Mar 7, 2017
MSU hire will study plant-parasitic nematodes

Michigan State University’s (MSU) Department of Entomology has a new applied nematologist: Marisol Quintanilla. Based on the main campus in East Lansing, she joined the university in January.

Quintanilla is originally from Chile, where she grew up on a farm that grew table grapes for export and vegetables for the local market. The farm was run by Quintanilla’s grandparents at the time. Her mother ran the export side of the business, which had an office in Philadelphia. As a child, Quintanilla spent part of the year in Chile and part of the year in Philadelphia, and received schooling in both countries. Because she liked the culture and the academic environment, she decided to continue her education in the United States, where she’s now a permanent resident, she said.

Quintanilla studied a few years at a university in Chile, but wanted to finish her bachelor’s degree in the United States. She wanted a degree in agriculture, and decided to attend Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan.

After earning her bachelor’s degree from Andrews in 2001, she was offered an assistantship at MSU. There, she taught classes, did research and earned her master’s degree by 2004. She studied entomology and nematology with nematologist George Bird, and earned her Ph.D. in both in 2009. Entomology and nematology fit well with her interest in insects and the natural world – interests she’s had since she was a child, she said.

After earning her Ph.D., Quintanilla took a job as an entomologist and nematologist in the Northern Mariana Islands, an island chain in the Pacific Ocean. A few years later, she was hired by the University of Hawaii for a similar position. She recently got the offer to apply for the nematology position at MSU, and because of the excellence of the faculty and her good memories of her time there, she decided to go for it, she said.

Groups representing seven commodities – soybeans, potatoes, sugarbeets, corn, ornamentals, vegetables and fruit – invested money in MSU’s applied nematology position, she said.

Plant-parasitic nematodes have proven to be a significant problem for all of those crops. Quintanilla’s job is to research solutions. Her work also will study the impact of soil health, crop varieties, cover crops and beneficials on plant-parasitic nematode populations, as well as the efficacy of conventional and biorational products for control. She’ll collaborate with scientists in Michigan and elsewhere to find applied solutions to nematode problems, she said.

Though Quintanilla worked in the tropics for years, she has also collaborated with the University of Maryland to study nematodes in temperate climates like Michigan.

“I’m really enjoying my time here in Michigan,” Quintanilla said. “The faculty is excellent, and I’m happy to work with the growers.”

Matt Milkovich




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