A Champion of Fungi: Odile Carisse’s Career Dedicated to Plant Disease Control

With over 30 years’ experience at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Dr. Odile Carisse is a globally recognized expert in the prevention of crop diseases caused by fungi. Although she didn’t grow up in a scientific household, her dream of feeding the world and protecting the environment led her to agriculture, and eventually to a lifelong scientific vocation. Today, Odile and her team at the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Research and Development Centre in Quebec take pride in battling the kinds of mushrooms no one wants in their plate.

A passion rooted in purpose

After completing technical training in agriculture at the Institut de technologie agroalimentaire du Québec in Saint-Hyacinthe, Odile, driven by curiosity and a desire to learn more, pursued university studies in agronomy. During her undergraduate studies at McGill University in Montreal, she was introduced to phytopathology, the study of plant diseases, by an inspiring professor who connected the discipline to real-world consequences. “He used to talk about the link between plant diseases, famine and war—it was fascinating,” she recalls. “That’s when I knew: I wanted to be a research scientist specializing in plant pathology.”

In 1992, Odile joined AAFC as a researcher with a mission to reduce reliance on fungicides, products used to kill fungi. However, the field looked quite different at the time.

Back then, much of the work involved cultivating and identifying fungi under microscopes, a meticulous process vulnerable to human error, and often slow and imprecise.

Meanwhile, standard agricultural practices focused heavily on boosting yields, leading to widespread fungicide use on all types of crops. Over time, fungi developed resistance, raising a critical question for Odile: How could we maintain, or even improve agricultural productivity, while lessening the environmental impact, especially as fungicides were becoming increasingly less effective?

A big job for tiny cells

The challenge was clear, yet scientific research often encounters its own set of hurdles. Odile and her team turned to biological control, which involves replacing conventional fungicides with microbial-based biological fungicides. “It was a promising idea, but nature is unpredictable,” she explains. “We ran many lab experiments to find those rare gems—and we found a few.”

Yet translating research into practical products was no small feat. Given that these fungicides are living organisms, they were vulnerable to environmental factors, making their use difficult for farmers. The solution to reducing conventional fungicide use lay in exploring alternative methods.

Then came a breakthrough. Advances in molecular biology allowed researchers to identify fungi more quickly and accurately. With farmers increasingly seeking targeted fungicide applications, Odile and her team embraced these tools to measure spore levels, the tiny reproductive cells fungi release into the air.

It turns out that the quantity of spores correlates directly with disease severity. However, measuring them in sprawling fields was no simple task. So Odile and her team, along with her colleague Dr. Hervé Van Der Heyden, spent two years developing spore samplers for onion crops, a major innovation.

Using these samplers, Odile’s team built tools to measure the spore levels in fields in real time. The impact has been significant: “This allowed us to set intervention thresholds [for applying fungicides],” she explains. “When paired with risk prediction models, it reduced fungicide use by 20% to 30%.” This approach, called biovigilance, monitors crop health and disease risk, a concept Odile helped pioneer. Her work also laid the foundation for a new scientific field: molecular aerobiology, the study of airborne living particles through molecular biology.

A project with global reach

Midway through her career, Odile’s research began to intersect with European science, especially in France. Having studied at English-speaking McGill University, Odile initially worked mainly with Canadian and American researchers. However, after participating in numerous European conferences and engaging in various research projects across Europe, particularly in France, she uncovered a scientific realm distinct from her own. Inspired by the French scientific approach, which blends fundamental theory with practical application, Odile realized that for her research to make a tangible impact, producers would need to adopt spore samplers.

Today, these samplers are used by numerous producers in Quebec and across Europe, including onion growers and winemakers, to combat fungal threats more effectively.

Despite the progress, Odile believes there is still much work ahead in her field. “Research is the most beautiful profession in the world,” she says, encouraging young researchers to pursue it. “That said, it’s not for everyone—you have to learn to handle criticism and navigate competition.” She adds that thoughtful reflection is essential, advising new researchers to choose a topic they feel truly passionate about.

Odile also emphasizes the value of collaboration: “I’ve been fortunate to have an incredible team. Without them, I wouldn’t have had this amazing career.” She expresses sincere gratitude, underscoring that no researcher can achieve lasting success alone. Thanks to this enduring co-operation, the work of Odile and her team is now recognized internationally and has played a transformative role in advancing sustainable agricultural practices for fungus control.

Odile Carisse

Odile surrounded by her team, Pierre-Olivier Hébert, Annie Lefebvre and Audrey Levasseur