The PPRU consists of five research programs with a research emphasis on devising practical pest control methods that minimize or eliminate chemical pesticide usage while maintaining pest damage below economic threshold.

Research Efforts

• Repository and systematics of fungal pathogens
• Identification of host-pathogen dynamics
• Enhancement of fungal germplasm
• Development of safe biopesticides
• Exploit microbes for natural control for nematodes
• Study virus epidemic development and control strategies

Goals

• Develop environmentally safe pest control strategies
• Enhance knowledge of disease processes
• Provide global source of fungi from invertibrates
• Understand virus spread by insect vectors