25 Jan 2017

The 28th Annual TPCP Symposium draws near!! Save the dates (15-17 May 2017)

The annual meeting of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) and DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology (CTHB) is rapidly drawing closer. As has been the case in the past, the 28th annual meeting of the TPCP will focus on key issues relating to forest tree health in South Africa. We look forward to welcoming you in Pretoria and once again to use this opportunity to exchange ideas and to further the important goal of “KEEPING TREES HEALTHY”.

24 Jan 2017

Fabian receives Mathre Education Endowment Award from the American Phytopathological Society

FABI PhD candidate Joey Hulbert has been awarded the Mathre Education Endowment for 2017 to help cover costs of public engagement in Cape Citizen Science. More information about the award can be found here.

23 Jan 2017

New FABI paper in PNAS sets the publication bar high for 2017

One of the first FABI papers for 2017 was published online on January 17th in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) with an Impact Factor of 9.423. Three members of the Forest Molecular Genetics (FMG) Programme in FABI was involved in the work: Dr Eshchar Mizrachi was first author, with Prof. Zander Myburg the senior author, and Dr Nanette Christie a co-author together with a team of collaborators from Belgi

20 Jan 2017

Renovated Tooke memorial unveiled

An unusual but important granite monument has stood steadfastly under a grove of magnificent plane trees near the entrance to Cedara Agricultural College for almost 20 years. The renovated Tooke monument was unveiled at a small ceremony attended by three generations of the Tooke family, FABI researchers and guests from Government, the South African forestry industry and associations. Addressing the guests, Dr. In his speech, FABI Director, Prof. Prof. Dr Brett Hurley, a forest entomologist that leads the forest insect biological control programme at FABI shared stories taken from the doctoral thesis of Dr.

18 Jan 2017

Two FABIans win major awards at SASPP

On the last day of the SASPP a keynote lecture was presented by Prof. Dawn Arnold of the Sciences University of the West of England on "A persistent reservoir of a genomic island in Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola." Six talks were presented by FABIans, including Prof. Dave Berger, Dr Irene Barnes, Dr Almuth Hammerbacher, Dr Markus Wilken and students Rachel Mkandawire and Wilma Nel.

17 Jan 2017

FABI at the SASPP: Day 2

The second day of the 2017 congress of the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology (SASPP) kicked off with the Ethyl M. Doidge Memorial Address delivered by Prof. Carolee Bull of Pennsylvania State University.

17 Jan 2017

21 FABI students and postdocs take part in speed poster presentations at SASPP congress

The organizers of the 2017 congress of the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology (SASPP) introduced a new way in which students can present their posters. As is typical for congresses, posters were displayed in a hall separate from the auditorium where oral presentations took place. However, this year the authors of posters were provided two sessions in the main hall where they were each given 2 minutes to introduce their poster without the assistance of powerpoint slides.

16 Jan 2017

Strong FABI delegation attends Southern African Society of Plant Pathology (SASPP) Congress

The 2017 congress of the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology (SASPP) took place last week at Champagne Sports Resort in the Drakensberg. This year the meeting commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Society, and this was celebrated by five past presidents of the Society popping champagne on the first evening. Forty six FABIans, including 36 students, attended the congress.

16 Jan 2017

FABI scientists crowd funding to engage youth in their research

On Monday, 16 January, three FABI researchers, Prof. The title of the campaign is ‘Engage Kayamandi Youth in Cape Citizen Science with Vision Afrika’ and can be viewed here. Cape Citizen Science is an initiative to involve the public in research about the diversity and distribution of Phytophthora in the Cape floristic region. The researchers launched the crowd funding campaign to raise support for a partnership between FABI and Vision Afrika, a non-profit afterschool education program in Kayamandi.

12 Jan 2017

Skills development for FABIans attending the Arthropod Bio-Curation Course

Dr Robert Waterhouse from the University of Geneva presented a training course in arthropod genomics at Vodaworld in Midrand between 28 November and 1 December.

12 Jan 2017

FABIans shine at the Genomics Research Institute Symposium

FABI was well represented at the annual symposium of the Genomics Research Institute (GRI) held at the University of Pretoria on 18 November.

2 Dec 2016

Exploring fungal biodiversity in eastern Australia

The Director of FABI, Prof. Mike Wingfield, has spent the last week of November pursuing a long-term project to identify and compare pathogens of Myrtaceae and Proteaceae in Australia and South Africa.

2 Dec 2016

Mycological musing at the Melbourne Botanical Garden

On Friday 2nd December, Prof. Mike Wingfield (Director of FABI) and Prof. Pedro Crous (Director of the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures and adjunct Professor at the University of Pretoria) visited Dr. Tom May, mycologist at the Melbourne Botanical Garden.

25 Nov 2016

Students in the CTHB take part in the annual CTHB Roadshow

Students at Rhodes University (RU) and the University of Venda (UV) with projects funded by the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology (CTHB) presented progress on their research projects on 23 November at FABI. Deputy Director in the CTHB Prof Emma Steenkamp, Prof Nigel Barker of the School of Plant and Crop Sciences at the University of Pretoria, Dr Martin Coetzee of the Department of Genetics at UP as well as Prof Eastonce Gwata and Prof Ednah Kunjeku from the Department of Plant Production at UV, led the process. The presenters and their presentation titles are listed below: Prof Barker presented on behalf of PhD student at RU, Sivu Situngu, who could not attend: “Ecological associations between leaf domatia and mites”. MSc student at the School of Plant and Crop Sciences at UP, Conny Mothwa presented “A comparative phylogeography of selected native forest species” focusing on three indigenous tree species that grow in different regions in South Africa. PhD student at the UV Lovejoy Tembo discussed the different roles that factors as temperature and rainfall have on the prevalence of a smut disease in: “Incidence and severity of smut pathogen Coniodictyum chevalieri on Ziziphus mucronata species”. Elelwani Ramabulana of UV presented a PhD proposal titled: “Diversity of Botryosphaeriaceae on the Anarcadiaceae in Limpopo Province”. Dakalo Nemamilwe, MSc student at UV: “Preliminary characterisation of Rhizobial strains associated with indigenous wild legumes”.

23 Nov 2016

FABIans celebrate excellence at 2016 year-end function

FABIans looked back on the challenges they faced in 2016 and celebrated their achievements at the annual year-end function and awards ceremony on 19 November. Chairman of the board of the Hans Merensky Foundation and Chancellor of the University of the Free State, Prof. Congratulations to the following people on their awards from Prof Jolanda Roux in recognition of their contributions to FABI: FABIan of the Year: Arista Fourie Best FABI Student Publication: Angelica Marsberg-de Villiers Best FABI Post-Doc Publication: Dr Alistair McTaggart Best MSc: Andi Wilson FABI Award for Mentorship: James Mehl, Katrin Fitza, Esna du Plessis, Tanay Bose, Arista Fourie, Andi Wilson and FeiFei Liu Best FABI Student Personal Website: Joey Hulbert, Darryl Herron and Tanay Bose FABI Award “Getting the Message to the Public”: Darryl Herron, Joey Hulbert and Benedicta Swalarsk-Parry FABI Award Recognising Contributions by a Person External to the Institute: Dr Charlie Clark FABI Award Recognising Contributions by a Member of Staff of the University of Pretoria: Leanne van Zyl FABI Photographic Awards – FABIans at Work: Prof. FABI Photographic Awards – FABI Research: Ginna Granados BSc Honours students with projects linked to FABI and undergraduate students that participate in the FABI Mentorship programme also received certificates of appreciation. The Photo Gallery can be viewed by clicking here.

18 Nov 2016

Eston Mutitu presents his PhD prestige seminar

FABIans celebrated the milestone of Eston Mutitu completing his PhD degree with a prestige seminar on 18 November.

18 Nov 2016

FABI presents Advanced Phylogenetics Workshop

The 24th Advanced Phylogenetics Workshop took place at FABI from 7 - 11 November 2016. The workshop provided attendees with hands-on experience in the different software that is currently used to infer phylogenies.

18 Nov 2016

Sirex research in South Africa and Japan in the spotlight at a FABI mini-symposium

A mini-symposium on 15 November showcased the diversity of research on the woodwasp  Sirex noctilio conducted at FABI by postgraduate students and staff, as well as collaborators from Japan. Professor Bernard Slippers opened the meeting by giving an overview on the introduction of the Sirex woodwasp in South Africa and the research that emanated from it. Alisa Postma: Amylostereum-Deladenus-Sirex genomics: Opportunities arising from the genomes of a tripartite symbiotic system MSc student Bianca Jardim: Characterising sex determination genes of Sirex noctilio (Hymenoptera: Siridicae) PhD student Josephine Queffelec: Sirex noctilio: Influence of reproductive biology on invasive species PhD student Katrin Fitza: The diversity and specificity in the Deladenus-Sirex-Amylostereum complex PhD student Osmond Mlonyeni: Genotypic and phenotypic diversity in non-native populations of Sirex-Amylostereum-Deladenus Dr Marc Bouwer: Potential semiochemicals for Sirex noctilio and Ibalia leucospoides PhD student Quentin Guignard: Chemical and visual influences on insect behaviour: Opportunities to study applied biology of Sirex noctilio Dr Brett Hurley: Sirex-Deladenus-Environment interactions: Lessons from tens of thousands of dissection Prof. Prof.

17 Nov 2016

FABI researcher participates in National Geographic-Wild bird Trust project in Angola

Prof. Jolanda Roux of the TPCP and CTHB research groups in FABI recently participated in a week long biodiversity study in Angola.

11 Nov 2016

UK Forest Pathologists attend FABI Workshop

Dr. Sandra Denham, a senior research scientist and project leader from the United Kingdom’s Forest Research, visited FABI in November while attending the Institute’s Advanced Phylogenetics Workshop.

10 Nov 2016

Curator of New York Botanical Garden visits FABI

Prof. Roy Halling, curator of Mycology at the Institute of Systematic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden, presented a special seminar at FABI on 7 November.

3 Nov 2016

FABIans celebrate PhD degree with Mesfin Gossa and his family

FABI congratulates Mesfin Gossa on successfully defending his PhD thesis at his oral exam following his prestige seminar on 1 November.

2 Nov 2016

Pretoria_UP synthetic biology team wins silver medal at prestigious international competition

What do seven biologists, three engineers and a multimedia student all have in common? A passion for transdisciplinary research and excellence in scientific innovation.

1 Nov 2016

Fabians participate in the 2016 DuPont Plant Sciences Symposium

The annual DuPont Plant Sciences Symposium was held at the North West University in Potchefstroom on the 18th of October. The theme of the symposium was “Grain production under stress conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

28 Oct 2016

Stanford Kwenda completes his PhD degree

FABI congratulates Stanford Kwenda on completing his PhD degree. Last week Stanford successfully his PhD thesis.

27 Oct 2016

Major FABI presence at IUFRO Regional Congress for Asia and Oceania 2016

Six FABI researchers, students and collaborators attended the IUFRO Regional Congress for Asia and Oceania 2016 held in Beijing from 24-27 October. Prof. Prof. Posters Dittrich-Schroder, G. Fitza, K. GuiQing, L. JieQiong, L. Li J. Pavlic-Zuanc, D. QianLi, l. Oral Presentations: Chen, S. Liu, F. Pavlic-Zupanc, D. Roux, J. Wingfield, M.

26 Oct 2016

FABI Director opens IUFRO Director’s Forum

The Director’s Forum is one of the special projects and programmes of IUFRO. In this regard it shares the level of importance as the special programme for developing capacities.

26 Oct 2016

Welcome to the IUFRO Regional Congress for Asia and Oceania 2016

The first day of the inaugural IUFRO Regional Congress for Asia and Oceania 2016 in Beijing was brought to a close by a welcome cocktail reception for delegates.

24 Oct 2016

IUFRO President opens Forest Science Forum

On the afternoon of Monday 24th October, the Chinese Society of Forestry (CSF) began its 4th Forest Science Forum.

24 Oct 2016

Mike Wingfield presides over signing of IUFRO MoU in Beijing

Professor Mike Wingfield, President of IUFRO and Director of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) had the pleasure of presiding over the signing of an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between IUFRO and AFPNet. Mike, in his vote of thanks, said Ï looked forward to connecting the strengths of IUFRO and AFPNet – particularly in research and “the empowerment of young forest researchers.

21 Oct 2016

IUFRO Board Meeting in Beijing

FABI Director, Prof. Mike Wingfield, in his capacity as IUFRO President, welcomed delegates to the 55th IUFRO Board Meeting held in Beijing on 21-22 October.

17 Oct 2016

Attending an international congress: perspectives from a FABI postdoc

A postodoctoral fellow in FABI, Dr Gudrun Dittrich-Schröder, shares her experience of attending a major international congress with us.

14 Oct 2016

Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology visits FABI

On Friday 14 October FABI was honoured by a brief visit of Prof. Jianguo Hou, Vice Minister of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China.

14 Oct 2016

FABIans visit the Great Lakes Forestry Centre

Two FABIans, Dr Brett Hurley and Ms. The main purpose of the trip was to visit the insect rearing and quarantine facilities and to learn from the processes and quality control systems used.

12 Oct 2016

FABIan engages communities at two fynbos festivals in the Western Cape

FABI PhD student Joey Hulbert extended his Cape Citizen Science project to two popular tourist towns in the Western Cape over a weekend in September to raise awareness about the threat of pathogens to the fynbos biome.

7 Oct 2016

FABIans attend International Entomological Congress (ICE) in Orlando, USA

During the week of 25-30 September, eight FABIans participated in the largest ever gathering of entomologists, the 2016 International Congress of Entomology.