I am highly interested in developing sustainable management tools to control agricultural insect pests of economic importance. During my tenure as PhD student at icipe and the University of Pretoria, I will assess the efficacy of the candidate entomopathogenic- and endophytic- fungi, in the scope of integrating these fungal and endophytic-based biopesticides into sustainable management of the tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta. Specifically, it is to understand the chemical and molecular mechanisms that shape interaction between T. absoluta, its host plants and endophytes.