8 Oct 2021

FABI participates in the third seed packing project for the National Maize Cultivar Evaluation Trials

A team of 36 FABI TPCP/CPHB students and interns took to task packing a large number of maize seed cultivars from the 20-22 September 2021.


8 Oct 2021

Discover FABI’s art collection

FABIans and visitors to the Institute now have the biographical information about the artists whose artwork adorns the walls in FABI available at their fingertips.


7 Oct 2021

Translating plant health information into South African languages

On 5 October, FABIans lent their voices to be heard towards the accomplishment of a mission to talk to smallholder grain farmers in South Africa in their own languages


7 Oct 2021

More than 500 Eucalyptus trees harvested for future studies in FABI

From 13-15 September, a group of FABIans visited SAPPI plantations in the Richards Bay area to collect leaf material from more than 500 Eucalyptus grandis trees.


6 Oct 2021

FABI celebrates World Fungi Day

On Saturday 2 October a group of FABIans joined Prof. Mike Wingfield in celebrating World Fungi Day.


5 Oct 2021

Sclerotinia stem rot of soybean research featured in the FABI International Seminar Series

Dr Damon L. Smith of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) was the guest presenter at the September FABI International Seminar Series on 30 September.


5 Oct 2021

FABI and SAPPI partner for Phytophthora trials

A group of TPCP researchers inoculated 19 families of Eucalyptus benthamii with Phytophthora alticola as part of an infection trial in partnership with Sappi.


4 Oct 2021

FABI shines at the Spring graduation

The University of Pretoria conferred 20 postgraduate degrees – 13 PhD degrees and seven MSc degrees – to FABIans during the Spring graduation ceremony.


4 Oct 2021

Zander Myburg and co-workers awarded US-DOE grant to decipher woody biomass production and environmental interactions of eucalypt trees

Professor Zander Myburg, Director of the FMG Programme in FABI will lead an international team of researchers in a US-DOE funded project for large-scale genome sequencing to decipher woody biomass production and environmental interactions of eucalypt trees.


4 Oct 2021

Remembering Neville Denison (1936-2021)

Reflections of Prof. Mike Wingfield, Founding Director of the TPCP and FABI on the passing of Neville Denison.


30 Sep 2021

Twelfth Online meeting of the bark beetle mycobiome International Research Coordination Network

On Wednesday 29 September, the Bark Beetle Mycobiome International Research Coordination Network held their 12th online meeting.


28 Sep 2021

Diversifying the biological control of Gonipterus sp. 2 in South Africa

Recent surveys have revealed several species of egg and larval parasitoids to occur in the native range of the Gonipterus scutellatus species complex.


20 Sep 2021

Cobus Visage a winner in the Zeiss Microscopy Image Contest 2021

Congratulations to Prof. The winning entries can be viewed here.


17 Sep 2021

FABI has its first drone pilots

ITwo FABIans have recently completed a Remote Piloted Aircraft pilot course and license accredited by the South African Civil Aviation Authority.


16 Sep 2021

FABI well represented at the ISCE conference 2021

From 5-10 September, academic staff, postdoctoral fellows, and students from FABI attended the 36th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Chemical Ecology (ISCE).


14 Sep 2021

GRP Disease Diagnostic and Extension service ready for new season after their visit to Cropwatch

During the week of 6-8 September, members of the Grain Research programme (GRP) travelled to Komatipoort to visit research partners, Cropwatch Africa.


13 Sep 2021

FABI team returns to the Cederberg for sampling

Members of the FABI met up with colleagues from Stellenbosch University to sample declining trees in the Cederberg mountains.


9 Sep 2021

SASSB webinar explores a continental floristic riddle

The September webinar of the Southern African Society for Systematic Biology on 2 September had as guest speaker Dr Isabel Sanmartin, a senior scientist at the Royal Botanical Garden, CSIC in Madrid, Spain.


3 Sep 2021

FABIan sets sail for science

A PhD candidate in FABI, Francinah Rankoma is one of four students from the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Pretoria to be selected to embark on a 36 day voyage onboard the research vessel SA Agulhas to collect samples and conduct experiments in the south Atlantic ocean.


2 Sep 2021

The problem of CAM in India highlighted at the August FABI International Seminar

This month’s FABI International Seminar on 26 August moved into the medical mycology sphere casting the spotlight on the devastating impact that COVID-19 associated mucormycosis (CAM) is having on the Indian population.


1 Sep 2021

FABI PostDoc Student wins Inqaba's ‘Africa Genome Challenge 2021’ Award

Dr Neriman Yilmaz was a category winner in Inqaba Biotec's ‘Africa Genome Challenge 2021’ competition to promote a new sequencing platform available to their clients.


31 Aug 2021

SANBI’s Sentinel Plant Project renders training support for horticulture students at DUT

Recently, FABI had established a collaboration partnership with the Department of Horticulture at Durban University of Technology (DUT) to train students through the SANBI Sentinel Plant Project.


26 Aug 2021

Bagworms from wattle and pine emperor larvae from… Eucalyptus!

Three FABIans set out to collect pupae of the wattle bagworm (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) and larvae of the pine emperor moth (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) near Greytown.


25 Aug 2021

Scouting for native natural enemies of PSHB

A team from FABI visited various sites in the greater Durban area to scout for native natural enemies of the PSHB that can be used in a biological control programme


25 Aug 2021

FABI says farewell to Arista

n Friday 13 August, members of the Macadamia Protection Programme along with other FABIans gathered to say farewell to Dr Arista Fourie.


23 Aug 2021

The Solanaceae family unpacked at the August SASSB webinar

‘Solanaceae - more than potatoes and tomatoes!’ was the topic of the plenary speaker Dr Sandra Knapp of the Natural History Museum in London at the August Southern African Society for Systematic Biology (SASSB) webinar.


20 Aug 2021

Almuth’s publication hat-trick

Congratulations to Professor Almuth Hammerbacher who has scored a hat-trick with a third publication in a journal with an Impact Factor of higher than 10 in consecutive years.


19 Aug 2021

FABI researcher presents at the international APS conference

Myriam Solís, a PhD candidate in the Eucalyptus and Pine Pathogens Interactions (EPPI) research group in FABI, participated in the conference of the American Phytopathological Society (APS).


18 Aug 2021

IFSA Forestry Career in Africa book launched

The International Forestry Students' Association (IFSA) and the joint IUFRO-IFSA Task Force on Forestry Education launched their book “Building a successful forestry career in Africa: Inspirational stories and opportunities” during an online event.


12 Aug 2021

Yosef Hamba Tola completes the first FABI-ICIPE joint PhD

A hearty congratulations to Yosef Hamba Tola on successfully completing all requirements for his PhD degree.


10 Aug 2021

The FABIlous FABwarts School of Sci-craft and Wizardry

The meeting of the Epsilon Chapter of the Society for the Presentation of Outrageous Findings (SPOOF) hosted by FABI saw witches, wizards, elves, pixies, muggles, mudbloods and all other manner of magical folk and creatures join in the evening’s fun at the FABwarts School of Sci-craft and Wizardry.


6 Aug 2021

The problem of invasive mycorrhizal fungi discussed in the July FABI International Seminar

Dr Anne Pringle discussed the “Problem of invasive mycorrhizal fungi” as our guest speaker for the month of July FABI International Seminar Series on 29 July.


4 Aug 2021

FMG shines at the ASPB Plant Biology Worldwide Summit

More than 20 members of the Forest Molecular Genetics (FMG) programme in FABI had a front-row seat to the latest research and technological advances across a variety of plant biology disciplines attending this year’s ASPB Plant Biology Worldwide Summit 2021.


3 Aug 2021

In Memoriam: Valentina Nkosi

FABI was shocked and deeply saddened at the passing of Valentina Nkosi on 23 July.


2 Aug 2021

Radio interviews as part of International Year of Plant Health

As part of the public outreach for the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH 2020), Prof. Plant health Your browser does not support the audio element. Crop nutrition Your browser does not support the audio element.


28 Jul 2021

An inoculation “party” in FABI

On Thursday 22 July Prof. Mike Wingfield, founding Director of FABI was joined by colleagues to undertake a suite of inoculations aimed at understanding the role of a number of tree pathogens of importance to various FABI projects.