Prof. Sanushka Naidoo was honored to participate as a plenary speaker at the International Christmas Tree Research and Extension Conference held in the town Blowing Rock, North Carolina from 7-12 June, 2026. She presented research being conducted in the Forest Molecular Genetics – Eucalyptus and Pine Pathogen Interactions Programme, highlighting the adoption of new technologies to address yield protection. Prof. Naidoo had fruitful discussions with collaborators Prof. Jill Wegrzyn (University of Connecticut), Prof. Steven Strauss (Oregon State University), Dr Jack Wang (NCSU) and Dr Justin Whitehill (NCSU). During her time in North Carolina, she met with Prof. Fikret Isik at NCSU. Prof. Isik is a leading expert on Quantitative genetics and breeding in forestry and is an Extraordinary Professor with the University of Pretoria. Prof. Naidoo also took the time to visit Dr Justin Whitehill and Dr Jack Wang’s laboratories at NCSU and identified key areas of collaboration in Forest Biotechnology, important for FABI and the FMG-EPPI programme.