian Institute of Technology. She completed an MSc in microbiology at the University of Graz in 2003 and a PhD in food chemistry and biotechnology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in 2006. Her working experience at AIT Austrian Institute of Technology spans over 20 years and includes numerous positions, activities, and responsibilities. In 2012, she was awarded the Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship of the Austrian Science Fund for a research sabbatical at Michigan State University, USA. Since 2023, she has been the Thematic Coordinator for the topic “Food System Microbiomes”. In 2024/2025, she also served as Managing Director of the MicrobiomeSupport Association. Her research interests revolve around food system microbiomes, their interactions and interconnectedness, and opportunities to develop microbiome knowledge-driven applications. She is a coordinator of the EU-funded MICROBE project.
Talk Title: Paving the way for microbiome biobanking: Integrating technology, standardization, data infrastructure and governance
Jan Leach
Colorado State University, US
Jan Leach is a plant pathologist whose research focuses on the molecular basis of plant disease susceptibility and resistance, and how these responses are influenced by interactions within the phytobiome. She is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agricultural Biology at Colorado State University. Leach is a member of the Board of Directors of the Phytobiomes Alliance. She is the Immediate Past President of the International Society for Plant Pathology and is both a Fellow and a past President of the American Phytopathological Society (APS). She is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. In 2021, Leach was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences. Her honors include the 2019 Agropolis Foundation Louis Malassis International Scientific Prize for Agriculture and Food Distinguished Scientist Award, and the APS Award of Distinction (2020). In 2026, she received the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Montpellier (France).
Talk Title: Rice resistance genes shape leaf microbiome assembly and resilience
Rhea Amor Lumactud
Dalhousie University, CA
Rhea Amor Lumactud is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences at Dalhousie University, where she leads the Soil and Microbial Ecology Lab. Her research focuses on plant-associated microbiomes and the interactions among bacteria, fungi, and nematodes in agricultural systems. Her group investigates how environmental stress and agricultural management shape microbial communities at the plant-soil interface, and uses this knowledge to design synthetic microbial communities aimed at improving plant stress resilience. Current work focuses on forage crops, wild blueberry, and soil health.
Talk Title: Recovery reveals domain-specific responses to a trait-guided synthetic bacterial consortium in the red clover rhizosphere
Janice Parks
University of Idaho, US
Janice Parks is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Idaho in the Institute for Modeling Collaboration and Innovation. She received her B.S. from Pacific University in 2020 and her Ph.D. from Washington State University in 2024. Her dissertation research was on how pea-canola intercropping and associated management practices impacted soil bacterial community diversity. Her present research is focused on how plant-microbe interactions are altered during drought and post-fire recovery in forest ecosystems. Through this work, she hopes to provide insights into how plant-microbe interactions may improve plant survival and establishment under abiotic and biotic stressors. Overall, her primary research objective is to determine how plant-microbe interactions shift and impact plant establishment, survival, and fitness under abiotic and biotic stressors to inform natural resource management and agricultural practices.
Talk Title: Fire-altered soil conditions mediate microbial inoculant effects on ponderosa pine establishment
Kara Reardon
University of Toronto Scarborough, CA
Kara Reardon is a Ph.D. Candidate in Dr. Terrence Bell’s Microbiome Manipulation Lab at the University of Toronto Scarborough. She is interested in how soil microbiomes can be engineered for beneficial functions in diverse agroecosystems. Her current research explores the manipulation of local soil microbiomes through compost tea enrichment and its application for improved in-soil and plant performance. She will soon be exploring tropical agroecosystems with upcoming field work in Costa Rica. Kara is originally from Minnesota where she obtained her BS.c. in Biology from the University of St. Thomas.
Talk Title: Compost teas: Can they enhance soil microbiomes across diverse agroecosystems?
Stefan Sanow
University of California, Davis, US
Stefan Sanow is a postdoctoral researcher in Siobhán Brady’s lab in the Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center at UC Davis. His research combines deep learning with plant–microbe biology to understand how diverse bacteria and fungi induce root barriers (suberin, lignin, and aerenchyma) in sorghum, rice, and pearl millet, and how these barriers may contribute to resistance against the parasitic weed Striga hermonthica. Stefan completed his joint PhD through the JUMPA program (University of Bonn, University of Melbourne, and Forschungszentrum Jülich), where he studied Pseudomonas-enhanced nitrogen use in Brachypodium.
Talk Title: RADIX: Deep-learning segmentation of root anatomical barriers enables high-throughput phenotyping of microbe-induced trait variation in Sorghum bicolor
Steven Wakelin
Bioeconomy Science Institute, NZ
Steven Wakelin is a microbial ecologist at the Bioeconomy Science Institute, New Zealand. His research is driven by an interest in understanding how microbial communities assemble, what determines their ecological functions, and how they influence the plants and ecosystems with which they interact.
Steven has worked across a range of productive ecosystems, investigating the relationships between soil microbial communities, environmental conditions, land management, and ecosystem functioning. His research combines fundamental microbial ecology with applied questions around soil health, plant productivity, biogeochemistry, and environmental sustainability. More recently, his work has expanded into forest ecosystems, where he leads research exploring how tree-associated microbiomes are shaped by ecological and environmental processes, and their potential contributions to plant growth and resilience. Across these systems, a common theme is understanding how ecological knowledge of microorganisms can help inform the sustainable management of productive landscapes.
Talk Title: Biogeographic redistribution of Pinus radiata drives extensive taxonomic turnover while retaining a shared dominant root microbiome
Jason Wallace
University of Georgia, US
Jason Wallace is a Professor in the University of Georgia Department of Crop & Soil Sciences, where his research focuses on the beneficial partnerships between crops and microbes. His lab investigates how plants and microbes interact to shape crop performance using a combination of genetics, genomics, statistics, and bioinformatics. His work has identified key factors influencing the maize microbiome, uncovered genetic influences on traits associated with nitrogen fixation in maize aerial roots, and advanced our understanding of communication between tall fescue and its beneficial fungal endophyte. Outside the lab, Wallace is passionate about making science accessible and engaging, including co-hosting the monthly Gaming with Science podcast and participating in annual outreach at Atlanta’s Dragon Con pop-culture convention.
Talk Title: Harnessing biological nitrogen fixation on maize aerial roots
Panelists
Ground Truths Conversation
What Production Agriculture Needs from Phytobiomes Science
Jeff Barlow is a sixth-generation grain and oilseeds farmer on a family farm near Binbrook, Ontario, currently raising corn, soft red winter wheat, and both GMO and non-GMO food grade tofu soybeans. He farms alongside his parents, wife, and 3 sons.
Jeff is also heavily involved in both provincial and national grain associations. He is currently a provincial director with the Grain Farmers of Ontario, where he chairs the Government Relations and Communications Committees, and serves as Vice Chair of the Grain Financial Protection Board. He is also the current Chairman of the Board of Soy Canada, a national value chain organization that works closely with the Federal Government on market access and policy frameworks.
Jeff is always running on-farm research plots at his farm, constantly honing his skills as a farmer and learning how products and varieties behave on his soils. He also employs some of the latest technology in his equipment fleet, including GPS-assisted implement guidance, plant population by zone, and variable rate fertility by zone/soil type.
Industry Roundtable Discussion
Vera Bonardi is the Microbial Discovery Portfolio Leader at Corteva. With over 20 years of experience in plant biology, microbiology, and agricultural biologicals, she leads multidisciplinary programs focused on driving innovation in microbial discovery for crop protection and manages Corteva’s biologicals discovery portfolio. Vera works at the intersection of scientific discovery and product development, collaborating across research, regulatory, and commercial teams to advance next-generation biological technologies for agriculture. Prior to her current role, Vera led the Application R&D team at Novozymes BioAg, leading efforts to test, validate, and advance microbial technologies for improved crop yield and protection. She earned her Ph.D. in Biology from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich together with the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne and later completed postdoctoral training in plant-microbe interactions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Natalie Breakfield, the Chief Science Officer at NewLeaf Symbiotics, Inc., specializes in PPFM bacteria research for agricultural innovation. Her expertise includes strain identification, plant-microbe interactions, and understanding the biological mechanisms that support crop performance. Natalie advances biotechnology development by combining molecular biology with genomics to support sustainable crop protection. Her expertise in strain identification, functional genomics, and the commercial translation of PPFM technology helps deliver resilient farming solutions and environmentally responsible agricultural practices.
Natalie is a member of the Board of Directors of the Phytobiomes Alliance.
Danielle Rose is the General Manager at Enoda, Mastronardi Produce’s plant disease testing laboratory, where she specializes in the hydroponic plant microbiome and plant disease testing. Her work focuses on understanding and applying beneficial microbial communities to support plant health and disease management in controlled-environment agriculture. Prior to her current role, she spent five years founding and leading Ceragen, a startup dedicated to developing plant growth-promoting microbial inoculants and disease testing tailored specifically to the greenhouse fruit and vegetable industry. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from the University of Guelph.
Danielle was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science list for her work with Ceragen, and was recognized as one of Greenhouse Canada’s Top 4 Under 40 in 2025.
“Navigating the Changing Workforce Landscape” Roundtable Discussion
Kari Dunfield is a professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph. Working at the intersection of microbiology, ecology, and soil science, her research investigates the microbial communities and processes that support life on Earth, with a focus on climate change, soil conservation, and food security.
Kari is also the Executive Director of Soils@Guelph, a knowledge mobilization program, and the North American Representative for the UN-FAO Global Soil Partnership.
Adrien Frémont is a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (California) in the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology division. His research focuses on characterizing the chemical diversity of plant root exudates and their impact on soil microbial communities to develop strategies for climate-resilient agriculture. In his current work, he employs advanced rhizosphere meta-omic approaches to unravel the intricate biochemical cross-talk between plants and microorganisms in the soil environment, with particular emphasis on cover crops as a natural solution to restore soil health and enhance agricultural sustainability.
Nichole Ginnan is an Assistant Project Scientist in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology at the University of California, Riverside. Her research examines how environmental history shapes microbial traits and community functions, and how host genotype and environmental context influence plant responses to microbiota.
She has also helped develop interdisciplinary training programs, including Penn State’s dual-title Ph.D. in Microbiome Sciences and an NIH-funded T32 training grant, and is especially interested in how higher education can prepare trainees for diverse careers that advance sustainable agriculture and address real-world challenges.
Anastassia Khrouchtchova trained as a biologist, with a PhD in plant molecular biology, and worked in both academic research and technology transfer before moving into R&D at a brewing company (Carlsberg). Since joining the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) in 2019, she has focused on developing research-based initiatives that support one of NNF’s priorities: enabling sustainable, nutritious food production, currently with a particular focus on environmental microbiology.