LabCompass

Merje Toome‐Heller

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Purdue University West Lafayette

Mid career · publishing since 2016

Publications

40

Citations

2,275

Est. group size

~1

Recurring co-author estimate

Active years

11

Publishing since 2016

Research summary
AI-generated

Merje Toome-Heller works on plant disease diagnostics and fungal biology, with a focus on identifying and characterizing plant pathogens (especially rust fungi and other fungal or bacterial disease agents) affecting crops such as kiwifruit, avocado, blueberry, myrtle, and apple in New Zealand and the Pacific region. Much of the work involves developing molecular detection tools like real-time PCR assays and reporting new or first-time disease occurrences, supporting biosecurity and plant health monitoring efforts.

Plant pathogen diagnostics (real-time PCR assay development)Fungal biology and taxonomy (especially rust fungi, Pucciniomycotina)Plant disease surveillance and first disease reportsBiosecurity in agriculture and horticultureGenomics and phylogenetics of fungi and bacteria

Publication output has been relatively steady but modest over the past decade, generally ranging from 1 to 5 papers per year, with a mean of about 3.8 publications per year over the last five years.

Generated by claude-sonnet-5 from public bibliographic data · Jul 20, 2026

Publication cadence
Publications per year over the last 10 years — averaging 3.8/year recently
2017: 3 publications172018: 2 publications182019: 5 publications192020: 3 publications202021: 5 publications212022: 2 publications222023: 1 publication232024: 1 publication242025: 1 publication252026: 14 publications1426
Recent publications
Publishes in
  • Open MIND×5
  • Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)×5
  • Fungal Diversity×4
  • Australasian Plant Pathology×3
  • Plant Disease×3
Similar researchers
By research-topic overlap
  • Terry J. Torres-Cruz

    Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Purdue University West Lafayette

  • M. Catherine Aime

    Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Purdue University West Lafayette

  • Chunlin Yang

    Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Indiana University

  • Paula Andrea Gómez-Zapata

    Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Purdue University West Lafayette

  • Merje Toome

    Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Purdue University West Lafayette

This profile was generated automatically from public scholarly data (OpenAlex). Group size and activity levels are estimates derived from co-authorship patterns.

Last updated Jul 20, 2026.

Claim or correct this profile