Dr. Tolga Bozkurt at Imperial College London specializes in plant-microbe interactions and cellular defense mechanisms. His innovative work has advanced our understanding of pathogen interference with plant immunity, particularly in autophagy and membrane trafficking. Demonstrating his creativity, TB has introduced groundbreaking methodologies in studying autophagy, such as discovery of pathogen effectors manipulating this process, developing an autophagy inhibiting peptide, and using AlphaFold-Multimer to discover new autophagy modulators, including those among effectors from plant and human pathogens.

Tolga’s efforts to understand how plant cells accommodate pathogens revealed that chloroplasts accumulate at the pathogen interface to contribute to basal immune responses. His further research in this area has contributed to the mode of action of key immune components like NLR immune receptors and their dynamic behaviour during pathogen invasion.

Tolga's work in engineering plant disease resistance genes has attracted funding from global companies like Corteva and UK funding organizations like the BBSRC. As a founder of Resurrect Bio, he's turning his research into real-world solutions for stronger plants. As a co-founder of Resurrect Bio, he focuses on applying his findings to develop disease-resistant crops.