Dr Dawit Kidanemariam

Biography

I have graduated with a PhD in molecular plant pathology from Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia in 2018. Subsequently, I joined the Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy (CAB) within QUT for my postdoctoral research fellowship under the leadership of Distinguished Professor James Dale. During my PhD and the postdoctoral fellowship, I have been working on different plant pathogens, including several DNA and RNA viruses, fungal pathogens, and endophytic bacteria. For my postdoctoral research fellowship at CAB, I am working in the banana biotechnology program on projects involving a range of economically important pathogens of banana including banana bunchy top virus, banana streak virus and fusarium wilt race1, sub-tropical race4 (sTR4) and tropical race4 (TR4). I am also heavily involved in a banana field trial to evaluate different transgenic Cavendish bananas resistant to the devastating soil-borne fungus (TR4).

Prior to my PhD, I have worked for four years at the national plant biotechnology research program within the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) based at Holetta National Agricultural Biotechnology Research Centre. My responsibilities at EIAR were managing the overall research activities within the plant tissue culture laboratory, developing and optimising in-vitro mass propagation protocols for different crops, production of virus-free planting materials and undertaking molecular and serological disease diagnosis.