Source: NCSU COLLEGE OF AG & LIFE SCIENCES, 3/29/22


Late blight, a disease of potatoes and tomatoes, caused one of the most significant events in history: the Irish Potato Famine, which led to nearly 1 million deaths in Ireland – and another 1 million Irish citizens to exit their country to search for a better life.

Jean Ristaino has an obsession with late blight and with its history – so much so that she has been dubbed by colleagues as the “Sherlock of Spuds.” She found original famine-era plant samples and used them to genetically track late blight, as well as understand its evolution. In so doing, she made history herself as a pioneer in plant pathology by becoming the first plant pathologist to analyze DNA from centuries-old herbarium samples.

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