FABI would like to congratulate the 25 FABIans that graduated at the University of Pretoria’s Autumn Graduation ceremony on 2 May. FABI was especially proud to have seven of the nine PhD graduates from this institute. Two MSc students were capped along with 16 postgraduate students associated with FABI who were conferred their Honours degrees. 5 Listed below are the PhD graduates and the titles of their dissertations as well as the Honours students with projects in FABI over the past year. (* degrees awarded with distinction). PhD's Dr Birhan Abate Molecular characterization and evaluation of entomopathogenic nematodes in South African forestry plantations. Supervisor: Dr BP Hurley Co-supervisors: Prof. B Slippers , Prof. MJ Wingfield Dr Mesfin Gossa Ecology and diversity of introduced Pissodes (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in South Africa. Supervisor: Dr BP Hurley Co-supervisors: Dr JR Garnas, Prof. B Slippers Dr Stanford Kwenda Transcriptome profiling of potato plant stems challenged with Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. brasiliense and elucidation of the role of small RNAs in Pectobacterium survival mechanisms. Supervisor: Prof. LN Moleleki Co-supervisors: Prof. PRJ Birch , Dr Jacqueline Meyer RNA sequencing of maize reveals metabolic processes, candidate defence genes and SNP markers associated with grey leaf spot disease resistance. Supervisor: Prof. DK Berger Co-supervisors: Dr SL Murray (University of Cape Town) Dr Eston Mutito Invasion history of Thaumastocoris peregrinus and development of a biological control agent. Supervisor: Prof. B Slippers Co-supervisors: Dr JR Garnas, Prof. MJ Wingfield, Dr BP Hurley Dr Alex Osorio Diseases of mangrove trees in South Africa. Supervisor: Prof. J Roux Co-supervisors: Prof. MJ Wingfield, Prof. ZW de Beer Dr Priyen Pillay Characterisation of VP1 protein sensitivity against proteases and identification of agroinfiltration-induced proteases in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. Supervisor: Prof. KJ Kunert Co-supervisors: Dr BJ Vorster MSc's Gustav Pretorius Towards an understanding of quorum sensing in Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. brasiliense . Supervisor: Prof. LN Moleleki Co-supervisors: Prof. J. Theron Ncobile Kunene Mating-type gene analysis of Cercospora zeina in commercial and small-holder maize farms in South Africa. Supervisor: Prof. DK Berger Co-supervisors: Dr SM Phillips BSc Honours students affiliated with FABI Nadine Botha Claudio de Nuzzo Herman Els Shannon Flemington * Alessandro Gricia Melissa Joubert * Dineo Mailula Sophie Makua Puseletso Manyaka Nikki Miguel* Seamus Morgan Debra Phaswana Talia Pillay* Julanie Stapelberg Salome van Hoepen Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;} Bradley Vincent