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.
FABI hosted a simulation modelling workshop led by two leaders in the field, Dr Serge Savary and Dr Laetitia Willocquet; both senior scientists at the AGIR Research unit of INRA’s Research Centre of Toulouse in France.
Disney’s Magic Kingdom welcomed FABIans for this year’s annual meeting of the Society for the Presentation of Outrageous Findings (SPOOF). The FABI Social Club worked tirelessly to transform Tuks Monate into a magical wonderland filled with fantastically dressed inhabitants.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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).
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).
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.
Chrizelle Beukes successfully defended her PhD thesis on 18 June, fulfilling all the requirements for a PhD degree.
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.
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.
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.
The University of Pretoria honoured its best academics on 21 May, including seven researchers from FABI.
FABI recently hosted a meeting for French researchers in South Africa.
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.
Carol-Ann Segal won the prize for best MSc Research Poster presentation at the 30th Annual SANSOR Congress.
FABI MSc graduate, Martin Wierzbicki scooped the 2018-2019 Blue Sky Young Researchers and Innovation Award in Vancouver, Canada, on 14 May.
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.
A group of FABIans accompanied some of the overseas guests who attended the TPCP Annual Meeting, on a week long field trip.
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
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.
The Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) hosted its 30th annual meeting at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa campus on 14 May.
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.
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)
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.
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.
Congratulations to those FABIans that were capped at the Autumn Graduation Ceremony of the University of Pretoria.
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.
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.