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<br><b>NTU welcomes visiting German scholar</b>
<p>The Northern Territory University has welcomed visiting German scholar
Dr Bernd Schneider to its Casuarina Campus.
<p>Dr Schneider is from the Institute for Plant Protection in Fruit Crops,
in Dossenheim, Germany, and has extensive experience working with plant
pathogenic phytoplasmas.
<p>While at the NTU, Dr Schneider will work with Associate Professor Karen
Gibb, of the Faculty of Science, Information Technology and Education and
her research group, including PhD students, Claire Streten and Lucy Tran-Nguyen,
who are working on a project funded by the Cooperative Research Centre
for Tropical Plant Protection.
<p>The project is titled ‘New approach to phytoplasma detection in plants
and insects through the development of serology tests using antisera raised
against newly discovered phytoplasma proteins’.
<p>This collaborative research includes in vitro expression of phytoplasma
membrane protein genes and generation of an antibody library to these expressed
proteins.
<p>Dr Gibb said, “The eventual goal is to generate plants that can resist
infection by phytoplasmas (bacterial like organisms that causes disease
in plants with such symptoms as dieback and yellowing of leaves)”.
<br>
<br>Dr Schneider will be working at the NTU until early October and will
present a seminar focusing on his work in Germany before returning home.
<p>ends.
<br>19 September, 2002
<br>
<p>For further information contact:
<br>Jane Coates
<br>Media Liaison
<br>Northern Territory University
<br>(08) 8946 6019
<br>0438 466 439
<br>
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