Aisling Reilly

Experience

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  National Exotic Animal Sanctuary

  May 2013 - Jul 2013

  Volunteer
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  Teagasc

  Jul 2013 - Aug 2013

  Student Assistant
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  University College Dublin

  Oct 2016 - Feb 2021

  PHD Candidate

  My PhD was titled "Characterising powdery mildew resistance in commercial and heritage oats". I screened commercial oat cultivars to assess the levels of resistance to the fungal pathogen, powdery mildew. The results from this provided the baseline information to assess heritage oat accessions for fungal resistance. Microscopy techniques were then used to determine the mechanisms contributing to resistance.The final part of the project involved the identification of the Mildew Locus O (MLO) gene family in oats. Knock-outs and knock-downs of certain members of this MLO family have been shown to confer resistance to powdery mildew in a number of different plant species. While the oat MLO family was found, only one gene was found to be responsive to fungal infection. This gene was then validated using Virus-Induced Gene-Silencing. Show less

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  University College Dublin

  Jul 2021 - now

  Culturing, isolating, molecular identification and testing of fungal and bacterial endophytes for their use against cereal pathogens.

  • Lecturer / Assistant Professor

    Feb 2023 - now

  • Researcher

    Jul 2021 - now