19 May 2023

A successful 34th Annual Meeting of the TPCP

The TPCP held its 34th Annual Meeting at the Future Africa conference centre, where staff, postdoctoral Fellows and students present their work to industry and government stakeholders as feedback on the work conducted in the past year.


19 May 2023

Professor André Drenth visits FABI

World renown plant pathologist, Prof. André Drenth recently visited FABI to attend various meetings and present a workshop on "how to be an effective scientist".


18 May 2023

FABI shines at the UP Autumn Graduation

A hearty congratulations to all the FABI graduates that were capped at the recent University of Pretoria Autumn Graduation ceremony!


18 May 2023

First steps to implement a National Forest Pest and Pathogen Surveillance strategy

In recent months, Sandisiwe Jali, along with a team from Cropwatch Africa, has been working tirelessly in the field, sharing knowledge and expertise on the mobile app and identifying pests and diseases.


18 May 2023

FABI launches a new partnership with Milk SA to Investigate Sporidesmin-induced liver disease in South African dairy cattle

A new partnership was recently been launched between FABI and Milk SA to investigate Sporidesmin-Induced Liver Disease (SILD) in dairy cattle in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.


15 May 2023

NOVA PhD course in Denmark

Prof. Dave Berger presented three topics for the class of 20 PhD students from Scandinavia at this year’s NOVA PhD course in Plant Pathology.


14 May 2023

Marthin Tarigan returns to Indonesia

FABI PhD candidate Marthin Tarigan returned to Indonesia after spending three months at FABI to complete the writing part of his thesis.


11 May 2023

Partner from Mytox-SOUTH visits FABI

Dr Esther de Rycke, a partner from the Mytox-SOUTH project, visited FABI as part of her trip to the University of Pretoria.


4 May 2023

Implementing an integrated National Forest Protection Strategy for South Africa

FSA has been contracted by the DFFE to implement the National Forestry Sector Research and Development Strategy and the Integrated National Forest Protection Strategy as they relate to pests and diseases threatening the forestry sector.


3 May 2023

Many roads lead to Braunschweig: A research visit to TUBS and other research institutes

Professor Bernard Slippers recently visited the Fungal Genetics lab in the Department of Genetics of the Technical University of Braunschweig.


2 May 2023

Pines for Pitch canker screening

During the past week, Prof. Mike Wingfield joined team members Dr Lieschen de Vos and MSc student Alida van Dijk to collect Pinus patula for Alida's research project.


2 May 2023

Seeding the future: An exploratory visit to KWS headquarters

Professor Bernard Slippers, Director of FABI, recently visited KWS at their headquarters in Einbeck, Germany.


28 Apr 2023

FABIans attend the Westerdijk Spring Symposium on fungal evolution

Two FABIans presented talks at the the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute's Fungal Evolution symposium in the Netherlands.


26 Apr 2023

FABI and the GRP take home the prize at the Sunflower Symposium

Dr Nicky Creux was presented the best publication award by the Oil and Protein Seeds Development Trust for her work on the New Phytologist paper.


25 Apr 2023

The 2nd Annual Research Day of the NGRP Day held in Stellenbosch

Several FABIans travelled to Stellenbosch to participate in the National Grain Research Programme's nd Annual Research Day.


24 Apr 2023

FABian presents at Genetics of Maize-Microbe Interactions seminar series

Prof. Dave Berger of the MPPI group was one of the presenters at a monthly meeting of the Genetics of Maize-Microbe Interactions (GMMI) interest group.


20 Apr 2023

FABI welcomes RGE visitors as part of joint tree health programme

Two entomologists linked to the RGE-FABI Tree Health Programme programme, visited FABI as part of the Institute's collaboration with RGE.


19 Apr 2023

Jackie Robinson Day celebrated at FABI

An enthusiastic group of FABIans gathered at the LC de Villiers sports campus on Friday 14 April to celebrate Jackie Robinson Day.


18 Apr 2023

SASSY project completes its second collection trip in the Cape Town region

A team of FABIans travelled to Cape Town for the second sample collection trip for the recently-launched South African Soil SurveY (SASSY) research project.


17 Apr 2023

CPHB welcomes 12 new students to its mentorship programme

Twelve undergraduate students will gain hands-on experience in research laboratories as mentees in the CPHB Mentorship programme for 2023.


14 Apr 2023

FABIan samples dying cypress trees in Welkom

FABI Research Fellow Dr Janneke Aylward visited Welkom to sample Italian cypress trees as part of a project to investigate the causal agents of Cypress canker in South Africa.


13 Apr 2023

NOVA PhD course kicks off with Journal Club series

The MPPI research group in FABI is participating in this year's NOVA PhD course in plant pathology.


12 Apr 2023

FABians visit Vietnam to search for a potential biocontrol agent for PSHB

Three FABI researchers visited Vietnam to collect material from trees infested by PSHB with the objective of finding, identifying, rearing and testing natural enemies.


11 Apr 2023

Sampling Seiridium canker on the UP campus

FABI researchers collected specimens from dying Cypress trees on UP's Hatfield campus as part of a new study on Seiridium spp.


10 Apr 2023

FABIans take a break to enjoy Easter tea

FABIans took a break from their busy schedules to enjoy an Easter Tea in the courtyard on 5 April.


6 Apr 2023

An opportunity to meet forest pathology colleagues in India

During the last week of March, Prof. Mike Wingfield travelled to India where he had an opportunity to visit the Forest Research Institute: Dehradun.


5 Apr 2023

FABIans present at DFFE International Day of Forests symposium

Professor Brenda Wingfield and Dr Trudy Paap presented talks at a DFFE-organised symposium celebrating the International Day of Forests.


4 Apr 2023

FABI researchers engage with Portucel Mozambique on a tree health program

Members of the TPCP recently visited Portucel Mozambique's forestry operations to assess the extent and diversity of pest and disease issues first hand.


3 Apr 2023

FABIans search for Sporothrix species associated with local mining operations

A team of FABI researchers began sampling in local mine shafts, and within the mining timber support production pipeline In an effort to discover the ecological niche of Sporothrix species


30 Mar 2023

SASSY Project kicks off in the southern Cape

The SASSY Project kicked off with the collection of soil samples from 11 nature reserves.


29 Mar 2023

Two FABIans attend an insect rearing course in Stellenbosch

FABIans Amy Collop and Elisa Pal travelled to Stellenbosch to attend an insect mass-rearing course.


28 Mar 2023

Maintaining strong relations between FABI and the Great Lakes Forestry Centre

Professor Bernard Slippers recently visited Prof. Jeremy Allison at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre (GLFC) in Canada.


24 Mar 2023

Monitoring PSHB infestations in Pecan nut orchards

Members of the MaPP visited visited various pecan orchards in the Northern Cape to monitor PSHB infestations.


22 Mar 2023

FABI co-hosts a webinar on forest invasive species in Africa

ABI, in collaboration with the Forest Invasive Species Network for Africa (FISNA), co-hosted a webinar on forest invasive species in Africa on 14 March.


16 Mar 2023

First publications celebrated at the Publication Party

FABI celebrated the first publications by members of the CPHB and TPCP at a Publication Party on 14 March.


13 Mar 2023

FABIan presents at IPPS 25th Annual Conference

Dr Trudy Paap was invited to speak on the topic of plant health in nurseries at the IPPS' 25th  Annual Conference.