Allyson MacLean

Allyson MacLean is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Ottawa, part of the Faculty of Science. Her research focuses on plant-microbe interactions, agrotechnology, and biopharmacy. She leads the MacLean Lab, which investigates symbiotic relationships between plants and microbes, plant defense mechanisms against pathogens, and applications in agriculture and biopharmaceuticals.

Her lab’s key projects include enhancing Canadian strawberry production through the True North Berries initiative, combating clubroot disease in canola crops, and developing plant-based vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. They also study mycorrhizal symbiosis to improve crop productivity sustainably.

• Research Highlights:
  • Explores obligate symbiont biology and molecular mechanisms of plant-microbe communication
  • Develops scalable methods for producing viral antigens in plants
  • Investigates fungal propagation techniques for agricultural applications

Publications span topics like targeted protein degradation, symbiotic nuclear dynamics, and plant architecture modification. Her work bridges plant biology, microbiology, and agricultural innovation.