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.


23 Jul 2021

Celebrating Mmatshepho's PhD degree

FABI celebrated the successful completion of Mmatshepho Phasha’s PhD degree on 12 July making it an all-woman PhD record since the start of the year for the Institute.


22 Jul 2021

Congratulations to Wilma Nel on completing her PhD!

Congratulations to Wilma Nel on completing all requirements for her PhD on 13 July.


21 Jul 2021

FABI and Innovation Africa @UP expands IoT sensor network with Engineering. 4.0

FABI and Innovation Africa @UP are partnering with Engineering 4.


20 Jul 2021

Steven Hussey participates in international Hort Dialogues symposium

Dr Steven Hussey was one of three international researchers to present their work in an online symposium, “Hort Dialogues”, on 15 July.


19 Jul 2021

Construction of an artificial diet room started at the FABI Biocontrol Centre

Construction of an artificial diet room has started at the FABI Biocontrol Centre at Innovation Africa.


14 Jul 2021

FABI well represented at ESSA

From 28 June until 1 July, academic staff, postdoctoral Fellows and students from FABI attended the 22nd Biennial Entomological Society of Southern Africa (ESSA) Congress.


12 Jul 2021

Celebrating Josephine Queffelec’s Prestige Seminar

FABI celebrated the completion of Josephine Queffelec’s PhD with her Prestige Seminar “Influence of reproductive biology on the invasive dynamics of Sirex noctilio” on 30 June.


8 Jul 2021

Joint FABI-SASSB fungal evolution symposium

FABI and the Southern African Society of Systematic Biology (SASSB) jointly hosted a webinar with the theme ‘Fungal evolution’ on 1 July.


5 Jul 2021

SAIF recognizes FABI students

Two FABI PhD candidates were recognized for research excellence by the Southern African Institute of Forestry (SAIF).


1 Jul 2021

Phyloge-Know-Its take gold in the FABI Quiz Night

FABI’s popular online Quiz Night had 12 teams battling for honours once again on 25 July.


1 Jul 2021

Getting excited about fungal viruses

Professor Brenda Wingfield has created a podcast on Mycoviruses.


28 Jun 2021

Kiwi Growers visit FABI

FABI recently hosted a visit by five representatives of the South African Kiwi Growers Association.


21 Jun 2021

FABI researchers present at the NSTF Plant Health discussion forum

FABI researchers participated in the NSTF-hosted two-day Plant Health Discussion Forum webinar.


10 Jun 2021

FABI hosts the SASSB webinar series

FABI is hosting a new monthly webinar series on behalf of the SASSB to enable sharing of systematic research and to offer researchers an online space for discussion about their systematic biology research, thoughts, and questions.


9 Jun 2021

SANBI Sentinel Plant Project hosts a training workshop for DUT horticulture students

In April 2021, FABIans met with staff members of the Department of Horticulture at Durban University of Technology (DUT) to discuss possibilities for student training through the Sentinel Plant Project.


9 Jun 2021

Investigating Araucaria die-back in Stellenbosch

FABI tree health researchers were recently alerted to a concerning die-back affecting Araucaria trees in Stellenbosch.


7 Jun 2021

FABI research on tree fern death continues

Iconic tree ferns Alsophila (Cyathea) dregii have been observed dying in southern Cape forests for some years.


3 Jun 2021

FABI investigates bark beetles and their fungal associates on South African Cedar trees

During 2020, FABI initiated a research project focused on the fungi associated with bark beetles infesting, especially the Clanwilliam Cedar Widdringtonia (cedarbergensis) wallichii.


2 Jun 2021

Chemical Ecology under the spotlight at the FABI International Seminar Series

Leading chemical ecologist, Prof. Jonathan Gershenzon, of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology was the guest speaker at the May FABI International Seminar Series.


1 Jun 2021

FABI team considers research progress on Phytophthora die-back of Silver trees in Kirstenbosch

During the second week of May a group of FABI researchers joined Stellenbosch University colleagues to inspect silver tree (Leucodendron argenteum) research being conducted in Kirstenbosch.


31 May 2021

Milkwood trees dying in the Hermanus area of the Western Cape

FABI tree health researchers have recently been requested to inspect relatively large numbers of milkwood (Sideroxylon inerme) trees that have been dying in the Hermanus area of the Western Cape.


30 May 2021

FABIans present at the SASM conference

FABI was well represented at the 21st Biennial Conference of the South African Society of Microbiology (SASM) took place virtually between 4-6 May.


27 May 2021

Mycotoxins: behind the scenes

Members of the Applied Mycology research group at FABI embarked on a day trip to the Southern African Grain Laboratory (SAGL) in Pretoria on Thursday 20 May.


26 May 2021

Applied Mycology group visits Bayer Crop Science

On 6 May, members of the Applied Mycology group within the bigger Grain Research Program at FABI, visited the Bayer Crop Science experimental farm in Petit, Gauteng.


24 May 2021

Pictures speak 1000 words about plant health

To celebrate the International Year of Plant Health 2020 and the role plants play in our lives, the South African National Seed Organization (SANSOR) organised a photo competition for professionals and amateurs alike.


11 May 2021

Three Mad-Macs in KZN

The Macadamia Protection Programme’s (MPP) ‘Mad-Macs’ team went on another field trip, this time to the KwaZulu-Natal south coast!


10 May 2021

32nd Annual Symposium of the TPCP and CPHB

The 32nd Annual Symposium of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) and DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Plant Health Biotechnology (CPHB) in FABI was hosted as a six-hour long hybrid meeting on 4 May.


9 May 2021

Student training through the SANBI-funded Sentinel Plant Project in South African botanical gardens

Drs. Mesfin Gossa and Trudy Paap initiated a link with the Department of Horticulture at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) to discuss possibilities of student training via the Sentinel Plant Project.


6 May 2021

The PSHB takes FABI researchers to Somerset West

FABI Field extension officer Shawn Fell, joined by PhD candidate Josephine Queffelec and field extension intern Jabulile Mahlangu travelled to Somerset West during the week of 26 April.


5 May 2021

Farewell to Darryl Herron

On Thursday 29 April, a small group of FABIans gathered to say an emotional farewell FABI stalwart and PhD candidate Darryl Herron who leaves the Institute after 14 years to take up a research position at Scion in New Zealand.


3 May 2021

Record turnout for FABI’s International Seminar Series

FABI was proud to host it’s monthly International Seminar on 29 April with more than 200 participants from across the globe, all keen to hear US Forest Services’ Dr Andrew “Sandy” Liebhold speak on the “Macroecology of insect invasions”.


23 Apr 2021

FABI's Internship Programme is growing

Two more candidates joined the FABI Internship programme on 1 April.


22 Apr 2021

Contributing to the USDA Beech Leaf Disease Workshop

Dr. Katrin Fitza and other international speakers from were given the opportunity to present on their work on an online workshop hosted by the USDA.


21 Apr 2021

Tree planting day for the Mad Macs team

On Tuesday 20 April, members of the Macadamia Protection Programme (MPP) in FABI planted approximatively 300 macadamia trees from various different cultivars that are grown commercially by the industry.


13 Apr 2021

Brett Hurley appointed as ICFR Research Associate

Professor Brett Hurley has been appointed as a Research Associate of the Institute for Commercial Forestry Research (ICFR) strengthening the long and close association between the Institute, especially with the ICFR’s Dr Ilaria Germishuizen, and the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme in FABI.