[1] After time as a Group Leader in the Max-Delbrück Laboratorium at the Max-Planck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung, Dangl joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he is currently the John N. Couch Professor of Biology.
[3] Dangl has studied the genetic and molecular basis of plant disease susceptibility and resistance gene-for-gene relationship.
[2] He, along with collaborator, Jonathan D. G. Jones, proposed the "zigzag model" for the co-evolution of plant resistance genes and pathogen effectors.
The Board of Directors of the IS-MPMI noted that Dangl's “seminal work in understanding the molecular basis of plant-pathogen interactions has made innumerable and invaluable contributions in elucidating the innate immune response in plants”.
He is a member of the editorial board of eight leading journals in genetics, genomics, and cell biology, he has served on several scientific advisory boards for companies, and he served administrative roles in several national and international societies relating to plant biology research.