A long-standing dogma in plant disease susceptibility states that disease development requires not only the presence of a virulent pathogen and a susceptible host but also a set of disease-favoring environmental conditions. How environmental conditions influence the plant and the pathogen during an active interaction is poorly understood, leaving a big gap in our understanding of how disease outbreaks occur in nature. To gain insight into the molecular basis of the “disease triangle” dogma, Dr. Jonghum Kim’s lab (Plant-microbe-environment interactions lab) works on research projects aimed at elucidating how agriculturally important environmental factors intercept the molecular network associated with disease development in order to build resilient immunity in model plant Arabidopsis and crop plants.