Contact info
- Position: Project Leader
- Phone: +64 9 373 7599 ext 88371
- Fax: +64 9 373 7416
- Location: The University of Auckland
- Contact: Contact Form
Academic and Professional Background
- Background:
BSc (Hons 1)
PhD
- Personal Resume:
Dr Mike Pearson's main area of expertise is plant and fungal virology, with a particular emphasis on diagnostics and epidemiology. He has also published work on phytoplasmas and fungi.
His current and recent research includes:
- molecular characterisation of plant viruses and development of diagnostic techniques.
- epidemiological studies and the development of control programmes for viruses of horticultural crops
- epidemiological studies of viruses infecting New Zealand native plants
- detection and molecular characterisation of virus-like agents in filamentous fungi.
Mike has many years of experience working on plant virus diseases of both temperate and tropical crops - especially in the Pacific Islands. This has resulted in regular overseas consultancies and collaborative studies with regional and international organisations.
An area of research developed in collaboration with the late Dr Ross Beever at Landcare Research, with initial funding from the Marsden Fund, is the potential use of mycoviruses as biological control agents. In 2004, as a result of this work, Mike was awarded a Leverhulme Visiting Professor Fellowship for a six month sabbatical at Bristol University, UK. This work is currently being supported by a Bio-Protection Research Centre grant.
Professional Service and other activities:
- Member of the ERMA-NZ Expert Panel on Genetic Modification
- Senior Editor (Virology) Australasian Plant Pathology
- Virology editor for New Disease Reports, British Society for Plant Pathology