On Tuesday, September 17, the African Centre for Gene Technologies (ACGT), Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) and Future Africa co-hosted a Plant Phenotyping and Precision Agriculture workshop at Future Africa on the University of Pretoria's Hillcrest Campus.
Work at FABI in the area of applied chemical ecology for insect pest management and monitoring continues to grow.
The XXV IUFRO 2019 World Congress was officially closed on 5 October with a new President at the helm to lead the organisation through the next five years.
FABI had a significant and visible presence at the recently concluded XXV IUFRO World Congress 2019 held in the Brazilian city of Curitiba from 29 September to 5 October.
The Burundian forestry activist Leonidas Nzigiyimpa was announced as the winner of the 2019 Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award at a ceremony on the sidelines of the XXV IUFRO 2019 World Congress being held in the Brazilian city of Curitiba.
The XXV IUFRO World Congress 2019 opened in the Brazilian city of Curitiba on Monday 30 September. FABI was well represented at the congress with its Director Prof.
The XXV IUFRO 2019 World Congress official opening was preceded with a tree planting ceremony at the Curitiba Botanical Gardens on 29 September. It is fitting that the iconic Araucaria trees were planted as the city’s name is derived from the native Tupi language words kurí tyba meaning “many pine seeds” due to the large number of pinecones of the Paraná pines (Araucaria angustafolia) in the region.
FABI was honoured to host a visit by Prof. Professor Taylor was part of the team who pioneered the use of PCR for fungal phylogenetics and ecology.
FABI researchers featured very prominently at the annual awards ceremony of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa held at the Lord Charles Hotel (Somerset West) on Thursday 12 September.
On 28 August, the CERC-FABI Tree Protection Programme members (CFTPP) team, visited the Chinese Embassy in Pretoria.
FABI Founder Director Prof. Mike Wingfield and Prof. Pedro Crous, Director of the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute (WFBI, Netherlands) and also holding a Professorship in FABI at the University of Pretoria spent four days examining diseases of plants in Namaqualand in the Northern Cape Province.
The University of Pretoria conferred 14 postgraduate degrees – eight PhD degrees and six MSc degrees – to FABIans during the Spring Graduation Ceremony on 5 September. Congratulations to these FABIans on their remarkable achievements!
Professor Martin Coetzee attended the 87th meeting of the Mycological Society of America (MSA) from 10-14 August in Minneapolis, USA.
FABI was prominent at AgriCAREERSConnect, an interactive careers fair at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa Campus on 5 September.
FABIans celebrated a colourful yet pensive Spring Day Tea in the FABI Courtyard on 4 September. The FABI Social Club hosts this colourful spectacle every year in celebration of renewal that comes with the end of winter.
Professor Brenda Wingfield had the privilege of attending the MPI Fungal Symposium in Plön, Germany from 2-4 September.
James Michel Tchotet Tchoumi has become the latest FABIan to pass his PhD, fulfilling all the requirements for completing his degree. Michel’s study aimed to establish the identity and host range of Basidiomycetous wood-rot fungi associated with wood rot systems in the GRNP and lay a foundation on which to continue studies to determine the impact of selective harvesting and other anthropogenic impacts on these forests. The specific objectives of his study included assessing the diversity and host affinities of wood-rotting Basidiomycetes associated with declining native trees in timber-harvesting compartments in the GRNP.
The DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology (CTHB) at the University of Pretoria hosted 28 undergraduate students and staff from the University of Venda (UniVen) on 22 August.
Professor Mike Wingfield, Founder Director of FABI recently visited Sabah in Malaysia to continue work on tree diseases, especially the devastation that Ceratocytis manginecans has caused to Acacia mangium plantations in the area.
Long-time FABI-collaborator Prof. Lori Eckhardt visited the Institute during August as part of the ongoing research collaboration between FABI and Auburn University.
The 16 August edition of The Nation, a popular daily newspaper in Malawi, includes an opinion piece written by Rachel Mkandawire, a PhD candidate at FABI.
FABIans gathered to say farewell to Dr RunLei Chang who is returning to China to take up a teaching post at the Shandong Normal University, JiNan City in the ShanDong Province.
FABI and Founding-Future Africa Director Prof. Bernard Slippers attended the inaugural West Africa Science Leadership Programme (W-ASLP) leadership training workshop held in Accra, Ghana from 21-23 July.
FABI PhD candidate Mandy Messal was invited by SCION researchers Mr Andrew Pugh and (former FABIan) Dr Stuart Fraser to write a news article for the monthly SCION Forest Health Newsletter (SCION, New Zealand).
Professor Robin Crewe, a world-renowned expert on bees, presented a special seminar on the behaviour of individual members of a bee colony at FABI on 7 August.
The DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology (CTHB) Outreach Team in FABI geared up once again to participate in the 2019 National Science Week (NSW) which took place from 29 July to 2 August.
During his recent visit to Europe, Prof Mike Wingfield had the opportunity to meet with colleague Prof. Libor Jankowsky, Dean of Forestry at Mendel University in the Czech Republic.
As part of his participation in the 2019 International Forestry Students’ Symposium (IFSS), Prof. Mike Wingfield had the opportunity to visit forest pathology colleagues linked to the Estonian University of Life Sciences in Tartu.
FABI Professor and IUFRO President Mike Wingfield participated in the first day of the two-week long International Forestry Student’s Symposium (IFSS) organised annually by the International Forestry Students’ Association (IFSA).
PhD candidate Quentin Guignard presented a special seminar on the visual system of the European woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, at FABI on 29 July.
The biennial Congress on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (MPMI), hosted by the International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions took place from 14-18 July in Glasgow, Scotland.
FABIans celebrated two prestige seminars on 24 July. Both presentations cast the spotlight on challenges facing cassava-growing countries in Africa.
The 21st Congress of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa (ESSA) with the theme “Innovative Entomology” was held in Umhlanga in the KwaZulu-Natal Province from 8-11 July.
FABI congratulates Arista Fourie who fulfilled all the requirements for a PhD degree, the eighth FABIan to reach this milestone in 2019.
The Entomology Journal Club (EJC) in FABI is going strong with 25 enthusiastic members and record-breaking attendance at every meeting. This group of enthusiastic researchers meets once every two weeks and is always happy to welcome new members to discuss groundbreaking entomological research.