Dr. George Sundin

Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Extension Tree Fruit Phytobacteriologist

General areas of expertise include fruit tree disease management, plant bacteriology, host-pathogen interactions, and fungicide resistance.

Dr. Sundin's work with fire blight is focused on developing and testing antibiotic and biological control materials for disease control as well as understanding the spread of streptomycin resistance within Michigan.  Dr. Sundin's laboratory work with E. amylovora, causal agent of fire blight of apple and pear, is focused on characterizing key genes involved in virulence that could be targets for novel disease control measures. 

The goal of Dr Sundin’s extension program is to provide timely information and recommendations on management of diseases of fruit trees to growers in Michigan and other fruit-growing regions.  He achieves these goals performing applied laboratory and field research on important bacterial and fungal diseases and their control that generates information that is translated to growers.  He also provides disease control recommendations in the MSU Fruit Management Guide which is updated yearly.