Amy Turner has over 25 years of experience in the field of agriculture research. Prior to joining the IALR Advanced Research team, Turner worked with N.C. State University in Crop Stress Physiology and Clemson University in Turfgrass Pathology. In 2011, she served as Plant Propagation Laboratory Manager of the Dan River Plant Propagation Center. After joining the IALR Applied Research team in 2014, she was cross trained in the IALR Advanced Materials Program by attending courses at the Charlotte, N.C., Polymers Center of Excellence. Since 2018, Turner has focused full time on assisting with expanding and building IALR’s plant endophyte library, as well as testing those microbes identified as beneficial to plant growth. Her areas of work have included acquisition of plant material for isolation of plant endophytic bacteria, assisting with IALR’s endophytic bacteria screening process and evaluation of microbes selected for testing in the greenhouse, growth chamber and controlled environment agriculture (CEA) systems. Turner aids industry in the field of biological product development research, conducting contract research projects to test biological product efficacy in various crops. As part of the CEA Innovation Center team at IALR, she also incorporates hydroponics into the services offered to outside parties seeking to test biocontrol products.
Skillsets
Biology:
- Plant Tissue Culture and Micropropagation
- Plant Transformation
- Agrobacterium mediated plant transformation
Plant Pathology Techniques:
- Fungal Isolation and Culture
- Parasitic Nematode Isolation and Identification
Field, Greenhouse and CEA Research:
- Plant Endophyte Growth Promotion Studies on various crops
- Contracted Research: Product efficacy of biological products and residue analysis in greenhouse, growth chamber and controlled environment systems
- Studies to address sampling discrepancies in Industrial Hemp; Timing X Sampling Location Project in Industrial Hemp
- Evaluation of Plant Beneficial Endophytes on Production of Industrial Hemp in CEA
- Evaluation of Black Soldier Fly larvae to reduce waste plant material from CEA production systems
- CEAIC Systems: Indoor Vertical, Nutrient Film Technique, Bato Bucket Production Systems
- Turfgrass Pathology
- Crop Stress Physiology
- Soil Fertility
