New Faculty

Eva Collakova

Eva Collakova has been an assistant professor in PPWS since January 2009. She received both her doctoral degree in plant biology and postdoctoral training at Michigan State University. The main focus of her research is the transcriptional regulation of metabolism in developing plant embryos during accumulation of storage reserves. She uses reverse genetics, metabolite profiling, and metabolic fux analysis to follow metabolic changes in order to identify key players in the regulation of seed storage metabolism. Ultimately, the results of her research will be used to alter lipid and protein content in crop seeds via metabolic engineering for food and biofuel purposes.

Mizuho Nita

Mizuho Nita joined PPWS as a grape pathologist at the Alson H. Smith Jr. AREC in January 2009. He received a Ph.D. in plant pathology from Ohio State University, then joined Pennsylvania State University, and later, Kansas State University as a postdoctoral scholar. His research focus is on epidemiological and applied studies of grape diseases, including disease forecasting and spatio-temporal analyses of grape leafroll-associated viruses. His Extension activities include developing fungicide spray guidelines, forecasting disease, field testing new fungicides, delivering educational presentations, and writing a grape disease blog.