FABI News

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FABI in a nutshell

Research Features

FABI, the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, at the University of Pretoria, is a post-graduate research institute that was established in 1997, based on a recognition that the future of forestry and agriculture in South Africa will strongly depend on the incorporation of new and emerging technologies into these industries. Major opportunities for these industries have emerged in recent times, from the applications of biotechnology and bioinformatics, amongst many others. FABI scientists undertake goal-directed research, in partnership with major players in the forestry and agricultural sectors in South Africa and in so doing, promote both human capital and industrial development in the country.

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FABI, the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, at the University of Pretoria, is a post-graduate research institute that was established in 1997, based on a recognition that the future of forestry and agriculture in South Africa will strongly depend on the incorporation of new and emerging technologies into these industries. Major opportunities for these industries have emerged in recent times, from the applications of biotechnology and bioinformatics, amongst many others. FABI scientists undertake goal-directed research, in partnership with major players in the forestry and agricultural sectors in South Africa and in so doing, promote both human capital and industrial development in the country.

Being based at the University of Pretoria provides FABI with the capacity to build future human resources in biotechnology, that are crucial to the future of forestry and agriculture in South Africa. It also enables collaboration and linkage with the majority of statutory bodies undertaking research in the plant and animal sciences. Additional value comes from training grants, participation of students in research programmes, and an enormous human and technological resource associated with this University.

Staff at the University of Pretoria linked to FABI, have also had long-term associations with the fruit tree industry as well as with many other programmes linked to agricultural and forestry crops. Since its establishment, FABI has grown rapidly. FABI is made up of about 240 people including, more than 20 academic staff, 150+ postgraduate (Hons, MSc, PhD) students, postdoctoral fellows, research visitors, and a small core of technical and support staff. Approximately 30 languages are spoken by members of the FABI Team, illustrating a remarkably multinational and multicultural group.


New Publications

Robert Mangani, Kpoti M. Gunn, Nicky Creux. (2023) Projecting the effect of climate change on planting date and cultivar choice for South African dryland maize production. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 341(15):109695. 10.1016/j.agrformet.2023.109695
Tarigan M, Wingfield MJ, Marpaung YMAN, Duran A, Pham NQ. (2023) Quambalaria eucalypti found on Eucalyptus in Indonesia. Forest Pathology :e12829. 10.1111/efp.12829 PDF
Narh Mensah DL , Wingfield BD, Coetzee MPA. (2023) A practical approach to genome assembly and annotation of Basidiomycota using the example of Armillaria. BioTechniques 10.2144/btn-2023-0023
Avontuur JR, Wilken PM, Palmer M, Coetzee MPA, Stępkowski T, Venter SN, Steenkamp ET. (2023) Complex evolutionary history of photosynthesis in Bradyrhizobium. Microbial Genomics 9(9) 10.1099/mgen.0.001105
Anneri Lötter, Tuan A Duong, Julia Candotti, Eshschar Mizrachi, Jill L Wegrzyn, Alexander A Myburg. (2023) Haplogenome assembly reveals structural variation in Eucalyptus interspecific hybrids. GigaScience 12 10.1093/gigascience/giad064