Mathematics and Statistics Colloquium
An automated workflow for plant virus diagnostics using high-throughput genome sequencing data
Date: Friday, Oct. 27
Time: 3:30 pm
Location: Arts Building Room 206, 9 Campus Dr., Saskatoon
Free and open to the public
About this event
A talk by Dr. Xuekui Zhang (PhD) of the University of Victoria, hosted by the USask Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Plant virus infection causes enormous economic loss: $350 billion worldwide in 2021. We focus on grapevine viruses, which caused Canadian grape growers’ annual loss of over $23 million. Once infected by a virus, the grapevine remains infected for life and must be replaced, since no therapeutic treatments are available. So, diagnosis of virus infection is critical for disease control. Collaborating with researchers from CFIA and other institutes, we are developing a genomic-sequencing-based diagnostic test to detect virus infections of grapevines.
My team's role is to develop method/software to decide if a sample is infected by any virus (from a list of ~1,000 viruses) based on its genomic sequencing data. In this talk, I will briefly discuss some research results from this project.
More information about this project can be found online.
Info: colloquium@math.usask.ca
Upcoming Events
International Society for Anthrozoology 2025 Conference
Jun 19-22, 2025
ISAZ 2025 will be hosted in Saskatoon by the University of Saskatchewan and the PAWSitive Connections Lab
Enfilade
May 16 - Aug 29, 2025
Anne Low creates sculptural forms, often using techniques and methodologies associated with histories of decorative arts and domestic interiors
Ta̱wi’stalisa̱la (To Walk Around the World): Reclaiming the Intangible
May 16 - Aug 29, 2025
Marianne Nicolson's work negotiates the complex dynamics between visibility and invisibility