November 8, 2001

NDSU Professor Is Featured On Website

A review article written by Berlin Nelson, Professor of plant pathology at North Dakota State University, which provides information on Stachbotrys, the indoor mold associated with the "sick building syndrom", is featured on the Web this month by APSnet.

The article, at http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/stachybotrys/ , covers general information and has photos and links to other Internet sites about indoor molds.

APSnet is the Web site for the American Phytopathological Society (APS). The APS is a non-profit, professional group dedicated to the study and control of plant diseases. This month the society decided to explore, as plant pathologists and mycologists, the biology of Stachbotrys.

Nelson’s review details his work on the development of the "sick building syndrom" following the floods along the Red River in 1997. In Grand Forks alone there were over 9,000 homes that flooded. The review also provides a history of the fungus, its biologically active compounds, the controversy surrounding it and comments on detection and remediation.

Nelson has been at NDSU since 1979 teaching plant pathology and mycology and works on the biology of soilborne fungi. He has been advising the public and local health organizations on indoor mold problems since the Red River flood of 1997.

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Source: Berlin Nelson, (701) 231-7057, Berlin.Nelson@ndsu.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, Richard.Mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu