dr. DW (Desalegn) Etalo

Desalegn is a multifaceted life scientist with a keen interest in systems biology, eager to understand how living systems operate and interact, a stepping stone toward unraveling the processes underlying the co-evolution of organisms. With this understanding, he strives to develop biodiversity-centered, resilient agricultural or ecological intervention strategies to counter the current decline in agroecosystems. In the past decade, he has broadened his knowledge and expertise by working from the gene to the organism across plant stress physiology, plant-microbe (pathogenic and beneficial) interactions, parasitic plant-host-microbiome interactions, and microbial ecology. He considers chemicals a lingua franca in multipartite interactions and, as such, the basis of his studies. He currently leads the Phytobiome Systems Lab (PSL).