Upasana Dhakal

Upasana Dhakal is a Postdoctoral Scholar at Oregon State University's Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, affiliated with the Ag Botany/Plant Path program. Her research focuses on plant pathogen genomics, particularly Fusarium graminearum and Xanthomonas species. She develops molecular diagnostic tools like LAMP assays for rapid pathogen detection and investigates population genetics and evolutionary dynamics of plant pathogens. Dhakal collaborates with Principal Investigator Jeff Chang on projects addressing agricultural disease management.

Her work spans fungal and bacterial pathogens affecting crops, including Fusarium head blight and bacterial leaf spot of tomatoes. Key contributions include genomic analyses of pathogen fitness traits, structural variants in fungal genomes, and clonality in Xanthomonas populations. She has also conducted surveys on Ceratocystis fimbriata in Hawaii and validated diagnostic tools for Dickeya dianthicola.

Research highlights include:

• Population genomics of Fusarium graminearum isolates from the Americas
• Development of field-deployable diagnostics for plant pathogens
• Molecular characterization of Xanthomonas euvesicatoria populations

Dhakal's studies advance understanding of pathogen adaptation, host interactions, and disease spread mechanisms critical to agricultural sustainability.