Jacobs leads the Emerging Infectious Disease Ecology Laboratory that aims to use leading technologies to respond to and track emerging threats to US and global agriculture. His team has developed novel surveillance and molecular epidemiology tools for tracking pathogens. His work has also taken the additional step to define the molecular mechanisms of the emergence of pathogens including virulence factors that led to outbreaks that have saved the industry millions of dollars in losses and also expanded the basic understanding of BLS. Jacobs does not have an official Extension role, but he has developed a network of producers in Ohio and the US to support translation of his innovation and regularly works with the cereal industry to address BLS issues. He is a founding member with Rebecca Curland of the Bacterial Leaf Streak Initiative, and the goal is to support management efforts against this re-emerging threat.

Curland has been a lead researcher on projects addressing BLS on wheat and barley since 2010. Within the Small Grains Pathology lab, she coordinates the Bacterial Leaf Streak Cooperative Nursery (BLSCN), which has been established since 2013. The BLSCN is a tri-state nursery in collaboration with North Dakota State University and South Dakota State University that evaluates commercial and experimental lines for BLS resistance. Additionally, Curland’s work on Xtt and Xtu strains from recent BLS outbreaks in the Upper Midwest has provided important foundational knowledge about genetic diversity and phylogenetic structure of contemporary and historical X. translucens strains. As a co-founder with Jacobs of the Bacterial Leaf Streak Initiative, she has co-organized annual meetings and worked with BLS researchers nationally and internationally to drive BLS research through communication and collaboration.

Dr. Baldwin leads the barley pathology program at North Dakota State University, focusing on fungal diseases in barley, including Bacterial Leaf Streak (BLS) research. With a background in molecular biology, plant pathology, fungal genetics, and mycotoxin research, Baldwin began his role in 2020. Since then, he has been actively collecting Xanthomonas translucens (Xtt) isolates from major barley-producing states—North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho—to investigate disease dynamics. Baldwin's lab is dedicated to understanding disease progression in Xtt isolates, assessing the barley microbiome’s response to both Xtt and Fusarium head blight (FHB), and identifying novel sources of resistance to BLS in barley. Beyond BLS research, the laboratory also conducts regional Fusarium head blight trials, managing the North American Barley Scab Evaluation Nursery (NABSEN), which supports FHB resistance screening across barley varieties.

Read has a background in bacterial leaf streak of rice with a focus on the role of transcription activator-like effectors in disease outcomes. After transitioning to a wheat and oat genetics position with the USDA in September of 2023, Read has developed a research program that focuses on the role of TALEs in bacterial leaf streak of wheat with a goal of discovering or engineering wheat cultivars with reduced susceptibility. In addition to BLS research, Read coordinates a pair of spring wheat uniform regional nurseries that are planted in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Success of the regional nurseries relies on close cooperation of a network of public, private, and Canadian government spring wheat breeders. His goal in the BLS initiative is to connect the spring wheat community with the BLS research community and to contribute to our understanding of the molecular interactions between host and pathogen that influence disease outcomes.

Dr. Brauer’s lab is focused on understanding how plants respond to pathogen attack with the ultimate goal of improving cereal production through genetics. The lab uses molecular physiology, genetics and phenomics to study barley, wheat and corn and their diseases. Her work describes the molecular mechanisms underlying plant-pathogen interactions and inducible immune responses in the cereals to identify genetic targets for variety improvement. Her work in BLS identifies genetic regions of barley which are involved in bacterial detection and indicates these responses provide resistance against the pathogen. Her development of genetic resources in barley using genome editing and segregating populations will support future work on understanding resistance mechanisms against BLS. In collaboration with the research groups participating in the BLS initiative, Dr. Brauer’s lab will advance development of genetic and chemical strategies to control this disease.

Roberts’ lab group studies plant-microbe interactions of field crops to develop better control methods for emerging diseases.  The group’s bacterial leaf streak (BLS) projects focus on understanding the factors involved in the hyper-virulence of a Colorado isolate of Xanthomonas translucens pv. undulosa, the conserved molecular microbial patterns involved in plant immunity recognition, and determining the susceptibility factors in wheat to the pathogen. Roberts works closely with the wheat growers of Colorado and is motivated to find solutions to complex agricultural problems and emerging diseases, bridging our understanding of molecular biology of plant-microbe interactions to tangible, applied solutions.