Bernadette is a research fellow within the ascochyta blight project at the CCDM where her research focuses on understanding the mechanism of interaction between the fungal pathogen, Ascochyta lentis and its lentil host. Since joining CCDM in 2014, she has been exploring different molecular strategies and working towards finding genetic solutions to develop innovative resources to combat fungal diseases.
Before commencing the post at the CCDM, Bernadette’s curios nature led her to investigate bacterial communication in the bioluminescent bacterium, Vibrio harveyi at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she obtained her PhD degree in Chemistry. She was then offered a Post Doctoral fellowship at the Oregon Health and Science University to study gene regulation in Bacillus subtilis.