Research interests

I am interested in insect-plants interactions and the strategies to bio-control pests for a sustainable agriculture. I am currently studying the communication among cotton plants and its role in plant protection. Indeed, plants can communicate with each other via Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and get primed or induced for better and increased defenses. The ultimate goal of my research is to identify the volatiles responsible for these physiological changes in the receiver plants and possibly contribute to the development of a novel sustainable strategy for cotton protection.

Main Topics

• Chemical Ecology
• Insect-Plant interactions
• Bio-control
• Volatile Organic Compounds

Teaching activities

• Travaux Pratiques (TP) for master students in Chemical Ecology

Supervision

Julien Dongiovanni’s Master Thesis, “The effect of Vu-In on VOCs emission and parasitoids attractiveness”, 2018.

Publications

Abdala‐Roberts, Luis, Pérez Niño, Biiniza, Moreira, Xoaquín, Parra-Tabla, Víctor, Grandi, Luca, Glauser, Gaetan, Benrey, Betty & Turlings, Ted. (2019). Effects of early-season insect herbivory on subsequent pathogen infection and ant abundance on wild cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). Journal of Ecology. 10.1111/1365-2745.13131.

Abdala‐Roberts, Luis, Quijano‐Medina, Teresa, Moreira, Xoaquín, Vázquez‐González, Carla, Parra‐Tabla, Víctor, C. Berny Mier Y Terán, Jorge, Grandi, Luca, Glauser, Gaétan, Turlings, Ted C. J. & Benrey, Betty. (2019). Bottom‐up control of geographic variation in insect herbivory on wild cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) by plant defenses and climate. American journal of botany. 10.1002/ajb2.1330

Organization of Conferences

• PhD Annual Meeting 2019, main organizer together with MSc. Ursula Oggenfuss, 29.5.2019, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

• Biology18, member of the organization committee, Neuchâtel 14-16.2.2018, Switzerland

Education