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Dr Joana G. Vicente

Job Title
Visiting Research Fellow
Department
Life Sciences
Research Interests
  • Plant pathology
  • Microbiology
  • Disease resistance
  • Genetics
  • Diversity of plant pathogens.

Bacterial plant diseases caused by Xanthomonas and Pseudomonas spp.

Oomycete diseases caused by Albugo and Hyaloperonospora spp.

Genetic improvement of brassicas.

Biography

Joana Magalhaes Godinho Nunes Vicente graduated in Agronomy from the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal in 1995 (highest ever average results of 18/20; equivalent to First). Before graduation, worked on microspore culture of Brassica oleracea . PhD awarded by the Technical University of Lisbon in 2001, after undertaking research on black rot of crucifers (caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris ) at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia and at Horticulture Research International (HRI) in Wellesbourne. This also involved the study of disease resistance gene-like sequences in Brassica oleracea.
In 1999, Joana got her first research position at HRI/WHRI in Steve Roberts's group studying bacterial canker of cherry trees in a project funded by Defra. From 2004 to 2009, Joana was part of Eric Holub's group working in a project led by David Pink on breeding for resistance to plant bacterial and oomycete diseases.

From November 2009 till August 2012, Joana joined Ken Manning and Andrew Thompson's group and worked on a project funded by BBSRC on the role of short RNAs in the development of tomato fruits. Joana was also a co-investigator in a project funded by BBSRC and DFID on breeding for black-rot resistant brassicas for the benefit of East African smallholders.

Joana re-joined Eric Holub's group and worked from 2012 to 2018 on a NERC funded project on the impact of plant mating system and ploidy on Arabidopsis lyrata adaptation to parasitism in changing environments followed by a project funded by BBSRC on developing genetics and genomics interface to develop strategies for sustainable use of resistance to white rust in oilseed mustard.

Joana has obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Transferable Skills in Science (2013) and a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic and Professional Practice, PCAPP (2014) at the University of Warwick, and became a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy in 2015.

Joana has co-supervised several undergraduate and MSc students and co-supervised Vania Horta de Passo's PhD work completed in 2016/17, on interactions between Arabidopsis and Xanthomonas campestris. In addition, Joana was a tutor in practical classes of the MSc module on Crop Protection until 2018.

Joana is currently a Visiting Research Fellow working in several projects on Xanthomonas, white rust and mildew and continues to be curator of a large collection of bacterial isolates.

Joana was a management committee member and Science Communication Manager for a European COST Action on diseases caused by Xanthomonadaceae bacteria, from March 2017 to September 2021 (View EuroXanth Website).

Joana is now working on the project 'Xanthomonas plants diseases: mitigating existing, emerging and future threats to UK agriculture' that started in 2020, funded by UKRI, Defra and the Scottish Government, part of the Bacterial Plant Diseases Programme (View the projects' website).

View Joana's ORCID profile

View Joana's ResearcherID: A-9663-2013

View Joana's Publications and Peer Review activity available at Publons

  • Vicente, Joana G., Roberts, Steven J., 2001. Diversity of Pseudomonas syringae isolates from sweet and wild cherry. 11th Congress of the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union and 3rd Congress of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Fitopatologia, Évora, Portugal, 17-20 Sep 2001, Published in Proceedings of the 11th Congress of the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union and 3rd Congress of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Fitopatologia University of Évora, Year: 2001 Pages: 29-31, pp. 29-31
Title Funder Award start Award end
Xanthomonas plant diseases: mitigating existing, emerging and future threats to UK agriculture BBSRC 01 Oct 2020 31 May 2024
Developing genetics and genomics interface to develop strategies for sustainable use of resistance to white rust in oilseed mustard (Brassica juncea) BBSRC 01 Oct 2014 30 Sep 2018
Assessing the impact of plant mating systems and ploidy on adaptation to parasitism in changing environments NERC 01 Dec 2009 01 Mar 2014
FCT funding of personal PhD award for student project Vania Isabel Horta de Passo FCT (Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia) 01 Feb 2010 31 Jan 2014
Accelerated breeding of black rot resistant brassicas for the benefit of east African smallholders - subcontract from Harper Adams BBSRC 31 Dec 2008 08 Mar 2013
Accelerated Breeding of Black Rot Resistant Brassicas for the Benefit of East African Smallholders BBSRC 31 Dec 2008 30 Dec 2012
Characterisation of tomato short RNAs involved in fruit development BBSRC 01 Jan 2009 31 May 2012
Research project to design and perform tests on 5 Brassica lines Sakata UK Ltd 01 May 2009 31 Jul 2009
Crop Improvement of Field Vegetables Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 01 Apr 2004 31 Mar 2009

Research Themes:

Plant and Crop Science
Biotechnology

Pages on Plant Diseases:

Bacterial canker of cherry

Black rot of crucifers

Leaf spot disease of crucifers

Downy mildew

White rust of crucifers

blackrot_xcconydc
blackrot_galegaleaf
leafspotdisease
bacterial_canker_of-cherry
Bacteria fingerprinting BOX PCR
White rust on cabbage
White rust on Brassica juncea
Black rot on cauliflowers
Oomycete spores
Xanthomonas on Kings B medium
Biolog Plate - phenotypic characterisation of Xanthomonas