Prof. Dr. Bruce McDonald
Prof. Dr. Bruce McDonald
Full Professor at the Department of Environmental Systems Science
Additional information
Research area
Fields of major interest are population genetics and evolutionary biology of plant pathogens, pathogen-plant coevolution, resistance gene conservation and utilization, disease resistance in small-grains, and plant breeding for disease resistance. Recent research utilized microsatellites, DNA sequences and the genomic toolbox to elucidate the population genetics and phylogeography of the fungal pathogens Mycosphaerella graminicola and Phaeosphaeria nodorum which cause diseases of wheat, Rhynchosporium secalis which causes a disease on barley, Rhizoctonia solani AG1 which causes sheath blight on rice, and the dark septate endophyte Phialocephala fortinii that colonizes pine trees. Current research focuses on experimental evolution of fungal pathogens, measuring the correlation between diversity for ecologically relevant quantitative characters and diversity for DNA-based genetic marker systems (QST/FST comparisons), and QTL mapping and population genomics to identify genes involved in virulence and fungicide resistance.
Bruce McDonald was appointed Full Professor for Plant Pathology at the ETH on September 16, 1998.
Born in 1960, Bruce obtained a BSc degree in Plant Science from University of California at Riverside in 1982. He obtained his PhD degree in Genetics from University of California at Davis in 1987. He became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at Texas A&M University in 1988, where he established an innovative research program oriented around understanding the population genetics and evolutionary biology of fungal plant pathogens. He spent sabbatical periods at CSIRO Plant Industry (Canberra, Australia) and University of California, San Diego.
His research lies at the intersection of the fields of plant pathology, population genetics, evolutionary biology, plant breeding and mycology, with a focus on major fungal pathogens of wheat, barley and rice. Bruce has published more than 110 peer-reviewed papers and presented more than 120 invited lectures at more than 50 universities and research institutes in more than 20 countries. He has reviewed hundreds of papers for the leading journals in plant pathology, genetics, evolutionary biology and mycology. The American Phytopathological Society recognized his fundamental contributions to plant pathology by awarding him the Ruth Allen Award in 1999 and elected him a Fellow in 2005. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2013.
Bruce joined the Institute of Plant Sciences (IPW) in November 1998 and served one term as Head of the IPW. In 2005 he joined the new Institute of Integrative Biology (IBZ) as one of its founding members and served as its Head in 2012. He served as Dean of the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences from 2008-2010 and helped to launch the World Food System Center in 2011. Bruce also is a founding member and Director of the ETH Genetic Diversity Center. He served on the ETH Research Commission for five years. He participates in the Life Science Zurich graduate school in the Plant Science and Microbiology and Immunology programs. He served on the Editorial Boards of Phytopathology, the European Journal of Plant Pathology and PLoS Pathogens and has served on numerous national and international grant and evaluation panels.
Membership
| Since | Membership |
|---|---|
| American Association for the Advancement of Science | |
| American Phytopathological Society | |
| Genetics Society of America | |
| Mycological Society of America |
Honours
| Year | Distinction |
|---|---|
| 2013 | Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| 2005 | Elected Fellow, American Phytopathological Society |
| 1999 | Ruth Allen Award, American Phytopathological Society |
Course Catalogue
Spring Semester 2025
| Number | Unit |
|---|---|
| 751-4505-00L | Plant Pathology II |
Lectures FS 2025
Curriculum Vitae
Bruce McDonald was appointed Full Professor for Plant Pathology at the ETH in September of 1998. Born in 1960, Bruce obtained a BSc degree in Plant Science from University of California at Riverside in 1982. He obtained his PhD degree in Genetics from University of California at Davis in 1987. He became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at Texas A&M University in 1988, where he established an innovative research program oriented around understanding the population genetics and evolutionary biology of fungal plant pathogens. He spent sabbatical periods at CSIRO Plant Industry (Canberra, Australia), University of California, San Diego and Oregon State University in Corvallis.
His research lies at the intersection of the fields of plant pathology, population genetics, evolutionary biology, plant breeding and mycology, with a focus on major fungal pathogens of wheat, barley and rice. Bruce has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers and presented more than 130 invited lectures at more than 60 universities and research institutes in more than 20 countries. He has reviewed hundreds of papers for the leading journals in plant pathology, genetics, evolutionary biology and mycology. The American Phytopathological Society recognized his fundamental contributions to plant pathology by awarding him the Ruth Allen Award in 1999 and elected him a Fellow in 2005. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2013.
Bruce joined the Institute of Plant Sciences (IPW) in November 1998 and served one term as its Head. In 2005 he joined the new Institute of Integrative Biology (IBZ) as one of its founding members and served as its Head in 2012. He served as Dean of the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences from 2008-2010 and helped to launch the World Food System Center in 2011. Bruce is a founding member and Director of the ETH Genetic Diversity Center. He served on the ETH Research Commission for five years. He participates in the Life Science Zurich graduate school in the Plant Science and the Microbiology and Immunology programs. He served on the Editorial Boards of Phytopathology, the European Journal of Plant Pathology, PLoS Pathogens and the Annual Review of Phytopathology and has served on numerous national and international grant and institutional evaluation panels.
Research Projects
Find more details here (research group).