Abigail Graetz

Abigail is a PhD student with Team Schwessinger, who came to the ANU from the University of Tasmania.

Abigail is interested in microbial interactions, and studying these using a combination of DNA sequencing and culture-based techniques. Her PhD project looks at the plant microbiome under rust fungus infection, and how the three-way interaction between the plant host, fungal pathogen and microbiome plays out under different environmental conditions. She is also looking at developing molecular tools to better understand the wheat stripe rust fungus Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici. Abigail enjoys untangling the ways that microbes respond to the world around them, understanding how and why they do what they do, and how we can use this information to solve real-world problems.

In her down time, Abigail loves over-caring for both her indoor and outdoor plants, hosting dinner parties for her friends, winning her Fantasy NBA League and finding new ways to terrorise her husband with her taste in music.