Laura Grenville-Briggs Didymus is a professor of integrated plant protection. Her inuguration lecture has the title: "The good, the bad and the ugly – fungal-like microbes in plant disease and defence".
Laura Grenville-Briggs Didymus specialises in the biology and genetics of fungal-like organisms called oomycetes, many of which are serious plant pathogens.
Her current research focuses on sustainable strategies for the control of potato late blight and other diseases that are caused by such "water moulds".
These strategies include the use of biological control, and her research group has shown that oomycetes can also be beneficial. For example, the oomycete Pythium oligandrum is very effective at feeding on the potato late blight pathogen, as well as other damaging oomycetes and fungi.
