Dr. Gwyn Beattie is a microbiologist whose work explores factors underlying the fitness, colonization and virulence of plant pathogenic bacteria. She has been delving into the genome of the cucurbit bacterial wilt pathogen, Erwinia tracheiphila, to understand the genes that influence its virulence on various cucurbit species. The genome shows that this pathogen has a high propensity to pick up bacterial viruses. For this project, she is leading an investigation into whether these viruses can be used to control E. trachipheila, and if other bacteria can be used to control this or other pathogens of cucurbits. Her prior research projects have focused on how bacterial pathogens colonize leaves, and particularly how they have adapted to using light and water as environmental signals to maximize their survival on plant leaves. Gwyn is in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at Iowa State University where she holds an endowed Chair as the Robert Earle Buchanan Distinguished Professor of Bacteriology and is currently serving as Interim Department Chair.