Recently-appointed Sappi Vice President visits FABI
FABI was honoured to host a visit by the newly-appointed Vice President: Sappi Forests, Duane Roothman on 2 December.
9 Dec 2020
8 Dec 2020
Last tree planting event for 2020
Forty FABIans from the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) and Grain Research programme (GRP) got their hands dirty replanting 200 pine and 1500 Eucalyptus seedlings into potting bags at the last tree planting event for 2020 on 27 November. This year’s tree planting also included students from the GRP who harvested maize leaves.
7 Dec 2020
Treatment trials established to fight Phytophthora die-back in Kirstenbosch gardens
South Africa’s iconic silver trees (Leucadendron argenteum) are listed as Endangered (EN) in the Red List of South African Plants.
2 Dec 2020
Almuth Hammerbacher promoted to Associate Professor
FABI congratulates Dr Almuth Hammerbacher on her well-deserved promotion to Associate Professor, effective January 2021.
1 Dec 2020
FABI PhD student presents at Entomology 2020
Ms Luki-Marie Scheepers, a PhD student in the Applied Chemical Ecology research group in FABI, presented her and her co-authors’ work on the Pine Emperor moth, Nudaurelia clarki, at the prestigious Entomological Society of America (ESA) annual meeting ‘Entomology 2020’. Annual conferences like these are usually highly anticipated collaboration and networking events and this year was no different despite it being hosted virtually. The online platform empowered a global audience, from 51 countries, to watch a total of 87 symposia divided into sections including systematics, medical science, ecosystems and physiology. The symposium content was full of variety, ranging from how bumblebees cope with self-created heat, how a fly evades your swat on a neural level and so much more. This conference illustrates the grit and innovation of researchers worldwide to continue networking, collaborating, innovating and working towards a finding answers for real-world problems despite a gripping global restriction on movement.
30 Nov 2020
Beauty in biodiversity and research excellence celebrated at 2020 year-end function
FABIans celebrated their stellar achievements in 2020 and toasted to new partnerships on 21 November at the first virtual year-end function.
27 Nov 2020
FABIans’ excellence celebrated at UP Academic Achievers Awards
Eight FABI researchers were honoured at the University of Pretoria Academic Achievers Award event on 25 November. Professors Fanus Venter and Dave Berger were both honoured with the Exceptional Academic Achievers Award.
26 Nov 2020
Researchers in the GRP lay the foundation for future research projects in Ugie, EC
Drs David Nsibo and Mahlane Godfrey Kgatle in the Grain Research Program (GRP) planted the first maize cultivar trials and configured a weather station on 19 November at Rocky Park Farm in Ugie, Eastern Cape.
24 Nov 2020
Mike Wingfield once again included on the 2020 Clarivate Web of Science Highly Cited Researchers list
FABI congratulates Prof. Mike Wingfield, Founding Director of the Institute for being included on the 2020 Clarivate Web of Science Highly Cited Researchers list - the fourth consecutive year he has achieved this status.
23 Nov 2020
Chinese Government gift to FABI
Professor Bernard Slippers, Director of FABI and Prof. Mike Wingfield recently visited the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Pretoria to receive a gift of a large number of protective face masks from the newly-appointed Minister Counselor (Science and Technology), Mr Shen Long.
23 Nov 2020
FABI celebrates the accolades of its staff and students
November has been a good month for staff and students at FABI. FABI celebrates the achievements of the following five students who received awards in various categories.
17 Nov 2020
Inspection of invasive disease and pest problems in SANBI's Cape gardens
During the week of 9 November, a FABI team including Prof. Mike Wingfield, Prof. Brenda Wingfield, Dr Trudy Paap, Dr Mesfin Gossa and Dr Hiroyuki Suzuki visited botanical gardens in the Western Cape Province.
17 Nov 2020
FABI meetings return to the auditorium
FABI’s Monday Morning Meeting returned to the auditorium on 16 November after an eight month break, using a newly-installed webcam to host a “hybrid meeting” on the usual Zoom platform.
16 Nov 2020
Sandisiwe Jali profiled in FSA newsletter
FABI field extension officer Sandisiwe Jali is profiled in an article “Role models for the future of forestry” in Forestry South Africa’s (FSA) October newsletter.
9 Nov 2020
A new biocontrol agent for the eucalypt gall wasp, Leptocybe invasa
The end of October saw the first intentional introductions of the parasitoid wasp Quadrastichus mendeli.
6 Nov 2020
FABI scientists present their research at prestigious international plant synthetic biology conference
While a pandemic has brought world travel to a near halt, the international scientific community has shown remarkable resilience in our ability to connect with one another virtually and share research updates at international conferences.
6 Nov 2020
Industry experts unpack the intricacies of maize production in South Africa at MCET lecture
FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Godfrey Kgatle chaired a national maize cultivar evaluation trial (MCET) lecture on 3 November. SANSOR and Grain SA are key players in the trials and their relationship with FABI as well as with partners in academia, government and the grain industry culminated in the launch of the Grain Research Programme in August. FABIans have, since 2019, helped to sort and pack seeds for the national maize cultivar evaluation trials.
2 Nov 2020
Arthropod genomics and their applications on plant health explored in the sixth installment of the FABI International Seminar Series
Renowned insect genomics expert Professor Robert Waterhouse presented the sixth lecture in the FABI International Seminar Series on 29 October.
28 Oct 2020
TPCP team members visit the southern Cape
When you think of the southern Cape, you think of the Tsitsikamma: long beaches and the rolling mountains that follow the N2 freeway. In addition to collecting these important logs team members, Prof.
26 Oct 2020
TPCP team members visit plantations on the KZN coast
Some of the most impressive, and in fact some of the earliest, clonal eucalypt plantations can be found on the KwaZulu-Natal Coast of South Africa.
21 Oct 2020
The Hans Merensky Chair in Avocado Research hosts its annual student presentation day
The Avocado Research Programme (ARP) in FABI hosted its annual Student Presentation Day on 15 October.
20 Oct 2020
National monitoring of Eucalyptus pests and their biological control agents
During the week of 5-9 October the members of the Tree Protection Co-operative (TPCP) in FABI conducted the first national monitoring field trip for this year. The survey of these pests, during two seasons per year, aims to evaluate parasitism levels over time, between different Eucalyptus hosts and between different Eucalyptus growing regions of South Africa. The monitoring trips will continue into December, and include Limpopo, central Mpumalanga and lowveld, southern KZN and midlands, and the Eastern Cape.
19 Oct 2020
Inspection of trees dying in the Hennops river valley
Relatively regular reports of trees dying in various parts of Gauteng have emerged during the course of the past five years. One of the areas where trees have been reported dying is in the Hennops river valley, where especially white stinkwood (Celtis africana) and karee (Searsia lancea) are most seriously affected.
15 Oct 2020
Prof. Wilhelm de Beer receives the SAIF Distinguished Forestry Award
Congratulations to Prof. Wilhelm de Beer who was awarded this year’s Distinguished Forestry Award by the Southern African Institute of Forestry (SAIF).
14 Oct 2020
Harvesting Phytophthora pathogenicity trials in the KZN midlands
During the week of 5 October and three months after these inoculations, Tanay, along with FABIans Josephine Queffelec and Matthew Jackson, harvested this trial with the assistance of Sappi's scientific and non-scientific staff members.
13 Oct 2020
NSTF video interview with Mike Wingfield
A video interview with FABI founding Director, Professor Mike Wingfield has been published online on the YouTube channel of the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF). Click here to watch the full video
8 Oct 2020
Fifth FABI International Seminar explores disease resistance against necrotrophic fungal pathogens
The fifth presentation in FABI’s popular International Seminar Series was by Prof. Katherine also spoke about the Global Burden of Crop Loss, an initiative she is participating in that is modelled after the Global Burden of Disease initiative in human health, which has transformed health policy research, over the last 25 years through better use of data. Click here to view the Global Burden of Crop Loss presentation.
5 Oct 2020
FABI celebrates the achievements of its Spring graduates
Congratulations to 20 graduates affiliated with FABI whose degrees were conferred at the University of Pretoria’s virtual Spring Graduation Ceremony on 29 September.
30 Sep 2020
National Maize Cultivar Evaluation Trials seed packing at FABI
A team of students and interns from theTPCP and CPHB in FABI, took on the mammoth task of packaging a large number maize seed cultivars.
30 Sep 2020
UP Vice-Chancellor visits York Timbers with FABI colleagues
During the week of 21 September, University of Pretoria (UP) Vice Chancellor and Principal, Prof. Tawana Kupe visited York Timbers in Sabie, accompanied by Prof. Bernard Slippers, Prof. Mike Wingfield (FABI) and Prof. Wynand Steyn (UP Department of Civil Engineering).
30 Sep 2020
FABIans’ living heritage comes to life in “Picking the Fruit of the Heritage Tree”
From the mystical to the culinary, FABIans went on a sensory trip down memory lane and around the world in celebration of their living heritage as South Africa marked National Heritage Day on 24 September.
28 Sep 2020
New publication explores genetic diversity hidden within natural populations of Eucalyptus grandis
In the study recently published in Molecular Ecology by Mostert-O’Neill et al., the population structure and patterns of genetic differentiation of E. grandis was determined in terms of neutral and adaptive genetic diversity in 596 individuals sampled from 32 provenances covering the natural species range.
23 Sep 2020
NSTF Award video interview
A film team visited FABI on 16 September to record an interview with Prof.
21 Sep 2020
FABI students and postdocs engage on lab etiquette
FABI labs are buzzing again with activity, albeit within strict schedules to manage the number of people in the building and to adhere to safety regulations during the COVID-19 lockdown.
17 Sep 2020
A different way of communicating our research
Early in 2020, Dr Andi Wilson and her PhD supervisors published a paper in the journal Fungal Genetics and Biology that detailed the knockout of a novel mating gene in Huntiella omanensis using the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system. The video represents a new way of communicating research - particularly novel techniques and protocols that are not always fully described in research papers. Excitingly, the video produced for this project is the first JoVE video to have been shot in Africa.
17 Sep 2020
FABI presents at the SAMAC Webinar
On 3 September, Dr Gerda Fourie, research leader of the Macadamia Protection Programme (MPP) and Prof. Zander Myburg, research leader of the Forest Molecular Genetics (FMG) Programme participated in a live webinar.