A recent project aiming to control Bacterial Panicle Blight (BPB) in rice is the latest within a student-focused research program established by the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) at the University of Nebraska in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). The initiative provides students with research opportunities to create innovative national security solutions.
Currently focused on global health and agricultural security, the initiative aims to develop solutions to detect and neutralize emerging biological threats before they can endanger American citizens.
A pilot project during the 2023-2024 academic year was funded by a DOD agency with Lincoln Laboratory, the Federally Funded Research and Development Center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The successful pilot led to the funding of the BPB project conducted by Shilu Dahal, a doctoral student in plant pathology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The project launched in July 2024.
"We are incredibly excited to see this effort continuing to deliver results, especially with our prime partners — the University of Nebraska," said David Roberts, NSRI research director for special programs. "I’m proud to be part of this basic research endeavor, and I’m looking forward to solving some of the DOD’s most complex problem sets."
Dahal helped identify a beneficial environmental bacterium called Pseudomonas protegens PBL3. It is showing antimicrobial properties against Burkholderia glumae, which causes Bacterial Panicle Blight (BPB) in rice.
Dahal’s NSRI project is investigating the effectiveness of the P. protegens PBL3 secretome as a seed coating or foliar spray, aiming to advance the secretome’s development as an affordable and sustainable biopesticide-based solution for controlling BPB.
So far, Dahal has successfully scaled up production of the secretome in collaboration with UNL's Biological Process Development Facility, achieving approximately 30-fold concentration through lyophilization while maintaining and enhancing efficacy. This allowed her to optimize secretome concentrations in planta, ensuring its potency while avoiding toxicity.
These advancements are especially significant given the lack of commercially available methods in the U.S. to control BPB, and this innovation has the potential to be introduced as an environmentally friendly biopesticide for managing diseases in crops other than rice as well.
Successful lyophilization and concentration of the secretome through this project have helped the lab simplify the process of molecular characterization through mass spectrometry and investigate its mechanism of action, providing deeper insight into developing biopesticides.
Even though the NSRI project ends in May, Dahal said the lab’s intention is to translate greenhouse results to a field setting, which will help with regulatory approval and commercialization of the secretome.
"This project demonstrates our lab’s ability to bridge from fundamental science to applied solutions, addressing critical challenges such as antimicrobial resistance, crop protection and environmental resilience," Dahal said. "With expertise in microbial genetics and synthetic biology, we are well-positioned to contribute to national biosecurity and agricultural priorities.
"Projects like these are also a stepping stone to cultivating the next generation of research leaders. As a student beginning my career in scientific research, this project has taught me to embrace science as a journey."
