Dr. Simone Prospero - Personal Homepage

Organisational unit: Biodiversity and Conservation Biology Phytopathology Phone: +41 44 7392 248 Fax: +41 44 7392 215 Room: Bi MG C 37 E-Mail: Address: Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL Zürcherstrasse 111 8903 Birmensdorf

Education

• 2007 - present: Researcher at WSL

• 2005 - 2007:  Post Doc at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), Team of Forest Pathology (Dr. B. Lung), Bordeaux, France

• 2003 - 2005: Post Doc at Oregon State University, Dept. of Botany and Plant Pathology (Prof. E. Hansen), Corvallis, Oregon, USA

• 1999 - 2003: PhD at WSL (Prof. O. Holdenrieder, Dr. D. Rigling)

• 1991 - 1997: Studies of Forest Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich

• 1972 born in Locarno, citizen of Malvaglia (TI, Switzerland)

Research interests

I am interested in the biology and ecology of fungal pathogens of forest trees in natural and artificial (plantations) ecosystems. My research activity has focused on three different model organisms:

1) Phytophthora ramorum (Oomycete), the causal agent of Sudden Oak Death

2) Cryphonectria parasitica (Ascomycete), the chestnut blight fungus

3) Armillaria ostoyae (Basidiomycete), the Armillaria root rot fungus

Current projects

• Biological control of C. parasitica North of the Swiss Alps
• Population diversity of C. parasitica in Switzerland

Hobbies

Playing accordion, hiking in Val Malvaglia, cultivating grapes (and enjoying vine …), reading, politics