Dr. Rita Bán is an associate professor at the Department of Integrated Plant Protection in the Plant Protection Institute.. As a plant pathologist, her research focuses on pathogenic fungi, especially diseases of cereals and sunflower. She has been examining the pathotype composition of Plasmopara halstedii, the causal agent of sunflower downy mildew, for ten years. She identified several new pathotypes of sunflower downy mildew with her research group in Europe and Hungary. More recently, she has focused on fungicide sensitivity (tolerance) of P. halstedii and cereal pathogens, such as Zymoseptoria tritici and alternative protection methods against plant diseases.