West Virginia University’s Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences will host a seminar given by a world-renowned wood microbiologist at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 25, in Room 2001 of the Agricultural Sciences Building , located on the Evansdale Campus.

Robert A. Blanchette, professor in the department of plant pathology at the University of Minnesota , will presentMicrobes at the Extremes Attacking Historic and Archaeological Wooden Structures.The presentation is free and open to the public.

Blachette’s research interests focus on forest pathology and wood microbiology while his projects involve interdisciplinary approaches to solving tree problems and understanding the biology and ecology of forest microbes.

In his current position, Blanchette is researching subjects such as deterioration in historic and archaeological wood that range from the ruins of Admiral Byrd’s Antarctic expedition to the tombs of King Midas.

Blanchette is an internationally recognized wood microbiologist who has received numerous national and international scientific awards and honors,said William MacDonald, professor of plant and soil sciences at WVU .His work is novel and should be of interest to a wide range of disciplines.

The seminar is sponsored by the Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology Lecture Fund.

For more information, contact MacDonald, 293-8818, or macd@wvu.edu .