CV

David Brian Collinge

Home address

Holger Danskes Vej 3b 4tv, 2000 Frederiksberg

Tel: (+45) 21 74 17 70

Work address

Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences (PLEN), Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark

Tel: (+45) 35 33 33 56, fax: (+45) 35 33 33 00, e-mail: [email protected] - http://www.plen.ku.dk/

Education

1982              PhD, in Genetics, Department of Genetics, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England                Thesis: "The Genetic Control of Cyanogenic Glucoside Biosynthesis" plus 4 refereed                                     articles with Dr. M.A. Hughes

1979              BSc, in Genetics, University of Liverpool, England

Appointments

Since 2002:   Professor of Plant Pathology

                      Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, KVL (now KU-SCIENCE)

1988-2002:    Associate Professor, Department of Plant Biology, KVL

1987-1988:    “Guest Professor”, Department of Plant Physiology, KVL, supported by Danish Research       Academy, Århus, and a fellowship from the Royal Society, London, UK

1985-1987:    A.F.R.C. (now B.B.S.R.C.) “New initiative Postdoctoral fellow”, Department of      Genetics, John Innes Institute, Norwich, UK

1983              Post-doctoral trainee, in molecular biology Univ. Aarhus, BAP programme, EEC

1979-1985:    Research Associate, Dept. Genetics, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

Research interests and expertise

http://plen.ku.dk/english/employees/?pure=en/persons/11699 Chief research interests: the nature of plant defence mechanisms, pathogenicity mechanisms, signal sensing and signal transduction in plants. Exploitation in disease control for developing countries. Nature of fungal interactions with necrotrophs, biotrophs and endophytes

Management activities

• • Head of the Section for Plant Pathology (2003-2006) 30-40 employees in 5 groups
  • Head of PhD Research Programme for Biotechnology FOBI (www.fobina.dk) 2006-13: 120 PhDs
  • Leader of research group “Plant Pathology and Microbiology” with up to 10 employees since 1988, supervised 31 completed PhD (20 internal)
  • Responsible for 4 PhD courses & 2 BSc/MSc level courses in plant biotechnology and plant pathology. Teaches on further 5
  • Coordinator for Denmark for (NOVA) Nordic PhD courses in plant pathology 2001-17
    • Co-recipient of the NOVA prize 2008 for Nordic MSc programme in Plant Pathology

Major funding participated in acquiring over 100 MKr for research, 35 MKr to own laboratory 

• Project leadership: Coordination of several  research programmes including:

Current:

• Marie S. Curie Horizon 2020 ETN “BestPass” (2015-2019) (30 MKr, €M4)

Recent past:

• Danida FFU (2010 to 2013) on Black Sigatoka in banana (Uganda) (3.1 MKr)
• Forskningstyrrelsen: (2008 to 2012) Res. Programme for Biotechnology (FOBI) for three-part stipends (17.5 MKr)
• DFFE/PBD (2007 to 2011) “Fusarium disease resistance–toxins and feed quality” (7.5 MKr)
• Work package responsibility:

Current:

• Marie S. Curie ETN “CerealPath” (2015-2019; 4 MKr) (coordinator Fiona Doohan, Dublin)
• FTP (Lene Rostgaard Nielsen) (2016-19; 5.1 Mkr) “Tracking ash-dieback resistance: insights from single-cell analysis of tolerant and susceptible ashes across evolutionary divergent clades”

Recent past:

• FTP (Chatchai Kosawang) FADE - Fighting ash dieback with endophytes (2014-17)  (3,5 MKr)
• FTP (2008 to 2013 4,7 MKr)
• Danida FFU (2008 to 2011 3.1 MKr 

Other tasks

• • Visiting Professor: McGill University, Canada September 2003; Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China, since 2014, Univ Pretoria, South Africa since 2015
  • Referee for over 20 international scientific journals and several international research councils
  • Member of faculty PhD study board since 2002, departmental board since inception in 2012, chair since 2016.
  • Member of 45 PhD assessment committees at 12 universities in 7 countries since 1988.
  • Member national examination boards biology (c. 1995 to 2004), chemical engineering (since 2006), Agriculture (since 2015).
  • Member, the plant expert panel for Swedish Research Council, Formas (2005-8) ca 100 applic p.a.
  • Membership of ad hoc programme/institution review boards for e.g. Swedish Mistra (2008), Norwegian Research Council (2003, 2004) Nordic “NKJ” (2008, 2009), French INRA (2011), South African (2006)
  • Associate Editor international journals: Plant Mol. Biol. (1996-2002); Eur. J. Plant Pathol. (since 2004); Plant Pathol. (since 2011)
  • Appointment and promotion Boards: for positions up to Professor level at 3 Universities in South Africa, 2 in Ireland, Sweden and the UK, 1 each Norway and Finland.
  Outreach activities include school and College student visits with the theme combating plant diseases by breeding and transgenic crops, organisation of various open house arrangements over the theme “The Plant Doctor” publishing web and newspaper articles. 

Selected recent refereed articles (since 2010) According to Web of Knowledge: total 101 published since 1982, 14 since 2014, 7013 citations, h-index: 40 (9/2019) (plus 6 books/ journal special issues (ed) and 14 book chapters) ORCID 0000-0003-2690-5820 ResearcherID: G-2854-2014 http://plen.ku.dk/english/employees/?id=11699&f=3&pubcategory=&vis=medarbejde [citations]

• Kosawang C, Sørensen H, Kjær ED, Dilokpimol A, McKinney LV, Collinge DB, Nielsen LR (2019). Host genotype influence diversity and composition of twig fungal communities of diverse Fraxinus species and F. excelsior genotypes with contrasting resistance to ash dieback. Fungal Biology in press.
• Rojas EC,  Sapkota R, Jensen B, Jørgensen HJL, Henriksson T, Nistrup-Jørgensen L, Nicolaisen M, Collinge DB (2019) Fusarium Head Blight modifies fungal endophytic communities during infection of wheat spikes. Microbial Ecologyhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-019-01426-3
• Latz MAC, Jensen B, Collinge DB, Jørgensen HJL (2018). Endophytic fungi as biocontrol agents: elucidating mechanisms in disease suppression. Plant Ecology and Diversity 11: 555-67. doi.org/10.1080/17550874.2018.1534146
• Collinge DB (2018) Transgenic crops and beyond: how can New Breeding Technologies contribute to the sustainable control of plant diseases? Eur J Plant Pathol 152: 977–986 special issue “Plant Pathology for Innovative Agroecology”
• Kosawang C, Amby DB, Bussaban B, McKinney LV, Xu J, Kjær ED, Collinge DB, Nielsen LR (2018). Fungal communities associated with species of Fraxinus tolerant to ash dieback, and their potential for biological control. Fungal Biology, 122: 110-120.Doi 10.1016/j.funbio.2017.11.002
• Yang, GG, Tang LG; Gong YD, Xie JT, Fu YP, Jiang DH, Li G, Collinge DB, Chen WD Cheng JS (2018) A cerato-platanin protein SsCP1 targets plant PR1 and contributes to virulence of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. New Phytologist 217: 739-755. doi:10.1111/nph.14842
• CRK Consortium: Bourdais G, Burdiak P, Gauthier A, Nitsch L, Salojärvi J, Rayapuram C, Idänheimo N, Hunter, K, Kimura S, Merilo E, Vaattovaara A, Oracz K, Kaufholdt D, Pallon A, Anggoro DT, Glow D, Lowe J, Zhou J, Mohammadi O, Albert A, Lang H, Ernst D, Kollist H, Brosché M, Durner J, Borst JW, Collinge DB, Karpinski S, Lyngkjær MF, Robatzek S, Wrzaczek M and Kangasjärvi J. (2015) Large-scale phenomics identifies primary and fine-tuning roles for CRKs in responses related to oxidative stress. PLoS Genetics 11: e1005373 [5 citations]
• Rodriguez-Algaba J, Sørensen J, Sørensen H, Khoa NĐ,  Collinge DB, Jorgensen H (2015) Activity-guided separation of Chromolaena odorata leaf extract reveals fractions with rice disease-reducing properties EJPP 143: 331-341.
• Karlsson M, Durling MB, Choi JY, Kosawang C, Lackner G, Tzelepis GD, Nygren K, Dubey MK, Kamou N, Levasseur A, Zapparata A, Wang JH, Amby JB, Jensen B, Sarrocco S, Panteris E, Lagopodi AL, Pöggeler S, Vannacci G, Collinge DB, Hoffmeister D, Henrissat B, Lee JH, Jensen DF (2015) Insights on the Evolution of Mycoparasitism from the Genome of Clonostachys rosea. Genome Biol Evol 7: 465-480 [7]
• Kosawang C, Karlsson M, Vélëz H, Rasmussen PH, Collinge DB, Jensen B, Jensen DF (2014). Zearalenone detoxification by zearalenone hydrolase is important for the antagonistic ability of Clonostachys rosea against mycotoxigenic Fusarium graminearum. Fungal Biology. 118: 364-373http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2014.01.005 [12]
• Kosawang C, Karlsson M, Jensen DF, Dilokpimol A, and Collinge DB (2014). Transcriptomic profiling to identify genes involved in Fusarium mycotoxin Deoxynivalenol and Zearalenone tolerance in the mycoparasitic fungus Clonostachys rosea. BMC genomics. 15:55 doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-55 [9]
• McKinney LV, Nielsen LR, Collinge DB, Thomsen IM, Hansen JK, and Kjær ED (2014). The Chalara dieback crisis; genetic variation in resistance can prove a long term solution. Plant Pathol. 63: 485–499. [25]
• Chen YJ, Perera V, Christiansen MW, Holme IB, Gregersen PL, Grant MR, Collinge DB, Lyngkjær MF (2013) The barley HvNAC6 transcription factor affects ABA accumulation and promotes basal resistance against powdery mildew, Plant.Mol.Biol., 83: 577-590. DOI:10.1007/s11103-013-0109-1 [12]
• Louarn S, Nawrocki A, Thorup-Kristensen K, Lund OS, Jensen ON, Collinge DB, Jensen B. (2013) Proteomic changes and endophytic micromycota during storage of organically and conventionally grown carrots. Postharvest Biology And Technology 76: 26-33 DOI: 10.1016/j.postharvbio.2012.08.011 [3]
• Zhang WJ, Pedersen C, Kwaaitaal M, Gregersen PL, Mørch SM, Hanisch S, Kristensen AK, Fuglsang AT,  Collinge DB, Thordal-Christensen H. (2012) Interaction of barley powdery mildew effector candidate CSEP0055 with the defence protein PR17c. Mol Plant Pathol 13: 1110–1119 [25]
• Yang F, Jensen JD, Svensson B, Jørgensen HJL Jørgensen LN, Collinge DB & Finnie C (2012) Secretomics identifies Fusarium graminearum proteins involved in the interaction with barley and wheat. Mol Plant Pathol 13: 445-453 [33]
• Rayapuram C, Jensen MK, Maiser F, Shanir JV, Hornshøj H, Rung JH, Gregersen PL, Schweizer P, Collinge DB, Lyngkjær MF (2012) Regulation of basal resistance by a powdery mildew-induced cysteine-rich receptor-like protein kinase in barley. Mol Plant Pathol 13: 135-147 [13]
• Nielsen LK, Jensen JD, Nielsen GC, Jensen JE, Spliid NH, Thomsen IK, Justesen IF, Collinge DB, Jørgensen LN (2011) Fusarium Head Blight of Cereals in Denmark: Species Complex and Related Mycotoxins. Phytopathology 101: 960-969 [39]
• Collinge DB, Jørgensen HJL, Lund OS, Lyngkjær MF (2010) Engineering pathogen resistance in crop plants - current trends and future prospects. Annual Reviews of Phytopathology 48: 269-91 [65]
• Yang F, Jensen JD, Svensson B, Jørgensen LN, Collinge DB, Finnie C (2010) Analysis of early events in the interaction between Fusarium graminearum and the susceptible barley (Hordeum vulgare) cultivar Scarlett . Proteomics 10: 3748-3755 [27]
• Yang F, Jensen JD, Spliid NH, Svensson B, Jacobsen S, Jørgensen LN, Jørgensen HJL, Collinge DB, Finnie C (2010) Investigation of the effect of nitrogen on severity of Fusarium Head Blight in barley. Journal of Proteomics 73: 743-752. [30]

Book:

Collinge DB Biotechnology for Plant Disease Control, New York and London: Wiley (2016) 440 pages. ISBN 978-1-118-86776-1

Chapters:

• Rojas EC, Jørgensen HJL, Jensen B, Collinge DB (2018). Fusarium diseases: biology and management perspectives. In R. P. Oliver (Ed.) Integrated disease management of wheat and barley. Cambridge: Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing. Chapter 2 pp. 23-45 http://dx.doi.org/10.19103/AS.2018.0039.02
• Collinge DB, Jørgensen HJL, Latz MAC, Manzotti A, Ntana F, Rojas EC, Jensen B, (2019). Searching for novel fungal biological control agents for plant disease control among endophytes. In T. R. Hodkinson, F. M. Doohan, M. Saunders, & B. R. Murphy (Eds.), Endophytes: for a growing world (Chapter 2 pp 25-51). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/endophytes-for-a-growing-world/searching-for-novel-fungal-biological-control-agents-for-plant-disease-control-among-endophytes/F15546FBB300379D401FAC27BB3B4852
• Collinge DB, Mullins E, Jensen B, Jørgensen HJL (2016) The Status and Prospects for Biotechnological Approaches for Attaining Sustainable Disease Resistance. Chapter 1 In Plant Pathogen Resistance Biotechnology. Edited by Collinge DB John Wiley & Sons.

Short presentation

Professor of Plant Pathology

David B. Collinge was born in Liverpool in 1958 and brought up in nearby Southport in the north-west of England. He was educated in genetics at the Universities of Liverpool (BSc (hons) 1979) and Newcastle Upon Tyne (PhD, 1982). The subject of his PhD thesis was "The Genetic Control of Cyanogenic Glucoside Biosynthesis" in White Clover (Trifolium repens) and his supervisor Professor M.A. Hughes. He came to the University of Århus in Denmark for 1983 as an EU-funded postdoctoral fellow to work and gain training in molecular biology in the laboratory of Professor Kjeld A. Marcker. A second postdoctoral position at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne (1983-1985) concerned cloning the gene encoding linamarase from clover. David B. Collinge was a Higher Scientific Officer at the (then) John Innes Institute in Norwich (1985-87), where he studied the defence response mechanisms in Turnip (Brassica campestris) against the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas campestris. He moved to the then Dept. of Plant Physiology at the then KVL in 1987 as a visiting postdoctoral fellow in Professor Birger Lindberg Møller's laboratory to help introduce plant molecular biology techniques to the department. David B. Collinge was appointed Associate Professor in Molecular Plant Pathology in 1988 and Professor of Plant Pathology in 2002.

David's main research interest through his career has concerened the mechanisms of defences against pathogens in plants and his research group has worked with several biological systems, mainly involving fungal pathogens since 1988, for example, Pea (Pisum sativum) with Ascochyta pisi where both plant defence mechanisms and fungal pathogenicity mechanisms were studied; Rape (Brassica napus) with Leptosphaera maculans; Wheat (Triticum aestivum) with Septoria tritici; Maize (Zea majs) with Maize Rayado Fino Virus and Norway Spruce (Picea abies) with Ceratobasidium bicorne. The bulk of the research effort has concerned Barley (Hordeum vulgare) with the Powdery Mildew Fungus, Blumeria graminis, and this effort has been rewarded with much new knowledge on the nature and role of different defence mechanisms plants. The current efforts concern understanding the roles of NAC transcription factors and receptor-like protein kinases.The latest projects (2007), in collaboration with Hans Jørgensen concern the interactions of Fusarium graminearum with barley (PhD student Jens Due Jensen) and induced resistance in rice against Rhizoctonia solani for Vietnam (PhD student Nguyen Dac Khoa). With Michael Lyngkjær two FTP projects "Climate Change Effects on Plant Health" and "Unravelling plant regulatory networks: NAC transcription factors in senescence and disease resistance". The latter led by Prof Preben Bach Holm. A recent Danida-funded project (2010-13) with Dr Hans Jørgensen and Dr Patrick Okori of Makarere University in Uganda concerned the study of new methods for controlling Black Sigatoka disease of bananas (caused by Mycosphaerella fijiensis) and a FOBI PhD project - Chatchai Kosawang together with Dan Funck Jensen and Magnus Karlsson (SLU, Uppsala) concerned three-way interactions between the pathogen Fusarium graminearum, the antagonist, Clonostachys rosea and their cereal hosts.

The major new area concerns endophytic fungal interactions, which stand to uncover defining principles in crop protection and plant tolerances across a wide range of biotic and abiotic stresses. Our research further looks to investigate how fungi and plants interact and manipulate each other resulting in different lifestyles ranging from biotrophic, hemibiotrophic and necrotrophic pathogenic interactions through commensal endophytic and rhizospheric interactions. 

This research effort has been published in over 90 refereed international publications to date giving an H-index of 34. He is also active in the public debate drawing attention to the importance of plant diseases and plant biotechnology.
David B. Collinge is Professor of Plant Pathology.  He is leader of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie ETN BestPass ( http://bestpass.ku.dk/). He sits in the faculty and departmental PhD study boards (ph.d.-udvalg) He is a deputy for the Faculty coordination forum on developing country activities (UFAG - http://www.development.life.ku.dk/Development_at_LIFE/Organisation.aspx). He is a member of the editorial board of the international scientific journals "European Journal of Plant Pathology" and "Plant Pathology"and serves regularly for Scientific Boards for various research councils. He sits in the "chemical engineering" and "biological sciences" national university examiners boards and on the managerial board for "Kølpin Ravn og Ernst Grams legate" and the Danish national advisory council for Plants and Plant Health (Udvalget for planter og plantesundhed).