MrNatarajan Subramani

I am a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Biology and Environmental Science at University College Dublin, working across the Wheat Health Project and the MYCOTOX-I programme. My research focuses on cereal pathology, mycotoxin contamination, molecular diagnostics (qPCR and dPCR), and host–microbiome interactions in oats and wheat. I have developed sensitive digital PCR assays for key Fusarium species and mycotoxin biosynthetic genes, enabling accurate detection and quantification of pathogens in cereals.

My work integrates microbiome sequencing, bioinformatic analysis, and biocontrol approaches to understand how microbial communities influence pathogen behaviour and toxin accumulation. I have led extensive field and glasshouse trials in oats to assess genetic resistance to Fusarium langsethiae and to evaluate the biocontrol potential of endophytic fungal isolates.

Since 2022, I have also served as Project Manager for the MYCOTOX-I programme, coordinating research activities, stakeholder engagement, project reporting, and multi-site field/glasshouse workflows. In addition to MYCOTOX-I, I contribute to several collaborative research projects, including Ecrop, HealthyOats, and OatFrontiers, supporting microbiome analysis, pathogen diagnostics, and cereal disease management research.