Peter DiGennaro joined the UW–Madison faculty in January 2024 as an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology.

What is your hometown? Where did you grow up?
Syracuse, New York. That’s the upstate/fingerlakes region of New York.

What is your educational/professional background, including your previous position?
I have a bachelor’s in biochemistry from a small state school in New York, a PhD in functional genomics from North Carolina State University, and a postdoc in plant developmental genetics from UC-Berkeley. Before coming to UW-Madison, I was an assistant professor of molecular nematology within the Department of Entomology and Nematology at the University of Florida from 2016-2023.

How did you get into your field of research?
My first introduction to nematology was in graduate school where I took a general plant pathology class. The instructor covering the plant parasitic nematode module had an opening in his lab and I was quickly intrigued by the diversity and complexity of these microscopic animals.

What are the main goals of your current research and outreach programs?
My research projects fall into three main programmatic areas, developing nematode identification and diagnostic techniques, understanding host resistance to nematode parasitism, and uncovering their novel biology.

What was your first visit to campus like?
Pleasantly cold with beautiful snow flurries.

What’s one thing you hope students who take a class with you will come away with?
Nematodes are all around us, in their vast numbers and in their diverse impacts on agriculture and human/animal health.

Do you feel your work relates in any way to the Wisconsin Idea? If so, please describe how.
Nematode ubiquity and diversity in the environment make them an ideal example of how everything is connected. Even small changes (or small animals) can have large impacts. 

The pandemic forced us all to reconsider many things we took for granted. Is there something you’ve learned that has helped you through these challenging times, personally or professionally?
Science is a public enterprise, the more accessible the data, the greater the returns. Having access to previously generated data allowed my program’s work to continue, even in quarantine.

What’s something interesting about your area of expertise you can share that will make us sound smarter at parties?
Eight out of ten animals on earth are nematodes. Nematodes likely feed on or parasitize every other form of life on earth, including us.

What are your hobbies and other interests?
I have a pilot’s license and play guitar, but most of my time outside of the lab is spent with my young kids.