Julie Zwiesler-Vollick

Zwiesler-Vollick is an assistant professor in the department of Natural Sciences. She teaches biology and biochemistry courses.

Zwiesler-Vollick is a native Michigander. She received her BA in Biology and her BS in Chemistry with a Biochemistry emphasis from Hope College in 1997. She then went on to complete her PhD in Genetics in the Department of Energy Plant Research Lab at Michigan State University in 2002. Her thesis work focused on understanding host-pathogen interactions in the Pseudomonas syringae and Arabidopsis thaliana pathosystem. She then received a National Science Foundation Post Doctoral Research Fellowship in Microbial biology which allowed her to work for two years in the United Kingdom at the Sainsbury Laboratory. She finished her fellowship stateside at Purdue University.

Zwiesler-Vollick's research is still focused on the area of host-pathogen interactions. She now is interested in fungal plant pathogens. She works with two systems, Septoria lycopersici infections of tomato and Mycosphaerella graminicola infections of wheat. She takes molecular genetics, biochemical and bioinformatics approaches to furthering our understanding of these economically important pathogens. She is a member of the International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions.