David Brian Collinge

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 Microbial Ecology and Biotechnology (2023-6) roughly 40 employees in 4 groups
• Head of the Section for Plant Pathology (2003-2006) 30-40 employees in 5 groups
• Head of PhD Research Programme for Biotechnology FOBI 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:

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

• 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”
• 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 (chair since 2020), departmental board since inception in 2012, chair since 2016.
• Member of 50 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)
• Joint Editor in Chief CABI Plant Health Cases (since 2022) Plant Health Cases - CABI.org
• 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]

• Koutouleas, A., Collinge DB, Ræbild, A. (2022). A dawn of change in plant protection for coffee of tomorrow. Plant Pathology, in press https://doi.org/10.1111/ppa.13676
• Kumakech, A, Jørgensen HJL, Collinge DB, Edema R, Okori P. (2022). Plant extracts as potential control agents of black sigatoka in banana. J. Plant Pathology DOI 10.1007/s42161-022-01211-1
• Khairullina A, Renhuldt NT, Wiesenberger G, Bentzer J, Collinge DB, Adam G, Bülow L (2022). Identification and functional characterisation of two oat UDP-glucosyltransferases involved in deoxynivalenol detoxification. Toxins 14, 446. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins14070446
• Collinge DB, Jensen B, Jørgensen HJL (2022). Fungal Endophytes in Plants and their Relationship to Plant Disease. Current Opinion in Microbiology 69: 102177 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2022.102177
• Rojas EC, Jensen B, Jørgensen HJL, Latz MAC, Esteban P, Collinge DB, (2022) Fungal endophyte Penicillium olsonii ML37 reduces Fusarium head blight via early plant defence activation of wheat spikes. Journal of Fungi 8: 345. doi:10.3390/jof8040345
• Collinge DB, Jensen, DF, Rabiey, M, Sarrocco S, Shaw, MW, Shaw R. (2022). Biological control of plant diseases – what has been achieved and what is the direction? Plant Pathology 71: 1024-1047 DOI: 10.1111/PPA.13555
• Ntana F, Johnson RS, Hamberger B, Jensen B, Jørgensen HJL, Collinge DB. (2022) Regulation of tomato specialised metabolism after establishment of symbiosis with the endophytic fungus Serendipita indica. Microorganisms 10: 194 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10010194
• Collinge DB, Sarrocco S (2022) Transgenic approaches for plant disease control: status and prospects 2021, Plant Pathology 71: 207–225. DOI: 10.1111/ppa.13443
• Ntana F, Bhat WW, Johnson SR, Jørgensen HJL, Collinge DB, Jensen B and Hamberger B. (2021) A sesquiterpene synthase from the endophytic fungus Serendipita indica catalyses formation of viridiflorol. Biomolecules 11: 898. doi:10.3390/biom11060898
• Chen XY, Li PP, Liu H, Chen XL, Huang JB, Luo CX, Li GT, Hsiang T, Collinge DB, Zheng L. (2021) A novel transcription factor UvCGBP1 regulates development and virulence of rice false smut fungus Ustilaginoidea virens. Virulence 12: 1563-79. https://doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2021.1936768
• Latz MAC, Kerrn MH, Sørensen H, Collinge DB, Jensen B, Brown JKM, Madsen AM, Jørgensen, HJL (2020) Succession of the fungal endophytic microbiome of wheat is dependent on tissue-specific interactions between host genotype and environment. Science of The Total Environment, 143804. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143804
• Zhang HX, Xie JT, Fu YP, Cheng JS, Qu Z, Zhao ZZ, Cheng SF, Chen T, Li B, Wang QQ, Liu XQ, Tian BN, Collinge DB, Liang DH. (2020) A 2 Kb mycovirus converts a cosmopolitan fungal pathogen to beneficial endophyte in Brassica. Molecular Plant 13: 1420-1433 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2020.08.016
• Manzotti A, Bergna A, Burow M, Jørgensen HJL, Cernava T, Berg G, Collinge DB, Jensen, B (2020) Insights into the community structure and lifestyle of the fungal root endophytes of tomato by combining amplicon sequencing and isolation approaches with phytohormone profiling. FEMS Microbiology Ecology: 96, fiaa052. https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiaa052
• Sarrocco S, Herrera-Estrella A, Collinge DB, 2020. Editorial: Plant Disease Management in the Post-genomic Era: From Functional Genomics to Genome Editing. Frontiers in Microbiology 11. DOI 3389/fmicb.2020.00107
• Rojas EC, Jensen B, Jørgensen HJL, Latz MAC, Esteban P, Ding, YW, Collinge DB (2020) Selection of fungal endophytes with biocontrol potential against Fusarium head blight on wheat. Biological Control 144: 104222 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2020.104222
• Jørgensen HJL, Collinge DB, Rojas EC, Latz MAC, Manzotti A, Ntana F, Jensen B (2020) Plant endophytes. Encyclopaedia of Life Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470015902.a0028893
• Latz, MAC, Jensen B, Collinge DB, Jørgensen HJL (2020) Identification of two endophytic fungi that control Septoria tritici blotch in the field, using a structured screening approach. Biological Control 141: 104128 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2019.104128
• 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. 42 100859 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funeco.2019.08.003
• Rojas EC, Sapkota R, Jensen B, Jørgensen HJL, Henriksson T, Nistrup-Jørgensen L, Nicolaisen M, Collinge DB (2020) Fusarium Head Blight modifies fungal endophytic communities during infection of wheat spikes. Microbial Ecology 79: 397–408 https://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.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” 10.1007/s10658-018-1439-2

Books:

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

Tronsmo AM, Collinge DB, Djurle A, Munk L, Yuen J, Tronsmo A (2020) Plant Pathology and Plant Diseases 464 pp CABI International, Wallingford. https://www.cabi.org/bookshop/book/9781789243178/ ISBN 9781789243178

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 and Fusarium graminearum; 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 more recently Fusarium graminearum, and this effort has been rewarded with much new knowledge on the nature and role of different defence mechanisms plants. Recent efforts concern understanding the roles of NAC transcription factors and receptor-like protein kinases.

The most recent projects concern the interactions of Fusarium graminearum with barley, wheat and oat with Fusarium graminearum.

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 100 refereed international publications to date giving an H-index of 42. He is also active in the public debate drawing attention to the importance of plant diseases and plant biotechnology in developing sustainable food security.

David B. Collinge is Professor of Plant Pathology.  He is head of section for Microbial Ecology and Biotechnology. He sits in the faculty and departmental PhD study boards (ph.d.-udvalg). He is a member of the editorial board of the international scientific journals "European Journal of Plant Pathology", "Plant Pathology" and the plant-microbe section of Frontiers of Microbiology/Plant Science. He serves regularly for Scientific Boards for various research councils. He sits in the "chemical engineering", “agritculture” 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). He has been a member of the presidium of BSPP (https://www.bspp.org.uk/) from 2018-22, serving as President in 2022.