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Name	Michailides, Themis J.
Education	Ph.D. (1984) Plant Pathology University of California, Davis
Specialty	Ecology, epidemiology and postharvest disease control of pome and stone fruits, vines and figs; mycotoxin contamination of tree nuts and figs.
Location	Kearney Agricultural Center, 9240 South Riverben Ave., Parlier, CA 93648
Phone Number	559-646-6500; 559-646-6546
E-Mail	themis@uckac.edu
Graduate Groups	Membership in graduate groups: Plant Pathology, Plant Protection & Pest Management
Bio	My research program deals with mycotoxin (mainly aflatoxin) contamination of tree nuts and figs, the ecology, epidemiology, and control of above ground fungal diseases of tree fruit, nut, and vine crops, and postharvest diseases of these crops. This research includes both basic studies of these diseases and the pathogens involved as well as more applied studies directed towards understanding, management, and solving problems that affect agricultural crops in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. The goals of my postharvest program are 1) to develop basic information on the biology of the postharvest pathogens and on the epidemiology of postharvest diseases that can be used for the development of effective control approaches; 2) to predict preharvest and postharvest diseases based on quantification of the pathogens in the field; and 3) to characterize nut (pistachio, almond, walnut) and fruits (raisins, figs) contaminated with aflatoxins to help separate them from non-contaminated fruits.
Selected Publications	Michailides, T.J. et. al. 2005. Conventional and molecular assays aid diagnosis of crop diseases and fungicide resistance. California Agriculture 59(2):115-123. Ma, A., and T.J. Michailides. 2005. Advances in understanding molecular mechanisms of fungicide resistance and molecular detection of resistant genotypes in phytopathogenic fungi. Crop Protection 24:853-863. Ma, A., and T.J. Michailides. 2005. Genetic structure of Botrytis cinerea from different host plants in California. Plant Disease 89:1083:1089. Elmer. P.A.G., and T.J. Michailides. 2004. Eipdemiology of Botrytis cinerea in orchard and vine crops. Pages 243-272, Chapter 14 in : Botrytis: Biology, Pathology and Control. Elad, Y., B. Williamson, P. Tudzynski, and N. delen, eds., Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dordrecht/Boston/London. Ma, Z., Y. Luo, and T.J. Michailides. 2003. Nested PCR assays for detection of Monilina fructicola in stone fruit orchards and Botryosphaeria dothidea from pistachio in California. J. of Phytopathology 151:312-322. Ma Z., M. Yoshimura, and T.J. Michailides. 2003. Identification and characterization of benzimidazole resistance in Molinia fructicola from stone fruit orchards in California. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 69:7145-7152. Luo, Y., and T.J. Michailides. 2002. Threshold conditions that lead latent infection to prune fruit rot caused by Monilinia fructicola. Phytopathology 93:102-111.
Expertise	Plant Pathology
Campus	UC Davis Faculty
Extension Specialist	No