Linda Kinkel

Linda Kinkel is a Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Pathology and M.S. in Biometry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and completed Post-doctoral research at the University of California-Berkeley.

Dr. Kinkel’s research focuses on the ecology and evolutionary biology of soil and endophytic microbiomes with particular emphasis on the ecology and evolutionary biology of antibiotic-producing populations. She is especially interested in developing practical approaches for managing the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of antagonistic soil bacteria to enhance disease suppression. Her current work integrates genomic and transcriptomic analyses of soil and endophytic populations and microbiomes in relation to pathogen suppression, plant host and plant community diversity, and soil carbon dynamics in agricultural and native prairie soils. She has been actively involved in the American Phytopathological Society as part of the Public Policy Board, the APS Phytobiomes Initiative, and on multiple committees, and is currently an Associate Editor-in-Chief for the Phytobiomes Journal.