Samira Safari, PhD
Samira is a postdoctoral fellow in the IMSS, working on morphological and molecular
identification of pathogenic microorganisms causing diseases on quinoa in western Canada.
She earned her Ph.D. in plant pathology from the University of Alberta under supervision of
Dr. Chatterton. During her doctoral program, she worked on quantification of soilborne fungi
and oomycetes by qPCR and developing a disease prediction model for pea root rot disease
based on pathogens DNA quantity. After that she undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the
Brandon University, where she worked on developing and optimising multiplex qPCR assays
for quick and accurate identification of soybean foliar pathogens. Her research interests are
largely directed towards understanding of different aspects of disease development and
find multidisciplinary approaches to manage plant diseases.