AmaizingEndophytes
Theo Newbold
Understanding Drivers of Fungal Endophyte Community Composition and Diversity
Welcome!
I am a plant pathologist interested in the biotic and abiotic factors that drive endophyte communities of agricultural systems. This means that I study fungi that live inside plant tissue, but who don't always cause disease. These exciting organisms play diverse roles within their hosts; from helping plants cope with environmental stress to helping them fight off herbivores and pathogens. These fungi may serve different roles in their hosts over time, including as saprobes, and pathogens. I want to know how factors, like management style and disease status, drive these fungal communities.
.jpg)
Equity and Justice
I am dedicated to making science more equitable, accessible and inclusive, so that scientists reflect the diverse, dynamic and complex communities we serve. As a transgender, blind, fat, and first generation college student my lived experiences have driven me to help build new systems of support and implement structural change toward a more equitable and just future. I have served on many academic and professional DEI committees, authored educational resources, engaged in open discussion, and sought to be an advocate for my communities and future, current, and past colleagues.
​
Experience:
This year I was a member of the Pennsylvania State University Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology DEI Committee focused in internal department affairs and a College of Agricultural Sciences delegate on the Penn State Graduate and Professional Student Association (2023-2024). This past year I served as the chair for the American Phytopathological Society Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (APS CDEI) as well as president for the Plant Pathology Association at the Pennsylvania State University (2022 - 2023). I have also previously served as the APS CDEI Vice Chair, sat on the Oregon State University (OSU) Botany and Plant Pathology Departmental DEI committee and the OSU College of Agriculture' Climate, Inclusion, and Diversity Taskforce (2018 - 2022).
​
Follow the links below to learn about initiatives I am and have been involved in and how APS CDEI and other professional society initiatives are working to change the faces of plant pathology.
Root and Shoot
Learn more about what this intersociety collaboration is doing to foster a more just future.
Cornell SIPS Talk
Hear about my life's journey and the work I've done to reshape the faces of science. (2024)
Research
I am fascinated by endophytic fungi and drivers of their community composition, functions and diversity. Fungal endophytes are fungi that grow asymptomatically inside plant tissues, and can include latent pathogens, commensals, mutualists, and/or opportunistic saprobes (among others). I want to understand what factors, such an environment, host age and management style, drive endophyte communities, especially as this relates to known pathogens.
Academic Experience
2021 - Present
The Pennsylvania State University
PhD, Plant Pathology
Advised by: Kuldau, G.A. and Crandall, S.G.
I want to understand what factors drive fungal endophyte community composition, function and diversity in leaves of row crops, especially fungal pathogens.
​
​
2018-2021
Oregon State University
M.S. Plant Pathology
Advised by: Mahaffee, W.
I sought to understand fitness costs associated with QoI/Strobilurin fungicide resistance in Erysiphe necator, causal agent of grapevine powdery mildew disease in Vitis spp.
2017 - 2018
C.S.U. Monterey Bay
University
B.S. Ecological, Organismal, and Evolutionary Biology
Advised by: Miles. T.
I compared molecular detection tools and optimized DNA extraction methods for the root rot pathogen, Phytophthora cinnamomi in blueberry and avocado.
Publications
Newbold, C. L. (2021). Is Resistance Futile: Examining Fitness Costs Associated with QoI Resistance in E. necator. (Master's Thesis)
Stergiopoulos, I., Aoun, N., van Huynh, Q., Neill, T., Lowder, S.R., Newbold, C., Cooper, M.L., Ding, S., Moyer, M.M., Miles, T.D. and Oliver, C.L. (2022). Identification of Putative SDHI Target Site Mutations in the SDHB, SDHC, and SDHD Subunits of the Grape Powdery Mildew Pathogen Erysiphe necator. Plant Disease, 106(9), pp.2310-2320.
