- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Kaya, who joined the UC Davis faculty in 1976 and retired in 2010, has known Lynn and her husband, Robert "Bob," for more than four decades. Both the Kimseys received their bachelor and doctoral degrees in entomology from UC Davis.
"I never had Lynn in a classroom situation, but she was always helpful in helping others ID insects," Kaya said. He and Lynn worked on a McKnight Foundation potato grant project in Peru for four years. He remembers Bob as a "super student in my insect pathology class."
Lynn, then Lynn Siri, received her bachelor's degree in 1975 and her doctorate in 1979, while Bob received his bachelor's degree in 1977 and his doctorate in 1984. Lynn joined the UC Davis faculty in 1989 and has directed the Bohart Museum since 1990. Bob, a forensic entomologist, joined the UC Davis faculty in 1984 as a lecturer. Both plan to retire this year.
Harry Kaya is internationally recognized for his contributions to insect pathology and insect nematology, which include more than 250 peer-reviewed publications. He co-authored an insect pathology book in 1993; co-edited another insect pathology book in 2012; and co-edited five books in several disciplines including forest entomology, entomopathogenic nematology, and invertebrate pathology.
He was named a fellow of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) in 2007.
At the seminar, co-organizer Lynn Lebeck, then executive director of the Association of Natural Biocontrol Producers, praised him as a top-notch researcher and as "a warm human being." She recalled the "many years of fun times and great research experiences with him." (See news story)
Kaya co-founded the journal Biological Control, and served as the co-editor of the first and second editions of Field Manual of Techniques in Invertebrate Pathology, Application and Evaluation of Pathogens for Control of Insects and other Invertebrate Pests.
Born and raised in Honolulu, Harry received his bachelor's degree in entomology in 1962 from the College of Tropical Agriculture, University of Hawaii (UH). He served in the U.S. Army, and after being discharged as a first lieutenant, earned his master's degree in entomology from UH in 1964, specializing in insect ecology. In 1970, UC Berkeley awarded him his doctoral degree in entomology. with research in insect pathology.
From 1971 to 1976, Kaya worked as an entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven and conducted research on biological control of forest insects. In 1976, he joined the UC Davis faculty as an assistant professor, attaining the rank of full professor in 1984. He became a distinguished professor of entomology in 2008.
Kaya chaired the Department of Nematology from 1994 to 2001. He also served as an officer in the Society of Invertebrate Pathology (treasurer, 1990–1994, vice-president, 2000–2002, and president-elect 2002–2004), and was one of the founding editors of the journal Biological Control.
Highly honored by his peers, Kaya received the 1998 C. W. Woodworth Award, the highest honor presented by the Pacific Branch, ESA. In 2000, he received the 2000 Recognition Award in Entomology from ESA and Fellow of the Society of Nematologists. The Society for Invertebrate Pathology and UH also presented him with several awards.
In honoring him as a Fellow, ESA posted this on its website: "Kaya has mentored many graduate students and post-doctoral researchers who have proceeded to establish their own careers and excel in research and teaching. His laboratory hosted and trained many visiting scientists from other countries who have become leaders in research with entomopathogenic nematodes upon their return to their own countries. These include scientists from Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Mexico, Ukraine, and Peru. Kaya maintains a strong relationship with many of them and he had research projects with scientists from Korea and Turkey."
Kaya's first four PhD students--Raquel Alatorre, Arnold Hara, Phyllis Hotchkin {Weintraub) and Robin Goblin-Davis--are all retired from their faculty and research positions. Arnold Hara died Nov. 18, 2022.
Kaya resides in Davis with his wife, Joanna. He enjoys spending time with his grandchildren and gardening, and used to fish with colleague Les Ehler (1946-2016). "No fishing since Les passed away," he related.
One of his granddaughters, Madelyn Lee, a freshman at UC Riverside, may follow in his footsteps. "She has always been interested in the biological sciences and has become an active member of the Entomology Club at Riverside. She is thinking about being an entomology major."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It was the lab mates' first-ever conference, and they brought home first- and second-place awards, in addition to a second-place tie in the Cobb Bowl competition which memorializes Nathan Cobb (1859-1932), the father of nematology.
Alison Coomer Blundell, who will be a fourth-year doctoral candidate in Plant Pathology this fall, won first place in the three-minute student competition with her presentation on “Trade Offs Between Resistance Breaking and Fitness Cost in Root-Knot Nematodes.” She received a $250 award and a plaque.
Ching-Jung Lin, who will be a fourth-year doctoral student this fall, won second place in the 12-minute category with her presentation on "Elucidating the Role of MigPSY Peptides in Interactions Between Plants and Root-Knot Nematodes." She received a $250 prize.
The six-member Siddique lab team, "Meloidogyne Gang Gang," which included Blundell, Lin, third-year doctoral student Pallavi Shakya, and second-year doctoral student Veronica Casey, tied for second place in the Cobb Bowl, a jeopardy-like competition that can include both students and postdoctoral fellows on the teams.
"I am very humbled by the award and recognition but am very proud of seeing all my lab mates accomplish their presentations and get good feedback and recognition as well," said Blundell, who seeks a PhD in plant pathology. She holds two undergraduate degrees--a bachelor's degree in biology and a bachelor's degree in chemistry--from Concordia University, Seward, Neb.
“I was first introduced to nematodes in my undergraduate studies where I maintained C. elegans (Caenorhabditis elegans) cultures, but was introduced to plant parasitic nematodes when Dr. Siddique reached out to me about becoming a member in his lab," Blundell said. "This was my first time at SON, and for all my lab mates. SON has allowed me to meet people I have heard about or have talked to on Zoom, email, or twitter and also make new connections with many U.S. states and universities.”
Lin, a first-generation international student, credits co-principal investigator Professor Gitta Coaker of Plant Pathology and the Coaker Lab with mentoring her, offering presentation suggestions. "It was very much appreciated," she said.
- Question: "The Guava root-knot nematode."
Answer: "Meloidogyne enterolobii" - Question: "First report of root-knot nematodes."
Answer:"Who is Miles Joseph Berkeley?"
"The most difficult question, said team member Veronica Casey was: "The color of the first edition of the Journal of Nematology."
"The answer was simply, 'What is orange?' but many teams thought it was green," Casey related. "Another difficult question was 'The full species name of the Beech Leaf disease nematode.' The answer: "What is Litylenchus crenatae mccannii?"
The University of Idaho team won the Cobb Bowl. The UC Davis team, which also included a postdoctoral fellow from the University of Illinois and a graduate student from Montana State University, tied for second place with two other teams: AlohaNema, comprised primarily of students from the University of Hawaii, and Nemafolks, comprised of students from a number of universities, including Michigan State, Oregon State and Texas Tech. The other two teams represented the University of Florida and The Ohio State University.
Also at the SON meeting, Siddique participated in a session titled "Nematology Faces of the Future." In his five-minute self-introduction, he displayed a map showing how far he has traveled. A native of Multan, Pakistan, he received two degrees in Multan: his bachelor of science degree from the Government College Bosan Road in 2001 and his master's degree in botany from the Bahauddin Zakariya University in 2004. Then it was off to Vienna, Austria to receive his doctorate in 2009 in agriculture and biotechnology from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences. After serving as a research group leader for several years at the University of Bonn, Germany, he joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty in 2019 as an assistant professor and advanced to associate professor this year.
Alison Blundell Abstract
In her abstract, Blundell wrote: “Root-knot nematodes (RKNs), are among the most devastating pathogens of crops, causing substantial yield and economic losses worldwide. These parasitic organisms can infect over a hundred different plant species and can evade plant defense mechanisms by secreting a concoction of effectors. For decades, the Mi-1 resistance gene has been effective in detecting and inhibiting RKNs in tomatoes. However, the underlying mechanisms by which Mi-1 detects these pathogens remain largely unknown. In recent years, resistance-breaking populations have emerged in both greenhouse and field settings, posing a threat to the potency and effectiveness of the Mi-1 gene and, consequently, the tomato industry."
"We used two strains of M. javanica, one strain VW4, which is recognized by Mi-1, and another strain, VW5, which was selected from VW4 and can overcome resistance mediated by Mi-1," she explained. "Utilizing the newly constructed reference genome for M. javanica (VW4), we compared genomes of VW4 and VW5 and identified an approximately 650 kb region that is present in VW4 but missing in VW5. This missing region contains ten protein-coding genes, three of which encode putative effectors and are currently being tested as potential avirulence genes for Mi-1. In addition, we have conducted a series of infection assays on different host plants lacking Mi-1, and the results revealed a significantly lower egg count in VW5 when compared to VW4. We plan to expand these assays by testing additional M. javanica resistance-breaking strains collected from fields all over California to determine if this trade-off is consistent across other strains. Overall, our results suggest that although VW5 can overcome Mi-1, there is a trade-off in the form of compromised reproduction. This research helps to better understand the mechanism and components of Mi-1 and develop strategies for addressing resistance-breaking populations." (Co-researchers and authors include P. Shakya, M. Winter, D. Lunt, V. M.Williamson, and S. Siddique)
Ching-Jung Lin Abstract
In her abstract, Lin wrote: "Plant parasitic nematodes pose a severe threat to global food production. These parasites invade plant roots and establish permanent feeding sites, which serve as their sole source of nutrients. To manipulate host responses, they secrete effectors such as phytohormones or peptides that hijack the host's cellular machinery. Plants produce a family of peptides called Plant Peptide Containing Sulfated Tyrosine (PSY) that promote root growth via cell expansion and proliferation. Intriguingly, the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae also produce a PSY-like peptide called RaxX (required for activation of XA21 mediated immunity X), which contributes to bacterial virulence. Our previous research has identified a group of secreted peptides called MigPSYs in root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) that resemble plant PSY peptides and stimulate root growth in Arabidopsis. We found that MigPSY transcript levels are highest during the early stages of infection in rice and tomato plants. Furthermore, down-regulating expression of MigPSY results in reduced root galling and egg production, suggesting that the MigPSYs serve as nematode virulence factors. To gain a better understanding of the roles of MigPSYs, I plan to characterize the mechanisms underlying their function and host perception in plants. This research is expected to provide valuable insights into the mechanism of nematode infection and may lead to the development of new methods for controlling plant-parasitic nematodes." (Co-researchers and authors include H. Z. Yimer, D. D. Luu, A. C. Blundell, M. F. Ercoli, P, Vieira, V. M. Wlliamson, P. C. Ronald and S. Siddique)
The next SON meeting is Aug. 4-9, 2024, in Park City, Utah.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Alison Coomer, Pallavi Shakya and Ching-Jung Lin are among the record 18 students given travel awards by SON, thanks to industry sponsors. All travel award recipients will deliver a presentation or provide a poster at the international meeting.
Bayer Crop Science will sponsor 10 travel awards, and Microbes, Inc., Certis Biologicals and Corteva, will each sponsor two awards. In addition, the United Soybean Board will provide two travel awards to students presenting nematode research in soybean production.
Alison Coomer
Alison, a third-year graduate student in the Department of Plant Pathology, is focusing her research on plant parasitic nematodes, specifically root-knot nematodes, and their molecular mechanisms to defend against plant immune systems. "I am also working to gain more understanding in the defense mechanism in plants towards plant parasitic nematodes."
Alison, originally from the St. Louis, Mo., region, received two undergraduate degrees from Concordia University, Neb.: a bachelor's degree in biology and a bachelor's degree in chemistry.
"I am very thankful to Cobb Foundation and Mai-Ferries-Bird for receiving one of the most prestigious student awards: Cobb Foundation/Mai-Ferris-Bird Student Travel Award," she said.
In her leisure time, Alison enjoys "the outdoors, animals of all varieties, and serving my community."
Pallavi Shakya
Pallavi is a second-year doctoral student in Siddique lab. "I come from Nepal, the land of Himalayas and I am interested in exploring plant parasitic nematodes from a combination of plant pathology and bioinformatics viewpointism," she related. Pallavi received her master's degree in plant biotechnology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands where she was introduced to transcriptomics of potato cyst nematodes.
"Working with these nematodes showed me the importance of understanding plants along with the parasites they have co-evolved with," she said. "In the Siddique lab, I plan to learn about the genomics and transcriptomics aspects of plant-nematode interaction."
"I am very thankful to Bayer Crop Science for my student travel award, and I am looking forward to meeting all the amazing nematologists in the meeting."
Ching-Jung Lin
Ching-Jung is a doctoral student in the Department of Plant Pathology with a designated emphasis in biotechnology. "I am fascinated by plant-microbe interaction," she said. "Currently I am interested in the development of functional genetic tools in plant-parasitic nematodes and the characterization of nematode-induced plant immunity. Originally from Taiwan, she holds a bachelor of science degree in agronomy from National Chung-Hsing University, and a master's degree in plant biology from National Taiwan University.
"I am very thankful to Bayer Crop Science for funding my student award and I look forward to delivering my presentation at the SON conference," she said. Outside of the lab, Ching-Jung enjoys "reading, jogging, playing badminton, and going to the gym." And, she added, "I am a coffee and dog person."
Research in Shahid Siddique Lab
Research in the Siddique lab focuses on basic as well as applied aspects of interaction between parasitic nematodes and their host plants. "The long-term object of our research," he says, "is not only to enhance our understanding of molecular aspects of plant–nematode interaction but also to use this knowledge to provide new resources for reducing the impact of nematodes on crop plants in California."
SON is an international organization formed to advance the science of nematology in both its fundamental and economic aspects.
"Nematodes are the most abundant multicellular animals on the face of the earth," SON relates on its website. "They occur literally everywhere--in soil and decaying matter from the poles to the tropics, in all forms of plant life, in the bodies of almost all animals, including humans, and in insects. Living in such diverse environments as the sand and mud of the ocean bottom, stony mountain soils, and arid polar deserts are thousands to millions of nematodes per square meter."
SON defintes nematodes as "nonsegmented roundworms with complete sensory, digestive, excretory, and reproductive systems. Most, but not all, are microscopic. The variety of nematode forms and habitats is almost unbelievable: they range from the minute inhabitant of your favorite mushroom to the 27-foot-long parasite in the placenta of a sperm whale."
"Nematodes are essential elements of ecosystems, but most have no direct effect on humans," the SON website points out. "Those that do, however, can be devastating. In many places, people still suffer from diseases such as elephantiasis, river blindness, and hookworm, caused by nematodes. In most places, the effect on humans is indirect. For example, in the United States, plant-parasitic nematodes cause more than $3 billion worth of crop losses each year, and cause similar losses in cattle, sheep, and swine." (See more information about nematodes on its website.)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Society of Nematologists (SON) will present him with its Teaching Excellence Award at its 55th annual meeting, set July 17 – 21 in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Caswell-Chen, who joined the UC Davis Department of Nematology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology) in 1989, was praised as being an “exemplary teacher who loves to teach and interact with his students.”
“Ed is known for his enthusiasm, dedication, high-quality instruction and keen interest in helping his students understand and appreciate nematology—from the undergraduate level to the graduate level and beyond,” his nominators said.
“If I had to distill my endorsement of Ed into a single sentence, it would be that he has unbridled passion and dedication when it comes to getting undergraduates excited about science,” said nematologist Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology. “His dedication to teaching is truly altruistic, and although he has maintained a solid program of research, his major effort in recent years has involved teaching undergraduate and graduate students.”
Over the last five years, Caswell-Chen has taught 24 undergraduate courses, enrolling some 2400 students. His commitment to teaching includes five years of service as associate dean of the Graduate Program, UC Office of Graduate Studies. He is a former chair of the UC Davis Department of Nematology, and the Graduate Group in Ecology.
Caswell-Chen, who considers teaching his No. 1 priority, says the classroom is “an important forum for communication with students, and an opportunity for outreach with respect to the Agricultural Experiment Station mission, especially when lecturing to undergraduates in nematology, animal biology, and science and society courses.” His students describe his courses as informative, interesting and engaging.
Caswell-Chen said his philosophy of teaching “is that to be effective, teaching must engage students by highlighting the relevance of course material, and instructors must capture student attention through enthusiasm and supportive stimulation of student creativity. Interaction helps students learn how to think, ask questions, and form connections among the diverse facts they learn in their courses.”
“If students are participating and engrossed with the topic in the classroom, they don't immediately realize that they are learning—they are carried along by their thinking and engagement with the material,” he said. “All of these features of effective classroom instruction are relatively easy to attain when the subject matter is nematology—and biology, for that matter—because of the field's many fascinating and relevant aspects. In a nematology course, one can incorporate a wide range of intriguing topics, from nematode biodiversity and the deep, hot biosphere to soil ecology, to the fascinating interactions between nematodes and other organisms, to the importance of animal parasites and means for their management, to plant parasites, nematicides, and genetic engineering of crop plants for nematode resistance, to topics in aging and neurobiology from research on the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.”
Caswell-Chen is known for his research on the life history and ecology of C. elegans, a free-living or non-parasitic nematode that lives in temperate soil environments.
His interest and dedication to undergraduate education is reflected in his current service as the chair of the UC Davis Academic Senate Undergraduate Council, membership on the UC system-wide Educational Policy Committee, and his recent appointment as vice chair of that same Educational Policy Committee for the coming academic year.
UC Davis researcher Kristi Sanchez, former undergraduate student who received her doctorate from him in 2014 and served as his teaching assistant, described him as “the best professor I've ever had.”
“I have not met another professor at UC Davis who not just focuses on his research but enjoys, loves and wants to make teaching classes a priority for undergraduate students,” Sanchez said. “He is always about the students and making sure they understand the material. He always goes out of his way to provide more office hours so they can learn the material better or ask questions. And he is a professor who has the students text him instead of emailing him. The students love it.”
She credited him with inspiring her to pursue her degree and career in nematology. “Ed has given me many opportunities to pursue research questions that I would like to investigate, provides great advice and not just as a major professor but a father figure. He has pushed me to follow my goals and with my hard work, anything is possible.”
Said graduate student Chris Pagan, who has known Caswell-Chen for 12 years, beginning as an undergraduate student and then as a lab technician: “Ed makes the classroom a comfortable place. He is always approachable, and always genuinely interested in hearing what students have to say. Ed is always revising his lecture material and methods. He is constantly seeking new ways to keep students engaged.”
Nematologist Becky Westerdahl, UC Davis professor of entomology and nematology, praised Caswell-Chen for his excellence in teaching and as “one of the first professors at UC Davis to embrace the use of World Wide Web technology for teaching…He was instrumental in obtaining, establishing and maintaining the first web server for teaching in the Department of Nematology.” She said Caswell-Chen provides his students with “an excellent foundation, not just as future researchers, but as future educators as well.”
Caswell-Chen also teaches animal biology courses and Science and Society courses. He sometimes teaches freshman seminars by using the Campus Book Project selections, such as “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria” and “Half the Sky.” He has also taught his own selection of topics, including “The Ancient Middle East: Cradle of Civilization, Religion and Science” and “Protest Songs.”
Caswell-Chen received his bachelor's and master's degrees in botany and plant pathology from Michigan State University in 1979 and 1982, respectively, and his doctorate in 1985 in plant pathology from UC Riverside. He began his academic career in 1985 as an assistant professor in the University of Hawaii's Department of Plant Pathology before joining the UC Davis faculty in 1989.
