9 Jul 2019

Developing collaboration with colleagues at UNESP Brazil

During a recent visit to Brazil, Prof.


4 Jul 2019

FABIans attend the science “Oscars”

A team of ten FABIans including FABI Director Prof. Bernard Slippers attended the 21st annual gala dinner and awards ceremony of the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF). The event, commonly referred to as the “Science Oscars” was held at Emperors Palace on Thursday 27 June.


3 Jul 2019

Professor Mike Wingfield interviewed by China’s biggest daily newspaper

FABI founding Director and current IUFRO President, Professor Mike Wingfield was this past week interviewed by the China People’s Daily, China’s biggest newspaper group.


2 Jul 2019

Zander Myburg wins prestigious Forest Biotechnologist of the Year Award

Professor Zander Myburg, research leader of the Forest Molecular Genetics (FMG) Research Group in FABI was awarded the prestigious Biotechnologist of the Year Award by the Institute of Forest Biosciences (IFB).


2 Jul 2019

FABI Celebrates first publications by students

FABI celebrated the first publication of a paper in an ISI-rated scientific journal by four students in the TPCP and CTHB research groups at a publication party on 27 June.


1 Jul 2019

IFSA South Africa regional meeting in George

The South African Regional Meeting (SARM) of the International Forestry Students’ Association (IFSA) was held during the week of 24 June in George, which is home to the George (Forestry) campus of Nelson Mandela University (previously Saasveld).


27 Jun 2019

Looking into the eyes of the European woodwasp, Sirex noctilio

FABI PhD candidate Quentin Guignard recently returned from a three week visit to the University of Würzburg in Germany where he received training to operate an electroretinogram (ERG).


25 Jun 2019

Monitoring plant health in botanic gardens and arboreta across South Africa

Recently, Drs Mesfin Gossa and Trudy Paap assessed plant health in eight gardens across South Africa, including Arderne Gardens, Durban Botanic Garden, Pretoria National Zoological Garden, and Harold Porter, Kirstenbosch, KwaZulu-Natal, Pretoria and Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens.


21 Jun 2019

FABIans celebrate another PhD in the bag at Chrizelle Beukes’s prestige seminar

Chrizelle Beukes successfully defended her PhD thesis on 18 June, fulfilling all the requirements for a PhD degree.


19 Jun 2019

Benedicta Swalarsk-Parry beats 40 competitors to win Inqaba Biotec’s mini pipetting contest

For her precision and dexterity, FABI PhD student Benedicta Swalarsk-Parry was crowned “Pipetting Ninja” at a mini pipetting competition hosted by Inqaba Biotec at FABI on 5 June.


19 Jun 2019

FABI Postdoc presents a seminar on the dangers of unregulated plant movement throughout history

Dr Trudy Paap’s seminar “Plants, people and places” on 10 June chronicled the movement of plants through history and warned of the dangers of unregulated importation of plant material.


18 Jun 2019

FABI ships biocontrol agent to Uganda

Thaumastocoris peregrinus, the bronze bug, is not only a pest attacking Eucalyptus in South Africa but is also a problem in several other African countries.


1 Jun 2019

Seven FABI researchers honoured at the UP 2019 Academic Achievers’ Awards ceremony

The University of Pretoria honoured its best academics on 21 May, including seven researchers from FABI.


31 May 2019

French Researchers in South Africa meet in FABI

FABI recently hosted a meeting for French researchers in South Africa.


31 May 2019

Kenyan student makes second lab training visit to FABI

A MSc student in Plant Breeding from Maseno University in Western Kenya, made his second visit to the Molecular Plant-Pathogen Interactions research group in FABI.


28 May 2019

FABI student wins best poster prize at SANSOR congress

Carol-Ann Segal won the prize for best MSc Research Poster presentation at the 30th Annual SANSOR Congress.


23 May 2019

FABI MSc graduate scoops international wood science innovation award

FABI MSc graduate, Martin Wierzbicki scooped the 2018-2019 Blue Sky Young Researchers and Innovation Award in Vancouver, Canada, on 14 May.


22 May 2019

FABI home to the Mike Wingfield Library

FABI is now home to the Mike Wingfield Library, a collection of more than 1300 books donated to the FABI Archive by Prof. Mike Wingfield.


22 May 2019

Post TPCP meetings field trip

A group of FABIans accompanied some of the overseas guests who attended the TPCP Annual Meeting, on a week long field trip.


20 May 2019

Gearing up for a pest and pathogen arms race

Tree health practitioners discuss technological advances and re-emerging threats to the world’s forests on the last day of the 30th TPCP Annual Meeting


19 May 2019

Prof. Mike Wingfield shares insights on running a successful tree health programme

At this year's Annual TPCP meetings, Prof. Mike Wingfield shared seven attributes he considered central to the success of the 30-year-old programme.


19 May 2019

The power of partnerships, basic research and new technologies highlighted at the 30th Annual Meeting of the TPCP

The Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) hosted its 30th annual meeting at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa campus on 14 May.


18 May 2019

The DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology celebrates 15 years of tree health research

The DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology (CTHB) hosted its 15th annual meeting at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa campus on 13 May.


16 May 2019

FABI at the IUFRO Shoot, Leaf And Wilt Diseases Meeting in Italy

FABI enjoyed a significant presence at the IUFRO meeting focused on shoot, leaf and wilt diseases of forest trees held from the 6th to the 10th May in Italy)


7 May 2019

PSHB survey in Northern Cape Pecan orchards

A team of four FABIans, together two staff members of the South African Pecan Producers Association (SAPPA), spent last week surveying pecan orchards in the Northern Cape for the presence of PSHB (Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer) infestations.


2 May 2019

Dr Cobus Visagie to join FABI

The University of Pretoria (UP) has appointed Dr Cobus Visagie as Associate Professor and will join FABI from June 2019. Dr Visagie currently works as senior researcher at the ARC, and hold extraordinary positions at UP and Stellenbosch University.


30 Apr 2019

FABI shines at the Autumn Graduation

Congratulations to those FABIans that were capped at the Autumn Graduation Ceremony of the University of Pretoria.


29 Apr 2019

Danielle Roodt successfully defends her PhD thesis

Danielle Roodt successfully defended her PhD entitled “The evolution of xylogenesis in the vascular plants” during her Prestige Seminar on 23 April, becoming the sixth FABIan to be awarded their PhD this year.


28 Apr 2019

Shothole Borer meetings in the Cape Peninsula

Profs Wilhelm de Beer from FABI, and Francois Roets from Stellenbosch University, participated in a number of PSHB related meetings in the Cape Peninsula during the past week.


26 Apr 2019

Congratulations to Eric Visser on successfully defending his Ph.D

Erik Visser successfully defended his Ph.D. after he presented a Prestige Seminar entitled “Transcriptomic model of resistance mechanisms in the Pinus-Fusarium circinatum interaction” on 18 April.


25 Apr 2019

FABIans attend the Black Women in Science inaugural gala dinner

FABI Ph.D. candidates Benedicta Swalarsk-Parry and Khumbuzile Bophela attended the inaugural Black Women in Science (BWIS) gala dinner on 6 April.


25 Apr 2019

The Mondi Chair in Forest Pathology: Celebration of a 25 year investment

Mondi South Africa, part of the leading international paper and pulp company began its investment in the Mondi Chair in Forest Pathology in 1994. On Monday 17 April Mondi held a celebration at their Homeleigh Guest House in Kwambonmbi to recognize the contributions of the Mondi Chair in Forest Pathology.


23 Apr 2019

Fourth FABI Ph.D. for 2019

Caryn Oates become the fourth FABIan to be awarded their Ph. Leptocybe invasa is a gall wasp that causes significant damage to Eucalyptus plantations in South Africa.  It was found that L.


18 Apr 2019

FABIans celebrate Zander Human’s prestige seminar

Zander Human successfully defended his PhD thesis after presenting his prestige seminar in the FABI auditorium on 16 April, meeting all the requirements for a doctoral degree. Protea repens grow on nutrient-poor soil in the fynbos biome, a habitat prone to fire. Zander identified not only fungal communities present in the structures but also bacterial communities.


17 Apr 2019

FABI PhD student wins prize at Joint Genome Institute User Meeting in San Francisco

FABI team members Prof. Lazarus Takawira, a PhD student under the supervisor of Dr Steven Hussey and the author of the paperback Imagine Africa, flew the FABI banner high by scooping the Best Student Poster award. Lazarus’ research made extensive use of a JGI Community DNA Synthesis Grant awarded to his supervisor, Dr Hussey, in 2016. Captions: 1. 2.


12 Apr 2019

Exciting initial results towards the management of the pine emperor moth

FABIans Dr Marc Bouwer, Luki-Marie Scheepers and Rosa Knoppersen had a short field trip to Bulwer in April to to service and remove pine emperor moth pheromone traps that were previously deployed in that area.