Lindsey Becker

As an Assistant Professor of Plant Microbiome and Plant Health in a Changing Climate, my interests revolve around identifying sustainable solutions for agriculture by harnessing the ability of plants to select microbes from their environment. 

I have extensive training in mycology (the study of fungi), plant pathology, and microbial ecology, so I am interested in exploring the intersection of fungal communities and agricultural crop traits such as plant disease susceptibility/resistance and/or plant response to abiotic stress. 

I am particularly interested in improving how we can leverage crop breeding resources to gain a better understanding of plant host selection of microbes and evaluate how that selection is attenuated by environmental stress. Plant-associated fungal communities are not static, therefore I study fungal communities of seeds, roots and leaves as the plants develop in order to capture changes within communities as they respond to changes in their plant host.  

Prior to joining Cornell, I earned my M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University, studying root rot pathogens and beneficial fungi. I then transitioned to studying the wheat seed microbiome in the context of host genotype, environment, and drought stress. As a USDA-NIFA postdoctoral fellow at Oregon State University, I explored plant host genotype selection of fungal communities in relation to disease resistance in barley and drought tolerance in wheat.  

More information:

• Meet our faculty: Lindsey Becker
• Personal website