Cindy E. Morris

I am a senior scientist and research director at the Plant Pathology research unit of INRAE’s center in Avignon, France where I have worked since 1989.  My research focuses on microbial ecology to elucidate how the adaptation of microorganisms to their habitats affects two seemingly conflicting impacts on the environment: their capacity to i) cause disease, and in particular newly emerging diseases and to ii) play beneficial roles in major environmental phenomena – the water cycle in particular. My research concerns primarily the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae but the team I lead also studies a wide range of other bacterial and fungal pathogens of plants. Questions common to the models of my team include the nature of non-agricultural habits of pathogens and their role in disease outbreaks, and tracking pathways of long distance dissemination via the atmosphere and waterways. In collaboration with Avignon University, I recently co-founded a new international graduate teaching and research program – IMPLANTEUS that opened in Sept 2020 - that will meld plant production and food processing with environmental sciences and human health. Details of my activities are available on INRAE's institutional web page (https://www6.paca.inrae.fr/pathologie_vegetale_eng/Contact-us/Mistral-team/MORRIS-Cindy), and on my blog (https://bioice.wordpress.com/).  I also compose lyrics and performs songs about science and posts educational videos about plant health and atmospheric processes on my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcaDNBCQ2nFaZ6NIJPSoMwg).