Emerson Del Ponte

Professor | Plant Pathology | Epidemiology
Universidade Federal de Viçosa

Resumé

I hold a DSc in Plant Pathology from Universidade Federal de Pelotas (2004) and had the privilege of a one-year visit to Cornell University at the Bergstrom Lab. Following that, I spent two years as a postdoctoral associate working on a project related to disease risk assessment and prediction at the Yang Lab, Iowa State University. From June 2006 to February 2014, I served as an assistant professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). Currently, I am a Full Professor at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV), where I am involved in both teaching and student mentoring (masters and doctorate) responsibilities. You can get access to my peer-reviewed publications in my academic profile websites: ORCID, publons, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, or Lattes.

Services

I've been involved in scholarly peer-review since early in my career. I've served as associate editor for several journals, including Plant Disease. Currently, I am Editor-In-Chief for Tropical Plant Pathology, the journal of the Brazilian Phytopathological Society. I am also the Editor-In-Chief of the peer-reviewed technical series Series Técnicas Fitossanidade Tropical. Since 2022, I am also serving as associate editor for the CABI Agriculture & Bioscience (Plant Pathology Section) and the European Journal of Plant Pathology journals. Additionally, I am frequently invited as a consultant for thesis evaluations and faculty promotions worldwide.

Open Science

I strongly advocate for an open and reproducible research model and culture that may ultimately contribute to a more accessible, transparent and reliable science. This led me to co-found Open Plant Pathology initiative together with Adam Sparks. In my Lab, we make use of R language for all statistical and data science related activities. All data and computational codes produced during our research are made available ahead of peer-review. You can find our code on GitHub. The research outcomes are organized and shared as a research compendium and preprints of manuscripts are now archived in the CABI AgriRxiv preprint server.

Talks and videos

Slides of some of my talks are hosted in my Speakerdeck account and full videos of talks and lectures can be found on my YouTube channel.

Portrait

Emerson Del Ponte Portrait This portrait photo is available for use in promotional materials related to seminars, keynote talks, media appearances, or institutional profiles. Feel free to download and use it whenever a high-quality professional headshot is required for event programming or press releases.

Our Research

We utilize statistical and mathematical models, and conduct field, greenhouse, and laboratory experiments to measure, understand, compare, and predict plant disease epidemics.

Our modeling work is not confined to specific diseases and encompasses a wide spectrum of topics within plant disease epidemiology. This includes the assessment of disease intensity and crop loss, modeling the temporal progress and spatial spread across different scales, evaluating and predicting disease risk, as well as conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Our experimental research primarily revolves around the genotyping and phenotyping of fungal pathogen populations. This encompasses evaluating various traits such as reproduction, pathogenicity, aggressiveness, toxigenic potential, and fungicide resistance. Currently, we are studying two of the most significant plant pathogens globally: mycotoxigenic Fusarium, which causes head blights or ear rots in winter and summer crops, and Pyricularia blast affecting rice, wheat, and grasses.

Staff (technician)

Bianca Moreira Barbosa (PhD in Chemistry)

Current Postdocs

Marston Franceschini

Students

Ricardo Gomes Tomáz (D)
Monalisa C. De Cól (D)
Marcelo Henrique Oliveira Gonçalves (D)
Ana Carolyne C. de Carvalho (D)
Mary Paz Romero Benavides (M)
Igor Fernandes Erhardt (M)

Former students

UFV

Lila Soares Lima (M)
Kaique dos Santos Alves (M, D)
Jhonatan Paulo Barro (M, D)
Gustavo B. dos Santos (M)
Ignácio Cazón (D)
João Paulo Ascari (D)
Sheila M. P. Andrade (M)
Maíra R. Duffeck (M, D)
Franklin J. Machado (M, D)
Caroline F. Ávila (M)

UFRGS

Paulo R. Kuhnem (D)
Larissa B. Gomes (M)
Camila P. Nicolli (M)
Leilane S. D'Ávila (M)
Felipe Dalla Lana (M)
André A. Schwanck (M)
Raquel Stumpf (M)
Paula Astolfi (M)
Piérri Spolti (M, D)

UFV Professional Masters

Ana Paula de Souza Lima
Evandro Puhl de Melo
Tiago de Sá Cardoso
Marlon Michel A. Moreira Neto
Ana Paula Vicenzi
Leonardo H. M. do Carmo
Leonardo M. Antonello
Karine da Costa M. Gonçalves

Former postdocs

Camila P. Nicolli (M)
Gláucia Moreira (UFV)
Lucas Abreu (UFV)
Juliano dos Santos (UFRGS, 2009-10)

Books

R4PDE is a dynamic online book rooted on the teaching notes of my graduate course, FIP 602 - Plant Disease Epidemiology, which is offered every year for students in the Graduate Program in Plant Pathology of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa. This book provides context and showcases various methods for describing, visualizing and analyzing epidemic data collected over time and/or space using R.

The 6th edition of Agrios' Plant Pathology (2024) is the long-awaited update to the quintessential reference in the field. Restructured for a new generation of scientists, this edition features contributions from world-renowned experts. I had the privilege to serve as one of the co-editors for this edition and I am the author of three chapters specifically focused on Plant Disease Epidemiology, including epidemic modeling, disease progress analysis, and warning systems.

Apps

I have developed, myself or in collaboration with students, web applications to support research and teaching. These are made with R + Shiny.