June 8, 2023 • 29 mins
Dr. Ralph Ford, chancellor of Penn State Behrend, talks with Emily Dobry, a graduate student who discovered a tree fungus that had not previously been seen in North America.
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Dr. Ralph Ford (00:00):
Hi, I'm Dr.
(00:00):
Ralph Ford, Chancellor of PennState Behrend and you are
(00:02):
listening to Behrend Talks. Myguest today is Emily Dobry, a
graduate student who has beenpretty active here on campus and
contributed to a number of highprofile research projects, here
at Behrend and at the Lake ErieGrape Research and Extension
Center. And we're going to talka whole lot about those today.
(00:22):
In November, Emily, you and Dr.
Mike Campbell, distinguishedprofessor of biology, published
a paper that is getting someattention in the Journal of
Plant Pathology in which youidentified a new pathogen that
is damaging chestnut trees. Andit is a fungus that had
previously not been found herein the US, but we'll talk about
(00:44):
that and a whole lot more.
Welcome to the show. Emily,
Emily Dobry (00:47):
Thank you very much for having me.
Dr. Ralph Ford (00:49):
Well, I'm gonna go a little bit further into
your background. You know, youearned a bachelor's degree in
Ecology and Evolutionary Biologyin 2019, a master's in
Horticulture in 2021. Right nowyou're in the second year of
your Ph.D. program. You'recurrently enrolled in the
Agricultural and EnvironmentalPlant Sciences program at
(01:10):
University Park. But yourfieldwork is here in in Erie,
Pennsylvania. And you stillremain closely connected with
Penn State Behrend where youstarted your Penn State path.
Emily Dobry (01:21):
I do I do.
Dr. Ralph Ford (01:22):
Well, let's, let's get into it. Tell us how
did you end up at Penn StateBehrend to begin with?
Emily Dobry (01:27):
Well, I had actually been working for many
years at a Burger King franchiselocally. And I couldn't really
move up in the business. And Ikind of decided I need to go
back to school. But the more Ithought about it, the more I
realized I didn't want to go toschool for business. I wanted to
go for sciences. And so my dad'sactually a professor here.
Dr. Ralph Ford (01:47):
And a professor of business as well.
Emily Dobry (01:51):
Yeah, he's been here for over 20 years now. And
so I think that kind of guidedmy desire to come to Penn State.
He's loved being here. And he'sspoken so highly of it. I did do
a few years or a few semesterswhen I was much younger.
Dr. Ralph Ford (02:07):
So you first came here, probably right after
school, and then decided itwasn't for you. And you went out
into the work world, so tospeak? Well, then let's stick
with that right now. So, youknow, you went out, you were in
"the real world", and you foundyou had to come back to school.
And it is not an atypical path.
And it's, it's a really goodpath. So how did that change
your you know, your, yourviewpoint or your study? And how
(02:31):
did you approach school, whenyou came back after working at
Burger King for a number ofyears?
Emily Dobry (02:39):
You know, I was actually really, I always think
about how grateful I am that Iwaited. Because I didn't know
what I wanted to do at age 18,19, 20. I really didn't have any
clear idea of where life wasgoing to take me or what I
wanted to get out of it. And bythe time I was 30, I had two
kids. And I knew that what Iwanted to do was do something
(03:01):
that would be lasting for theirfutures. And that's kind of
really what drove this love ofworking in the sciences. So I
think waiting helped me figureout not only what I wanted to
do, but to take it moreseriously.
Dr. Ralph Ford (03:16):
So you had two children? And you came back to
school? This is a tremendouschallenge. How did you manage
it, you must have had to developa system and be really
disciplined about what you'redoing.
Emily Dobry (03:27):
Yes, I had a lot of help. Thankfully, their father
was very helpful. My family wasvery helpful. Everybody was
extremely supportive of mecoming back to school, and I
wouldn't have been able to do itwithout them.
Dr. Ralph Ford (03:38):
Wow. And did you find that you kind of lost your
academic edge? Or did it comeback quickly once you got into
the classes?
Emily Dobry (03:45):
I think it came back fairly quickly.
Dr. Ralph Ford (03:47):
Okay. So mathematics, the writing all of
that stuff was there. So let's,you know, we'll jump around. I
want to talk about the workyou're doing right now you are
working with Dr. Mike Campbell,studying, and he's been studying
potatoes for a long time. And,you know, they are an important
food source. So what are youstudying with him? And why do
(04:10):
you find this subject sointeresting?
Emily Dobry (04:11):
So we're actually doing dormancy studies. And
something that I think mostpeople don't realize about
potatoes, and I didn't evenreally think about it until I
got into this. What you buy inthe store is a dormant tuber. So
it's asleep. Essentially, thinkabout dormant trees. It's
sleeping when you buy it.
Because if it starts to grow,once you start to get those
(04:33):
stems growing out of the eyes,you don't want it anymore. Iit
doesn't taste the same, itdoesn't have the same quality.
And so we're studying dormancyto better understand some of the
transitions that will let usknow that it's exiting dormancy.
So essentially, we're trying tofind ways that will allow us to
(04:53):
make sure that the tubers are onour shelves for longer We have a
more stable food product.
Dr. Ralph Ford (05:02):
So how do you get there? Is it? How do you
engineer or genetically changethe potato? Or there are other
approaches? So you want to makeit last longer, essentially,
which is really important,right? None of us like when we
go into our pantry, and we findour potatoes have sprouted, and
we know they start to get alittle soft, and, you know, you
try to eat it, but you'reprobably not so happy that you
(05:24):
did.
Emily Dobry (05:24):
Or when you pick up that bag, and you find out, it's
not a potato anymore, it'ssuddenly liquid, and you don't
really want that
Dr. Ralph Ford (05:30):
Yes liquid.
We've all gone through that.
Emily Dobry (05:34):
So there are a number of ways. We are taking an
approach that utilizes RNAsequencing, that allows us to
see what genes are beingexpressed during dormancy, or
which ones are not beingexpressed. And that kind of
gives us an idea of what'sactive within the potato. But,
and that will hopefully allow usto identify genes that are
(05:54):
important. There are otherthings that you could do like
developing transgenicsgenetically engineered, that's
not our track, currently. Butwhat we're looking at
particularly is the use ofsprout inhibitors, so things
that prevent it from growing, sopotentially from exiting
dormancy.
Dr. Ralph Ford (06:14):
So what would do that? Is it a chemical- or
biological-based approach to it?
Emily Dobry (06:19):
Yes. So there are lots of different methods out
there that a lot of people use,like clove oil or peppermint oil
currently in the United States.
The big one is CIPC. But we'retrying to move away from that,
because it has long lastingenvironmental effects that
really aren't desirable. So whatwe're working with is called
1,4-Dimethylnaphthalene, or it'smore commonly known as DMN. And
(06:41):
that's just a natural sproutinhibitor that's actually found
within potatoes.
Dr. Ralph Ford (06:48):
And are there a particular type of potato that
you're looking at? Or is it abroad range?
Emily Dobry (06:54):
We're looking at a broad range now. So we're trying
to do everything from your tablepotatoes to chipping or french
fried potatoes.
Dr. Ralph Ford (07:01):
So I have to ask this question. Do you have a
favorite potato that you like?
Do you like to even eat potatoesdoing all this research?
Emily Dobry (07:06):
I love potatoes.
Dr. Ralph Ford (07:07):
All right, well, this is good, because this means
that you're studying somethingthat you really like. So but
let's talk about yourarrangement. So you're here in
Erie. you're working in, a lotof people don't know, but Penn
State, of course, has this greatagricultural outreach. But we
have something called the LakeErie Grape Research Center. That
(07:27):
is in northeast PA, I've beenthere a number of times. And you
know, you're doing some greatwork. They're not only on
potatoes, but as the nameimplies grapes, but during the
Ph.D. program at UniversityPark. So how does this all work
that you ended up here, and thatyou're doing your studies here
versus say in State College?
Emily Dobry (07:46):
Well, so I kind of fell into that through the
goodwill of Dr. Campbell, myadvisor, and through Dr. Ivor
Knight, they had wanted to, Ithink kind of start the ball
rolling on potentiallysupporting graduate research in
the sciences up here at Behrend.
And I had really wanted to stayhere if possible. So they said,
(08:08):
Oh, here's our perfectopportunity. And that's really
how it worked out. So all mycoursework has to be down at
University Park right now. Wedon't have the courses up here
for it, which is fine. It was asome commuting, but then I get
to do my work here.
Dr. Ralph Ford (08:23):
Yeah, we have a number, an increasing number.
And this is part of our strategyhere. And it's, I think, a
really good one we have, youknow, opportunities to work type
of research, you're doing thework we do in here, knowledge
Park, it's all this idea of thisopen laboratory philosophy. And
then, you know, as a graduatestudent, you don't have to be
there every day at UniversityPark to go and study. So what do
(08:45):
you do? You drive back and forthto spend a few days there and
take classes? Is that the wayit's working?
Emily Dobry (08:49):
I did. I'm all done with my coursework now,
thankfully. Because it waspretty tiring. But yes, I would
drive. I would commute downthere for a few days every week
and then commute back. So I hadsome time with my kids.
Dr. Ralph Ford (08:58):
Okay, and do they have remote classes too?
And did that work out for youduring the pandemic? Or how did
that operate?
Emily Dobry (09:06):
Yes, weirdly. COVID was beneficial for me in that it
allowed me to stay here in Erieand do some coursework here, so
I didn't have to commute asmuch.
Dr. Ralph Ford (09:15):
Well, it's kind of nice when you get past that
point where your coursework isdone, and you can focus just on
your research. But let's talk alittle bit about some of the
other areas because you'veworked in some pretty high
profile projects here. Youworked with Dr. Pam Silver as
well on salt. Tell us about thework you did on studying salt
(09:36):
and roadways and what did youfind there?
Emily Dobry (09:39):
So I think I started with Pam Silver in my
freshman or sophomore year,working on road salt runoff. We
have a big campus we have a lotof sidewalks here. We have to
keep those safe for ourstudents. And she was really
interested in looking at how farthat salt runoff drifted away
(09:59):
from the application sites whenyou put it on the sidewalks. So
we started with a study where wewent out and we took samples
away from the sidewalk to seehow far out that went and went
surprisingly far, and a veryhigh level. So that's important
for us to know. I mean, ifyou've heard the saying, salt
(10:20):
the Earth, it was a way todestroy soil, right? And so it's
a big concern. You can see itaround sidewalks all over Erie
that the soil is essentiallydead, and it can't hold life,
because it's too salty.
Dr. Ralph Ford (10:34):
So here, we have to replant the grass next to the
sidewalks.
Emily Dobry (10:37):
Yep. And so that's really kind of what started it.
And then we moved into lookingat how that affects streams.
Dr. Ralph Ford (10:45):
And what did you find?
Emily Dobry (10:47):
So we found, we worked with Tipulidaes to start
with, which are crane flies thatkind of look like those giant
mosquitoes that fly around herein the fall. Everybody gets a
little freaked out about thegiant mosquitoes, but they're
just little leaf shredders inthe water, they actually really
help our water. And we foundthat they were not eating as
(11:08):
much of the leaves when theywere exposed to high stress,
salt, which means that we're notbreaking down as much and
getting that necessary carboninto the water.
Dr. Ralph Ford (11:18):
Are there any recommendations that come out of
it? I mean, what is it? It's ahard problem, right? So if
you're the maintenance team hereon campus or anywhere else, the
easy answer is throw a littleextra salt down because people
will be safer. And you avoidlawsuits and people getting
hurt. And that's reallyimportant. So did you take it as
far as coming up withrecommendations to either
(11:40):
alternatives or salt or betterways to apply? I mean, where did
it lead to those sorts ofquestions as well?
Emily Dobry (11:45):
Not in my research.
Personally, I know that that'ssomething that she did look at
in terms of using biochar to tryand amend soil to hold on to the
salt run off a little bit, so itwouldn't enter the waterways.
But as far as I was concerned,not in my research.
Dr. Ralph Ford (12:01):
The front end of the project where you were,
which was really important,because you knew it was a
problem. There's no better placethan here on campus, by the way.
We've got this greatEnvironmental Laboratory where
you could do that sort ofresearch so well.
Emily Dobry (12:15):
And we have the streams around here, we have
Glenhill, and then Trout Run andthen Four Mile. So it allowed a
lot of opportunity to really seehow that was actually impacting
real waterways.
Dr. Ralph Ford (12:26):
Did you go out and test out all the waterways
on campus?
Emily Dobry (12:29):
So Dr. Silver actually did that. She did
monitoring for quite some timein our water systems. And was it
it wasn't great news for them.
Dr. Ralph Ford (12:38):
So that's, that's, you know, what I've
talked to her, of course, aboutthe outcomes of this, we're
still trying to come up withsolutions to reduce the amount
of salt but it's, you know...
Emily Dobry (12:47):
Tt's a challenge.
Dr. Ralph Ford (12:48):
It's a challenge. It's everywhere in
our, you know, in everyTownship, and it's heavily used.
Emily Dobry (12:53):
It's certainly not unique to Behrend. And when you
have to ensure the safety ofstudents, there are certain
things that you have to takepriority.
Dr. Ralph Ford (12:58):
Yeah, it's a difficult problem. First of all,
let's switch to a differentproject that you worked on. And
there's infamous one I sayinfamous, I think, and it's here
on campus, because we love thename just sounds so interesting,
bloody red shrimp. So tell usabout your work and looking into
bloody red shrimp.
Emily Dobry (13:16):
Oh, that was a fun summer project. So that was
headed by Dr. Maxwell, and Dr.
Ivor Knight. And they werelooking to try and identify ways
to test ballast water. So in thebottom of ship, they hold water
to help keep them balanced. Theywanted to be able to test for
this invasive shrimp before itwould enter potentially Lake
(13:36):
Superior where the shrimp hasnot yet been found. So they're
trying to develop a testingsystem using environmental DNA
or E DNA. And that's kind ofwhere I got involved was testing
waters locally and learning howto identify the organism. And
yeah, we just we kind ofstumbled on it in here in Erie.
Dr. Ralph Ford (13:57):
You stumbled on it, but I think if if I'm not
mistaken you were the firstgroup to identify this species
in in US waters, right? Here inour area? Or am I wrong on that?
Emily Dobry (14:09):
I don't think we were the first in US waters. I
know it's been like...
In our area, yes.
In our area.
Dr. Ralph Ford (14:13):
But in Lake Erie.
Okay, fairenough. And so you had a sense
that they were out there. Howdid you... So walk us through, I
think you, you spent someinteresting times out there
right in the middle of the nighttrying to find them. I mean, are
they nighttime creatures? Whywould you do that versus just
going out? How do you collectthe samples?
Emily Dobry (14:34):
They are nighttime creatures and, they tend to hang
out deeper in the water duringthe daytime and then they'll
come up towards the surface atnight. And so you had to go out
with this red lamp on your for alittle water and hope that you
can see their flashing eyes andthen you would sample for it.
Dr. Ralph Ford (14:50):
Oh, so you you and your classmates were down
there, research mates so tospeak, in wading boots or
something like this. How dooften did you have to go into
the water?
Emily Dobry (14:58):
We actually went...
I don't know what it's called.
It's that wall that runs out. Isit a jetty that runs out between
the lake and the Bay, thechannel there? So we were out on
the wall, and we would dipbuckets and pull them up and
hope that we would find them inthere. And we found lots.
Dr. Ralph Ford (15:14):
And did you know then? Or was it not until you
got back to the lab that youwere sure that you had them
there?
Emily Dobry (15:19):
We were fairly confident because their eyes
actually flash red when youshine that light on them. So it
kind of is a giveaway. But theywere officially identified by
Dr. Gruwell once we got back tothe lab.
Dr. Ralph Ford (15:30):
And he did that via DNA testing? Is that how he
did it?
Emily Dobry (15:35):
We did it with DNA testing. But we also he did it
visually assessing morphologicalcharacteristics.
Dr. Ralph Ford (15:41):
So why do we care about them? They're
invasive. I don't say that in acallous way. But I think, you
know, listeners need need tounderstand. Are they a threat to
our ecosystem here? What is theissue with having them in our
waterways?
Emily Dobry (15:54):
They are competitors for our natural
native shrimp. And so they'reout competing for food
resources. And it's been sometime, so I may be incorrect, but
I don't think that they providethe same level of food resource,
and they're not quite asdesirable to our fish species
that we have here, as the nativeshrimp are. And so if you have
(16:16):
them out competing, and we haveless and less of our native
species, it can cause a problem.
Dr. Ralph Ford (16:20):
And then the other things eat those shrimp.
And you know, so it becomesprobably a compounding problem.
So where did they come from? Soyou said they came from ballast
water? But I mean, like, whatpart of the world did they come
from? Where did where did theytrace back to?
Emily Dobry (16:33):
I believe that came from the Baltic Sea.
Dr. Ralph Ford (16:36):
Wow, we have quite a few invasives from the
Baltic.
Emily Dobry (16:40):
Unfortunately, that came over on ballast water.
Dr. Ralph Ford (16:43):
So how do you how do you mitigate that
problem?
Emily Dobry (16:45):
You just have to test I know that there are
they're looking at doing usingmethods in the ballasts that
would kill life in there so thatyou essentially have water that
doesn't have anything living init anymore. So you're not
dumping potential livingorganisms. But I'm not entirely
sure what all that involves.
Dr. Ralph Ford (17:03):
And it's probably managing the ballast
Emily Dobry (17:03):
So it's an Ag Research Center, and it's mostly
water so that it doesn't getdumped into the lake in the
focused on grapes. So we havecontracts with Welch's. So we
first place. Yes. You know, aswe know, we've got Asian carp
and the infamous Gobi, and I'msure many other things that we
have choose grapes. But we alsohave a lot of wine varieties out
could go on and on about thathave been introduced that way,
and it's a real issue. Let'sswitch back to the work that
you're doing at the Lake Erie,great Research Center. First,
(17:25):
tell us a bit more about thatcenter out there. And what is
it, and what is the type of workthat happens there?
there. And it's really justfocused on looking at pests,
best growing practices forvineyards for grapes. But we
(17:48):
also have a number of otherthings that we grow out there.
We have Haskaps. I don't know ifyou've ever heard of a Haskap.
I've not heard of that. I'm notentirely sure what it is.
It's a European fruit. It's fromNorthern Europe. And it looks
like a very long blueberry, butit kind of tastes like a
Blackberry. And we have some ofthose. We have blueberries, we
have chestnuts out there. Sothere's a lot of agricultural
(18:09):
research. And we work incollaboration with Cornell and
University Park.
Dr. Ralph Ford (18:14):
So how did the local farmers play into this? So
do they come to you withproblems and say, we're seeing
these issues? Can you help usfigure it out?
Emily Dobry (18:21):
They do. They come to the center, they they will
bring in concerns about pests,they will come in for questions
about which fertilizers to applywhich fungicides, etc. So they
reach out to the Ag Center alot. They hold something called
a coffee talk pretty frequentlywhere they meet with a local
grower so they can answerquestions and kind of give
(18:42):
guidance.
Dr. Ralph Ford (18:44):
So you said something else or that caught my
attention to and that you lookat different varieties of
grapes, are you trying to findthose that can be better
cultivated for the long term aswell and introduce different
varieties to the region. We knowit's a huge part of our economy.
But it's not really a great areagenerally for growing, say, red
wine grapes. But I think they'rereally trying to do that more
(19:04):
and more.
Emily Dobry (19:04):
Here they are. So I think a lot of what they're
trying to focus on here islooking at what's going to be
successful in our area, and howthey might respond to local
pressures that we haveenvironmental pressures pest
that we have here that maybearen't present elsewhere, fungi
that we deal with water,resources, etc. But yeah, I
(19:25):
think they're really looking atwhat's going to be successful in
our areas that they can theninform growers.
Dr. Ralph Ford (19:31):
Have you found the spotted lantern fly here in
our region?
Emily Dobry (19:36):
It has not been found in our region that I'm
aware of. Flor Acevedo, Dr.
Acevedo would know more aboutthat than I do. But as far as
I'm aware, it's been found overin Ohio and New York but not
here, so far.
Dr. Ralph Ford (19:46):
And for those who are listening, it's a highly
invasive species. I think I inthe east side of the state, it
is wreaking a tremendous amountof havoc. So you see the signs
on the road to check your carwhen you're leaving certain
areas because the light cancause they latch on to your car
and be moved around.
Emily Dobry (20:03):
I've never seen one in person.
Dr. Ralph Ford (20:04):
I have not seen one. I've only seen pictures.
Emily Dobry (20:06):
They're beautiful.
I went to, I think it wasElizabethtown last year. And
they're everywhere. They coatall the plants there. It's just
overrun with these. They reallytake over and it is quite a
problem. But they are beautiful.
They are beautiful. They're verypretty insects.
Dr. Ralph Ford (20:23):
Well, I remember as a kid seeing gypsy moth
infestations and it wasstunning. And they're not pretty
by the way. They're not so nicelooking. And it wasn't pleasant
either. I remember being out inthe woods and Massachusetts on
vacation and seeing that and itjust was not at all that nice to
see. So when I hear about thespotted lantern fly, I think
about that as well. And it's nota nice thing. So well, hopefully
(20:45):
we can keep them out of ourregion and knock on wood. So
far, we've been able to. Let'stalk about an area where you
have spent, I believe aconsiderable amount of time, and
that is looking at chestnuttrees. Yes. So tell us a bit
about just even the importanceof chestnut trees. You know,
they've had a tremendous declinein the United States. And I'm
(21:06):
not sure everyone's aware ofthat. And we'll talk about some
of your research but gives setthe table tell us about the
importance of chestnut trees.
Emily Dobry (21:14):
Sure. So chestnuts, they're closely related to Oak
and Beech. They were here forupwards of 50 million years in
our area in the United States.
And they were incrediblyimportant to our forest systems,
because they would produce largenet crops every single year. And
they produce really tasty nuts.
And they were very sweet. Theywere extremely palatable, they
(21:35):
produced far more nuts thantheir own relatives. So whereas
only produces every four or fiveyears, a big nut crop chestnut
did every year, so it reallysupported a lot of life in our
forest systems, particularlyalong the Appalachian mountain
range. So they really dominatedfor millions of years up until
(21:55):
about 100 years ago when we sawthe introduction of another
invasive pathogen.
Dr. Ralph Ford (22:00):
Okay, so it came from settlers, and when you say
pathogen, it's a fungus orsomething?
Emily Dobry (22:06):
Yes. So it came from Japan and China. There were
nurseries over there. It was atime in our country's history
where we weren't reallyinterested in having the exotic
species in our gardens. And sowe were bringing in a lot from
all over the world. Andunfortunately, we introduced
chestnuts that had this disease,and they could handle it. But
(22:27):
the American Chestnut, which hadbeen largely isolated throughout
its existence, couldn't. Itdidn't have any kind of natural
resistance. And it really justabsolutely devastated the
American chestnut.
Dr. Ralph Ford (22:38):
People were looking for them right to
identify them. They have a verydistinctive look.
Emily Dobry (22:42):
Not that I don't think they do. But the challenge
right now is that we've hadnearly, gosh, almost 100 years
of hybridizing, okay with Asianspecies. And so a lot of times,
you may think that you have anAmerican, but chances are pretty
good, you have a hybrid version.
Dr. Ralph Ford (23:02):
Sort of in that hybrid, make it frankly, so that
they could survive here is thatit?
Emily Dobry (23:06):
It did help. Yes, and it increase the resistance,
the disease resistance, becausethe Asian species were more
resistant.
Dr. Ralph Ford (23:13):
But is it that the Asian species are not as
good as the American in terms ofthe you know, the fruit and
everything that you talkedabout?
Emily Dobry (23:22):
in our forest systems, the organisms that used
to rely on this tiny little nutcan't use that larger one. And
the trees are typically shorterfor the Asian species. So we
don't have that canopy growth,which is necessary for the
(23:45):
American chestnuts here. It'spretty competitive.
Dr. Ralph Ford (23:47):
So we can you find them, you know, if you go
into forests in our region,here, they are out there some of
the American chestnut trees.
Emily Dobry (23:54):
Yeah, so they're considered functionally extinct,
which means that they're stillin existence. But they are
having a hard time reproducing,essentially. They're out there,
but they can't reproduce andkeep that species going. And
that's what makes themfunctionally extinct, is we're
not really seeing new chestnutsbeing established. And that's
(24:14):
because they have to reach thecanopy. That's why that height
is so important. So you can findthem, but they are few and far
between.
Dr. Ralph Ford (24:22):
Well, so but your research is to try to
restore them and bring themback. Is that a fair assessment?
Or what are you looking at?
Emily Dobry (24:30):
My research was actually focused on another
pathogen that has become a newconcern for chestnuts and I
really wanted to look at whatthat could potentially mean to
the restoration efforts. Notthat I was necessarily involved
in the restoration itself, butlooking at how this pathogen
could affect the work thatthey're doing.
Dr. Ralph Ford (24:50):
Okay. So tell us, I think you've had some
pretty significant results.
Don't be modest. Yes. Tell uswhat you found.
Emily Dobry (24:57):
So we were looking at a pathogen called
Gnomoniopsis Castanea, which isquite a mouthful. It's also
commonly known as brown rot.
Dr. Ralph Ford (25:08):
Say it again.
Emily Dobry (25:09):
Chestnut brown rot?
Dr. Ralph Ford (25:12):
What was the full name?
Emily Dobry (25:13):
Gnomoniopsis Castanea, or Gnomoniopsis
Smithogilvyi. Yeah, those arefun to say.
Dr. Ralph Ford (25:19):
I'm not even going to try.
Emily Dobry (25:21):
But it's been a big problem over in Europe and
Australia, where it's caused alot of crop loss because they
still have competitive chestnutindustries there where they can
grow and sell chestnut nuts. Butthis is robbing the product. And
we recently identified it herein the US. It was actually Dr.
Sakalidis, up in Michigan whoidentified it first. But we
(25:43):
identified it around the sametime here in Erie. And so we
were really interested in whatthat's going to mean for the
hybridization efforts and forthe transgenics, because those
are your nuts for your nextgeneration for chestnuts. So if
this is a network pathogen herein the US, what's that going to
mean?
Dr. Ralph Ford (26:02):
So then your goal is to help the trees
adapters to keep the pathogenout. And what's the thought
process as to how you mitigateit?
Emily Dobry (26:10):
So our goal here wasn't to look at mitigation at
all. It was really becausenobody had studied it in the US
yet. And nobody knew what it wasgoing to do to the American
Chestnut, or the our hybrids orChinese species that we widely
grow here. We wanted to look athow it was going to affect the
species that are common in theUnited States, and understand
what it would mean to them.
Dr. Ralph Ford (26:31):
And is this the subject of your Ph.D. thesis?
Emily Dobry (26:34):
No, that was part of my master's thesis.
Dr. Ralph Ford (26:36):
Okay. Yes. So now tell us what you're doing in
your Ph.D. work?
Emily Dobry (26:40):
That's working with the potatoes.
Dr. Ralph Ford (26:43):
So how far along are you in your studies? Are you
writing your your thesis as wespeak?
Emily Dobry (26:49):
For my Ph.D? No.
Dr. Ralph Ford (26:53):
Well, I'm not trying to pressure you, I know
there always a lot of pressureto do so. But you have to be
getting close to that pointhere. If you've finished all
your coursework.
Emily Dobry (27:01):
Well, we luckily, my coursework was kind of the
same thing that it was for mymasters. So I knocked that out
of the way pretty easily. Butfor my Ph.D., we just finished
or we will be finishingsequencing our second year of
data. And that's really kind ofwhen we're going to start
writing this up and getting theresults out there.
Dr. Ralph Ford (27:18):
You need some publications? So you know, what
is your plan after you graduate?
You know, as you go into highereducation, research, teaching
industry, what's your plan?
Emily Dobry (27:30):
I, you know, I'm not really sure. I really enjoy
the work at the Ag Extension. Ilove working with people and
being able to do that outreach.
I've really been enjoying doing,what teaching I have done or the
TA in some cases, but I reallyenjoy that too. So my, my
choices are endless.
Dr. Ralph Ford (27:51):
I think you've got some time to think about it.
And do you got a long life aheadof you. So you can do many
different things. You know, youdon't have to have it all
figured out. Well, we're comingto the close of our discussion
here today. Is there anythingelse you'd like to add about
your experiences here at Behrendand at Penn State?
Emily Dobry (28:07):
I think that what I would like to add is that
Behrend has really been my home.
There's a reason I came here formy undergraduate. There's a
reason I wanted to stay here formy graduate research. I love
this campus. It's beautiful. Thepeople here are so incredibly
supportive. And I think it's,it's been my home, I feel
incredibly honored to be a partof ongoing research and
(28:29):
promoting this university.
Dr. Ralph Ford (28:33):
Well, we're honored to have you here and
you've really been involved insome high impact projects, and
you've made a contribution tothem. And I'll just add that I
think, you know, you exemplifywhat we see here in the Behrend
culture, which is a reallyengaged community of focus on
our students, but I think reallyunique in not only combining
that great teaching, butresearch as well. And you're
(28:54):
probably one of the greatestexamples we have of somebody who
has lived that so thank you somuch. My guest today has been
Emily Dobry, a graduate studenthere at Penn State University,
working here at Penn StateBehrend. My name is Dr. Ralph
Ford. You have been listening toBehrend Talks.
Hi, I'm Dr.
(00:00):
Ralph Ford, Chancellor of PennState Behrend and you are
(00:02):
listening to Behrend Talks. Myguest today is Emily Dobry, a
graduate student who has beenpretty active here on campus and
contributed to a number of highprofile research projects, here
at Behrend and at the Lake ErieGrape Research and Extension
Center. And we're going to talka whole lot about those today.
(00:22):
In November, Emily, you and Dr.
Mike Campbell, distinguishedprofessor of biology, published
a paper that is getting someattention in the Journal of
Plant Pathology in which youidentified a new pathogen that
is damaging chestnut trees. Andit is a fungus that had
previously not been found herein the US, but we'll talk about
(00:44):
that and a whole lot more.
Welcome to the show. Emily,
Emily Dobry (00:47):
Thank you very much for having me.
Dr. Ralph Ford (00:49):
Well, I'm gonna go a little bit further into
your background. You know, youearned a bachelor's degree in
Ecology and Evolutionary Biologyin 2019, a master's in
Horticulture in 2021. Right nowyou're in the second year of
your Ph.D. program. You'recurrently enrolled in the
Agricultural and EnvironmentalPlant Sciences program at
(01:10):
University Park. But yourfieldwork is here in in Erie,
Pennsylvania. And you stillremain closely connected with
Penn State Behrend where youstarted your Penn State path.
Emily Dobry (01:21):
I do I do.
Dr. Ralph Ford (01:22):
Well, let's, let's get into it. Tell us how
did you end up at Penn StateBehrend to begin with?
Emily Dobry (01:27):
Well, I had actually been working for many
years at a Burger King franchiselocally. And I couldn't really
move up in the business. And Ikind of decided I need to go
back to school. But the more Ithought about it, the more I
realized I didn't want to go toschool for business. I wanted to
go for sciences. And so my dad'sactually a professor here.
Dr. Ralph Ford (01:47):
And a professor of business as well.
Emily Dobry (01:51):
Yeah, he's been here for over 20 years now. And
so I think that kind of guidedmy desire to come to Penn State.
He's loved being here. And he'sspoken so highly of it. I did do
a few years or a few semesterswhen I was much younger.
Dr. Ralph Ford (02:07):
So you first came here, probably right after
school, and then decided itwasn't for you. And you went out
into the work world, so tospeak? Well, then let's stick
with that right now. So, youknow, you went out, you were in
"the real world", and you foundyou had to come back to school.
And it is not an atypical path.
And it's, it's a really goodpath. So how did that change
your you know, your, yourviewpoint or your study? And how
(02:31):
did you approach school, whenyou came back after working at
Burger King for a number ofyears?
Emily Dobry (02:39):
You know, I was actually really, I always think
about how grateful I am that Iwaited. Because I didn't know
what I wanted to do at age 18,19, 20. I really didn't have any
clear idea of where life wasgoing to take me or what I
wanted to get out of it. And bythe time I was 30, I had two
kids. And I knew that what Iwanted to do was do something
(03:01):
that would be lasting for theirfutures. And that's kind of
really what drove this love ofworking in the sciences. So I
think waiting helped me figureout not only what I wanted to
do, but to take it moreseriously.
Dr. Ralph Ford (03:16):
So you had two children? And you came back to
school? This is a tremendouschallenge. How did you manage
it, you must have had to developa system and be really
disciplined about what you'redoing.
Emily Dobry (03:27):
Yes, I had a lot of help. Thankfully, their father
was very helpful. My family wasvery helpful. Everybody was
extremely supportive of mecoming back to school, and I
wouldn't have been able to do itwithout them.
Dr. Ralph Ford (03:38):
Wow. And did you find that you kind of lost your
academic edge? Or did it comeback quickly once you got into
the classes?
Emily Dobry (03:45):
I think it came back fairly quickly.
Dr. Ralph Ford (03:47):
Okay. So mathematics, the writing all of
that stuff was there. So let's,you know, we'll jump around. I
want to talk about the workyou're doing right now you are
working with Dr. Mike Campbell,studying, and he's been studying
potatoes for a long time. And,you know, they are an important
food source. So what are youstudying with him? And why do
(04:10):
you find this subject sointeresting?
Emily Dobry (04:11):
So we're actually doing dormancy studies. And
something that I think mostpeople don't realize about
potatoes, and I didn't evenreally think about it until I
got into this. What you buy inthe store is a dormant tuber. So
it's asleep. Essentially, thinkabout dormant trees. It's
sleeping when you buy it.
Because if it starts to grow,once you start to get those
(04:33):
stems growing out of the eyes,you don't want it anymore. Iit
doesn't taste the same, itdoesn't have the same quality.
And so we're studying dormancyto better understand some of the
transitions that will let usknow that it's exiting dormancy.
So essentially, we're trying tofind ways that will allow us to
(04:53):
make sure that the tubers are onour shelves for longer We have a
more stable food product.
Dr. Ralph Ford (05:02):
So how do you get there? Is it? How do you
engineer or genetically changethe potato? Or there are other
approaches? So you want to makeit last longer, essentially,
which is really important,right? None of us like when we
go into our pantry, and we findour potatoes have sprouted, and
we know they start to get alittle soft, and, you know, you
try to eat it, but you'reprobably not so happy that you
(05:24):
did.
Emily Dobry (05:24):
Or when you pick up that bag, and you find out, it's
not a potato anymore, it'ssuddenly liquid, and you don't
really want that
Dr. Ralph Ford (05:30):
Yes liquid.
We've all gone through that.
Emily Dobry (05:34):
So there are a number of ways. We are taking an
approach that utilizes RNAsequencing, that allows us to
see what genes are beingexpressed during dormancy, or
which ones are not beingexpressed. And that kind of
gives us an idea of what'sactive within the potato. But,
and that will hopefully allow usto identify genes that are
(05:54):
important. There are otherthings that you could do like
developing transgenicsgenetically engineered, that's
not our track, currently. Butwhat we're looking at
particularly is the use ofsprout inhibitors, so things
that prevent it from growing, sopotentially from exiting
dormancy.
Dr. Ralph Ford (06:14):
So what would do that? Is it a chemical- or
biological-based approach to it?
Emily Dobry (06:19):
Yes. So there are lots of different methods out
there that a lot of people use,like clove oil or peppermint oil
currently in the United States.
The big one is CIPC. But we'retrying to move away from that,
because it has long lastingenvironmental effects that
really aren't desirable. So whatwe're working with is called
1,4-Dimethylnaphthalene, or it'smore commonly known as DMN. And
(06:41):
that's just a natural sproutinhibitor that's actually found
within potatoes.
Dr. Ralph Ford (06:48):
And are there a particular type of potato that
you're looking at? Or is it abroad range?
Emily Dobry (06:54):
We're looking at a broad range now. So we're trying
to do everything from your tablepotatoes to chipping or french
fried potatoes.
Dr. Ralph Ford (07:01):
So I have to ask this question. Do you have a
favorite potato that you like?
Do you like to even eat potatoesdoing all this research?
Emily Dobry (07:06):
I love potatoes.
Dr. Ralph Ford (07:07):
All right, well, this is good, because this means
that you're studying somethingthat you really like. So but
let's talk about yourarrangement. So you're here in
Erie. you're working in, a lotof people don't know, but Penn
State, of course, has this greatagricultural outreach. But we
have something called the LakeErie Grape Research Center. That
(07:27):
is in northeast PA, I've beenthere a number of times. And you
know, you're doing some greatwork. They're not only on
potatoes, but as the nameimplies grapes, but during the
Ph.D. program at UniversityPark. So how does this all work
that you ended up here, and thatyou're doing your studies here
versus say in State College?
Emily Dobry (07:46):
Well, so I kind of fell into that through the
goodwill of Dr. Campbell, myadvisor, and through Dr. Ivor
Knight, they had wanted to, Ithink kind of start the ball
rolling on potentiallysupporting graduate research in
the sciences up here at Behrend.
And I had really wanted to stayhere if possible. So they said,
(08:08):
Oh, here's our perfectopportunity. And that's really
how it worked out. So all mycoursework has to be down at
University Park right now. Wedon't have the courses up here
for it, which is fine. It was asome commuting, but then I get
to do my work here.
Dr. Ralph Ford (08:23):
Yeah, we have a number, an increasing number.
And this is part of our strategyhere. And it's, I think, a
really good one we have, youknow, opportunities to work type
of research, you're doing thework we do in here, knowledge
Park, it's all this idea of thisopen laboratory philosophy. And
then, you know, as a graduatestudent, you don't have to be
there every day at UniversityPark to go and study. So what do
(08:45):
you do? You drive back and forthto spend a few days there and
take classes? Is that the wayit's working?
Emily Dobry (08:49):
I did. I'm all done with my coursework now,
thankfully. Because it waspretty tiring. But yes, I would
drive. I would commute downthere for a few days every week
and then commute back. So I hadsome time with my kids.
Dr. Ralph Ford (08:58):
Okay, and do they have remote classes too?
And did that work out for youduring the pandemic? Or how did
that operate?
Emily Dobry (09:06):
Yes, weirdly. COVID was beneficial for me in that it
allowed me to stay here in Erieand do some coursework here, so
I didn't have to commute asmuch.
Dr. Ralph Ford (09:15):
Well, it's kind of nice when you get past that
point where your coursework isdone, and you can focus just on
your research. But let's talk alittle bit about some of the
other areas because you'veworked in some pretty high
profile projects here. Youworked with Dr. Pam Silver as
well on salt. Tell us about thework you did on studying salt
(09:36):
and roadways and what did youfind there?
Emily Dobry (09:39):
So I think I started with Pam Silver in my
freshman or sophomore year,working on road salt runoff. We
have a big campus we have a lotof sidewalks here. We have to
keep those safe for ourstudents. And she was really
interested in looking at how farthat salt runoff drifted away
(09:59):
from the application sites whenyou put it on the sidewalks. So
we started with a study where wewent out and we took samples
away from the sidewalk to seehow far out that went and went
surprisingly far, and a veryhigh level. So that's important
for us to know. I mean, ifyou've heard the saying, salt
(10:20):
the Earth, it was a way todestroy soil, right? And so it's
a big concern. You can see itaround sidewalks all over Erie
that the soil is essentiallydead, and it can't hold life,
because it's too salty.
Dr. Ralph Ford (10:34):
So here, we have to replant the grass next to the
sidewalks.
Emily Dobry (10:37):
Yep. And so that's really kind of what started it.
And then we moved into lookingat how that affects streams.
Dr. Ralph Ford (10:45):
And what did you find?
Emily Dobry (10:47):
So we found, we worked with Tipulidaes to start
with, which are crane flies thatkind of look like those giant
mosquitoes that fly around herein the fall. Everybody gets a
little freaked out about thegiant mosquitoes, but they're
just little leaf shredders inthe water, they actually really
help our water. And we foundthat they were not eating as
(11:08):
much of the leaves when theywere exposed to high stress,
salt, which means that we're notbreaking down as much and
getting that necessary carboninto the water.
Dr. Ralph Ford (11:18):
Are there any recommendations that come out of
it? I mean, what is it? It's ahard problem, right? So if
you're the maintenance team hereon campus or anywhere else, the
easy answer is throw a littleextra salt down because people
will be safer. And you avoidlawsuits and people getting
hurt. And that's reallyimportant. So did you take it as
far as coming up withrecommendations to either
(11:40):
alternatives or salt or betterways to apply? I mean, where did
it lead to those sorts ofquestions as well?
Emily Dobry (11:45):
Not in my research.
Personally, I know that that'ssomething that she did look at
in terms of using biochar to tryand amend soil to hold on to the
salt run off a little bit, so itwouldn't enter the waterways.
But as far as I was concerned,not in my research.
Dr. Ralph Ford (12:01):
The front end of the project where you were,
which was really important,because you knew it was a
problem. There's no better placethan here on campus, by the way.
We've got this greatEnvironmental Laboratory where
you could do that sort ofresearch so well.
Emily Dobry (12:15):
And we have the streams around here, we have
Glenhill, and then Trout Run andthen Four Mile. So it allowed a
lot of opportunity to really seehow that was actually impacting
real waterways.
Dr. Ralph Ford (12:26):
Did you go out and test out all the waterways
on campus?
Emily Dobry (12:29):
So Dr. Silver actually did that. She did
monitoring for quite some timein our water systems. And was it
it wasn't great news for them.
Dr. Ralph Ford (12:38):
So that's, that's, you know, what I've
talked to her, of course, aboutthe outcomes of this, we're
still trying to come up withsolutions to reduce the amount
of salt but it's, you know...
Emily Dobry (12:47):
Tt's a challenge.
Dr. Ralph Ford (12:48):
It's a challenge. It's everywhere in
our, you know, in everyTownship, and it's heavily used.
Emily Dobry (12:53):
It's certainly not unique to Behrend. And when you
have to ensure the safety ofstudents, there are certain
things that you have to takepriority.
Dr. Ralph Ford (12:58):
Yeah, it's a difficult problem. First of all,
let's switch to a differentproject that you worked on. And
there's infamous one I sayinfamous, I think, and it's here
on campus, because we love thename just sounds so interesting,
bloody red shrimp. So tell usabout your work and looking into
bloody red shrimp.
Emily Dobry (13:16):
Oh, that was a fun summer project. So that was
headed by Dr. Maxwell, and Dr.
Ivor Knight. And they werelooking to try and identify ways
to test ballast water. So in thebottom of ship, they hold water
to help keep them balanced. Theywanted to be able to test for
this invasive shrimp before itwould enter potentially Lake
(13:36):
Superior where the shrimp hasnot yet been found. So they're
trying to develop a testingsystem using environmental DNA
or E DNA. And that's kind ofwhere I got involved was testing
waters locally and learning howto identify the organism. And
yeah, we just we kind ofstumbled on it in here in Erie.
Dr. Ralph Ford (13:57):
You stumbled on it, but I think if if I'm not
mistaken you were the firstgroup to identify this species
in in US waters, right? Here inour area? Or am I wrong on that?
Emily Dobry (14:09):
I don't think we were the first in US waters. I
know it's been like...
In our area, yes.
In our area.
Dr. Ralph Ford (14:13):
But in Lake Erie.
Okay, fairenough. And so you had a sense
that they were out there. Howdid you... So walk us through, I
think you, you spent someinteresting times out there
right in the middle of the nighttrying to find them. I mean, are
they nighttime creatures? Whywould you do that versus just
going out? How do you collectthe samples?
Emily Dobry (14:34):
They are nighttime creatures and, they tend to hang
out deeper in the water duringthe daytime and then they'll
come up towards the surface atnight. And so you had to go out
with this red lamp on your for alittle water and hope that you
can see their flashing eyes andthen you would sample for it.
Dr. Ralph Ford (14:50):
Oh, so you you and your classmates were down
there, research mates so tospeak, in wading boots or
something like this. How dooften did you have to go into
the water?
Emily Dobry (14:58):
We actually went...
I don't know what it's called.
It's that wall that runs out. Isit a jetty that runs out between
the lake and the Bay, thechannel there? So we were out on
the wall, and we would dipbuckets and pull them up and
hope that we would find them inthere. And we found lots.
Dr. Ralph Ford (15:14):
And did you know then? Or was it not until you
got back to the lab that youwere sure that you had them
there?
Emily Dobry (15:19):
We were fairly confident because their eyes
actually flash red when youshine that light on them. So it
kind of is a giveaway. But theywere officially identified by
Dr. Gruwell once we got back tothe lab.
Dr. Ralph Ford (15:30):
And he did that via DNA testing? Is that how he
did it?
Emily Dobry (15:35):
We did it with DNA testing. But we also he did it
visually assessing morphologicalcharacteristics.
Dr. Ralph Ford (15:41):
So why do we care about them? They're
invasive. I don't say that in acallous way. But I think, you
know, listeners need need tounderstand. Are they a threat to
our ecosystem here? What is theissue with having them in our
waterways?
Emily Dobry (15:54):
They are competitors for our natural
native shrimp. And so they'reout competing for food
resources. And it's been sometime, so I may be incorrect, but
I don't think that they providethe same level of food resource,
and they're not quite asdesirable to our fish species
that we have here, as the nativeshrimp are. And so if you have
(16:16):
them out competing, and we haveless and less of our native
species, it can cause a problem.
Dr. Ralph Ford (16:20):
And then the other things eat those shrimp.
And you know, so it becomesprobably a compounding problem.
So where did they come from? Soyou said they came from ballast
water? But I mean, like, whatpart of the world did they come
from? Where did where did theytrace back to?
Emily Dobry (16:33):
I believe that came from the Baltic Sea.
Dr. Ralph Ford (16:36):
Wow, we have quite a few invasives from the
Baltic.
Emily Dobry (16:40):
Unfortunately, that came over on ballast water.
Dr. Ralph Ford (16:43):
So how do you how do you mitigate that
problem?
Emily Dobry (16:45):
You just have to test I know that there are
they're looking at doing usingmethods in the ballasts that
would kill life in there so thatyou essentially have water that
doesn't have anything living init anymore. So you're not
dumping potential livingorganisms. But I'm not entirely
sure what all that involves.
Dr. Ralph Ford (17:03):
And it's probably managing the ballast
Emily Dobry (17:03):
So it's an Ag Research Center, and it's mostly
water so that it doesn't getdumped into the lake in the
focused on grapes. So we havecontracts with Welch's. So we
first place. Yes. You know, aswe know, we've got Asian carp
and the infamous Gobi, and I'msure many other things that we
have choose grapes. But we alsohave a lot of wine varieties out
could go on and on about thathave been introduced that way,
and it's a real issue. Let'sswitch back to the work that
you're doing at the Lake Erie,great Research Center. First,
(17:25):
tell us a bit more about thatcenter out there. And what is
it, and what is the type of workthat happens there?
there. And it's really justfocused on looking at pests,
best growing practices forvineyards for grapes. But we
(17:48):
also have a number of otherthings that we grow out there.
We have Haskaps. I don't know ifyou've ever heard of a Haskap.
I've not heard of that. I'm notentirely sure what it is.
It's a European fruit. It's fromNorthern Europe. And it looks
like a very long blueberry, butit kind of tastes like a
Blackberry. And we have some ofthose. We have blueberries, we
have chestnuts out there. Sothere's a lot of agricultural
(18:09):
research. And we work incollaboration with Cornell and
University Park.
Dr. Ralph Ford (18:14):
So how did the local farmers play into this? So
do they come to you withproblems and say, we're seeing
these issues? Can you help usfigure it out?
Emily Dobry (18:21):
They do. They come to the center, they they will
bring in concerns about pests,they will come in for questions
about which fertilizers to applywhich fungicides, etc. So they
reach out to the Ag Center alot. They hold something called
a coffee talk pretty frequentlywhere they meet with a local
grower so they can answerquestions and kind of give
(18:42):
guidance.
Dr. Ralph Ford (18:44):
So you said something else or that caught my
attention to and that you lookat different varieties of
grapes, are you trying to findthose that can be better
cultivated for the long term aswell and introduce different
varieties to the region. We knowit's a huge part of our economy.
But it's not really a great areagenerally for growing, say, red
wine grapes. But I think they'rereally trying to do that more
(19:04):
and more.
Emily Dobry (19:04):
Here they are. So I think a lot of what they're
trying to focus on here islooking at what's going to be
successful in our area, and howthey might respond to local
pressures that we haveenvironmental pressures pest
that we have here that maybearen't present elsewhere, fungi
that we deal with water,resources, etc. But yeah, I
(19:25):
think they're really looking atwhat's going to be successful in
our areas that they can theninform growers.
Dr. Ralph Ford (19:31):
Have you found the spotted lantern fly here in
our region?
Emily Dobry (19:36):
It has not been found in our region that I'm
aware of. Flor Acevedo, Dr.
Acevedo would know more aboutthat than I do. But as far as
I'm aware, it's been found overin Ohio and New York but not
here, so far.
Dr. Ralph Ford (19:46):
And for those who are listening, it's a highly
invasive species. I think I inthe east side of the state, it
is wreaking a tremendous amountof havoc. So you see the signs
on the road to check your carwhen you're leaving certain
areas because the light cancause they latch on to your car
and be moved around.
Emily Dobry (20:03):
I've never seen one in person.
Dr. Ralph Ford (20:04):
I have not seen one. I've only seen pictures.
Emily Dobry (20:06):
They're beautiful.
I went to, I think it wasElizabethtown last year. And
they're everywhere. They coatall the plants there. It's just
overrun with these. They reallytake over and it is quite a
problem. But they are beautiful.
They are beautiful. They're verypretty insects.
Dr. Ralph Ford (20:23):
Well, I remember as a kid seeing gypsy moth
infestations and it wasstunning. And they're not pretty
by the way. They're not so nicelooking. And it wasn't pleasant
either. I remember being out inthe woods and Massachusetts on
vacation and seeing that and itjust was not at all that nice to
see. So when I hear about thespotted lantern fly, I think
about that as well. And it's nota nice thing. So well, hopefully
(20:45):
we can keep them out of ourregion and knock on wood. So
far, we've been able to. Let'stalk about an area where you
have spent, I believe aconsiderable amount of time, and
that is looking at chestnuttrees. Yes. So tell us a bit
about just even the importanceof chestnut trees. You know,
they've had a tremendous declinein the United States. And I'm
(21:06):
not sure everyone's aware ofthat. And we'll talk about some
of your research but gives setthe table tell us about the
importance of chestnut trees.
Emily Dobry (21:14):
Sure. So chestnuts, they're closely related to Oak
and Beech. They were here forupwards of 50 million years in
our area in the United States.
And they were incrediblyimportant to our forest systems,
because they would produce largenet crops every single year. And
they produce really tasty nuts.
And they were very sweet. Theywere extremely palatable, they
(21:35):
produced far more nuts thantheir own relatives. So whereas
only produces every four or fiveyears, a big nut crop chestnut
did every year, so it reallysupported a lot of life in our
forest systems, particularlyalong the Appalachian mountain
range. So they really dominatedfor millions of years up until
(21:55):
about 100 years ago when we sawthe introduction of another
invasive pathogen.
Dr. Ralph Ford (22:00):
Okay, so it came from settlers, and when you say
pathogen, it's a fungus orsomething?
Emily Dobry (22:06):
Yes. So it came from Japan and China. There were
nurseries over there. It was atime in our country's history
where we weren't reallyinterested in having the exotic
species in our gardens. And sowe were bringing in a lot from
all over the world. Andunfortunately, we introduced
chestnuts that had this disease,and they could handle it. But
(22:27):
the American Chestnut, which hadbeen largely isolated throughout
its existence, couldn't. Itdidn't have any kind of natural
resistance. And it really justabsolutely devastated the
American chestnut.
Dr. Ralph Ford (22:38):
People were looking for them right to
identify them. They have a verydistinctive look.
Emily Dobry (22:42):
Not that I don't think they do. But the challenge
right now is that we've hadnearly, gosh, almost 100 years
of hybridizing, okay with Asianspecies. And so a lot of times,
you may think that you have anAmerican, but chances are pretty
good, you have a hybrid version.
Dr. Ralph Ford (23:02):
Sort of in that hybrid, make it frankly, so that
they could survive here is thatit?
Emily Dobry (23:06):
It did help. Yes, and it increase the resistance,
the disease resistance, becausethe Asian species were more
resistant.
Dr. Ralph Ford (23:13):
But is it that the Asian species are not as
good as the American in terms ofthe you know, the fruit and
everything that you talkedabout?
Emily Dobry (23:22):
in our forest systems, the organisms that used
to rely on this tiny little nutcan't use that larger one. And
the trees are typically shorterfor the Asian species. So we
don't have that canopy growth,which is necessary for the
(23:45):
American chestnuts here. It'spretty competitive.
Dr. Ralph Ford (23:47):
So we can you find them, you know, if you go
into forests in our region,here, they are out there some of
the American chestnut trees.
Emily Dobry (23:54):
Yeah, so they're considered functionally extinct,
which means that they're stillin existence. But they are
having a hard time reproducing,essentially. They're out there,
but they can't reproduce andkeep that species going. And
that's what makes themfunctionally extinct, is we're
not really seeing new chestnutsbeing established. And that's
(24:14):
because they have to reach thecanopy. That's why that height
is so important. So you can findthem, but they are few and far
between.
Dr. Ralph Ford (24:22):
Well, so but your research is to try to
restore them and bring themback. Is that a fair assessment?
Or what are you looking at?
Emily Dobry (24:30):
My research was actually focused on another
pathogen that has become a newconcern for chestnuts and I
really wanted to look at whatthat could potentially mean to
the restoration efforts. Notthat I was necessarily involved
in the restoration itself, butlooking at how this pathogen
could affect the work thatthey're doing.
Dr. Ralph Ford (24:50):
Okay. So tell us, I think you've had some
pretty significant results.
Don't be modest. Yes. Tell uswhat you found.
Emily Dobry (24:57):
So we were looking at a pathogen called
Gnomoniopsis Castanea, which isquite a mouthful. It's also
commonly known as brown rot.
Dr. Ralph Ford (25:08):
Say it again.
Emily Dobry (25:09):
Chestnut brown rot?
Dr. Ralph Ford (25:12):
What was the full name?
Emily Dobry (25:13):
Gnomoniopsis Castanea, or Gnomoniopsis
Smithogilvyi. Yeah, those arefun to say.
Dr. Ralph Ford (25:19):
I'm not even going to try.
Emily Dobry (25:21):
But it's been a big problem over in Europe and
Australia, where it's caused alot of crop loss because they
still have competitive chestnutindustries there where they can
grow and sell chestnut nuts. Butthis is robbing the product. And
we recently identified it herein the US. It was actually Dr.
Sakalidis, up in Michigan whoidentified it first. But we
(25:43):
identified it around the sametime here in Erie. And so we
were really interested in whatthat's going to mean for the
hybridization efforts and forthe transgenics, because those
are your nuts for your nextgeneration for chestnuts. So if
this is a network pathogen herein the US, what's that going to
mean?
Dr. Ralph Ford (26:02):
So then your goal is to help the trees
adapters to keep the pathogenout. And what's the thought
process as to how you mitigateit?
Emily Dobry (26:10):
So our goal here wasn't to look at mitigation at
all. It was really becausenobody had studied it in the US
yet. And nobody knew what it wasgoing to do to the American
Chestnut, or the our hybrids orChinese species that we widely
grow here. We wanted to look athow it was going to affect the
species that are common in theUnited States, and understand
what it would mean to them.
Dr. Ralph Ford (26:31):
And is this the subject of your Ph.D. thesis?
Emily Dobry (26:34):
No, that was part of my master's thesis.
Dr. Ralph Ford (26:36):
Okay. Yes. So now tell us what you're doing in
your Ph.D. work?
Emily Dobry (26:40):
That's working with the potatoes.
Dr. Ralph Ford (26:43):
So how far along are you in your studies? Are you
writing your your thesis as wespeak?
Emily Dobry (26:49):
For my Ph.D? No.
Dr. Ralph Ford (26:53):
Well, I'm not trying to pressure you, I know
there always a lot of pressureto do so. But you have to be
getting close to that pointhere. If you've finished all
your coursework.
Emily Dobry (27:01):
Well, we luckily, my coursework was kind of the
same thing that it was for mymasters. So I knocked that out
of the way pretty easily. Butfor my Ph.D., we just finished
or we will be finishingsequencing our second year of
data. And that's really kind ofwhen we're going to start
writing this up and getting theresults out there.
Dr. Ralph Ford (27:18):
You need some publications? So you know, what
is your plan after you graduate?
You know, as you go into highereducation, research, teaching
industry, what's your plan?
Emily Dobry (27:30):
I, you know, I'm not really sure. I really enjoy
the work at the Ag Extension. Ilove working with people and
being able to do that outreach.
I've really been enjoying doing,what teaching I have done or the
TA in some cases, but I reallyenjoy that too. So my, my
choices are endless.
Dr. Ralph Ford (27:51):
I think you've got some time to think about it.
And do you got a long life aheadof you. So you can do many
different things. You know, youdon't have to have it all
figured out. Well, we're comingto the close of our discussion
here today. Is there anythingelse you'd like to add about
your experiences here at Behrendand at Penn State?
Emily Dobry (28:07):
I think that what I would like to add is that
Behrend has really been my home.
There's a reason I came here formy undergraduate. There's a
reason I wanted to stay here formy graduate research. I love
this campus. It's beautiful. Thepeople here are so incredibly
supportive. And I think it's,it's been my home, I feel
incredibly honored to be a partof ongoing research and
(28:29):
promoting this university.
Dr. Ralph Ford (28:33):
Well, we're honored to have you here and
you've really been involved insome high impact projects, and
you've made a contribution tothem. And I'll just add that I
think, you know, you exemplifywhat we see here in the Behrend
culture, which is a reallyengaged community of focus on
our students, but I think reallyunique in not only combining
that great teaching, butresearch as well. And you're
(28:54):
probably one of the greatestexamples we have of somebody who
has lived that so thank you somuch. My guest today has been
Emily Dobry, a graduate studenthere at Penn State University,
working here at Penn StateBehrend. My name is Dr. Ralph
Ford. You have been listening toBehrend Talks.
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