Van Schepler-Luu
About
Van is the lead of the Plant Pathology and Host Plant Resistance Group. Her group works on multiple bacterial, fungal, and viral diseases of rice and aims to discover new resistance genes for improving the rice plant’s ability to withstand devastating diseases.
Before joining IRRI, she led the Rice Team Group at the University of Düsseldorf where she focused on the interaction between rice and the bacterial blight pathogen and developing advanced genome editing platforms for rice. Van earned her PhD from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany where she studied different layers of plant defense against fungal pathogens ranging from defensive genes to phytohormone signaling, the production of antifungal secondary metabolites, and the association of beneficial microbes.
Van also has a master's degree in molecular bioscience from the University of Heidelberg in Germany and a diploma in biotechnology from Vietnam National University of Agriculture.
Education
- Ph.D. in microbiology: Plant-microbe interactions. Max Planck Institute for Chemical ecology, Germany.Thesis title: “Defense mechanisms of the wild tobacco plant, Nicotiana attenuata, against its native pathogens”.
- M.Sc. of Molecular Biosciences: Molecular cellular and developmental biology of plants. Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg, Germany. Thesis title: “Characterization of the virulence of phytopathogenic fungal isolates from a native Nicotiana attenuata population”.
- B.Sc. in Biotechnology: Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Vietnam. Thesis title: “Application of molecular markers in rice breeding for high grain quality”.
Publications
Research
Rice diseases in focus:
Bacterial blight, leaf blast, neck blast, sheath blight, false smut, sheath rot, bacterial grain rot, brown spot, bacterial leaf streak, Tungro, ROLP
Plant Pathology:
- Genetic diversity, population structure and evolution of rice pathogens
- High throughput platform for pathogen populations monitoring (PathoTracer)
- Coordinate the Global BioNET for resistance screening, pathogen monitoring and resistance gene discovery
- Identify and characterize virulent effectors of rice pathogens
Host Resistance:
- Identification of disease resistance genes using GWAS and QTLs mapping
- Identification of disease resistance genes originated from wild and weedy rice using comparative genomics
- Validation of candidate resistance genes/QTLs using genome editing & introgression
- Developing disease-resistant rice using genome editing
Microbiome and Beneficial Microbes:
- Identify host genes controlling the assembly of rice microbiome and beneficial microbes
- Reshape rice microbiome toward enhanced disease resistance, low methane emission