More than 30 postgraduate students affiliated with FABI were awarded their degrees at the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences’ Autumn Graduation ceremonies in April. Six FABIans were awarded their doctoral degrees, while 12 received their MSc degrees. Eighteen BSc Hons graduates who completed their research projects at FABI the previous year were also capped. FABI congratulates all the graduates on their remarkable achievements! Listed below are the graduates with their thesis and dissertation titles: PhD's Dr Tanay Bose Phytophthora species diversity associated with native and non-native forests in South Africa. Supervisor: Prof MJ Wingfield Co-supervisors: Prof J Roux , Prof TI Burgess (Murdoch University, Australia) Dr Madgeleen Cilliers Drought stress-induced changes in the soybean nodule transcriptome Supervisor: Dr Juan Vorster Co-supervisor: Dr PDR van Heerden Dr Felix Fru Population genetics and ecology of Fusarium circinatum on Pinus species in eastern South Africa. Supervisor: Prof J Roux Co-supervisors: Prof ET Steenkamp ; Prof MJ Wingfield Dr Tinyiko Mokoena Expression and Purification of an efficacious recombinant Pulpy Kidney subunit vaccine made in N. benthamiana. Supervisor: Dr RK Chikwamba (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) Co-supervisors: Dr E Chakauya (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), Dr MC Crampton (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), Dr TL Tsekoa (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) Dr Marike Palmer Genome-based systematics of taxa in the Erwiniaceae. Supervisor: Prof SN Venter Co-supervisors: Prof ET Steenkamp ; Dr MPA Coetzee Dr Johan van der Linde Fungi, insects and abiotic factors associated with the death of Euphorbia ingens in South Africa. Supervisor: Prof J Roux Co-supervisors: Prof MJ Wingfield , Prof DL Six (The University of Montana, USA) MSc's Samantha Bush Host preference of the invasive Glycaspis brimblecombei and host specificity of its parasitoid, Psyllaephagus bliteus. Supervisor: Prof BP Hurley Co-supervisor: Prof B Slippers Caitlin Botha The genetics of sexual reproduction in Amylostereum areolatum. Supervisor: Prof B Slippers Co-supervisors: Dr MPA Coetzee ; Dr MA van der Nest Edohan Clasen Horizontal gene transfer in eukaryotes with a special focus on the nematode Deladenus siricidicola. Supervisor: Prof B Slippers Co-supervisors: Prof. O Reva, Dr RE Pierneef, Ms Alisa Postma Smidt Ginna Granados Studies on Puccinia psidii and Cryphonectriaceae on Myrtales in Colombia. Supervisor: Prof MJ Wingfield Co-supervisors: Prof J Roux, Dr AR McTaggart Megan Harris Characterization of viruses associated with Grapevine Leafroll disease in Vitis rootstocks in South Africa. Supervisor: Prof G Pietersen Dorah Mwangola Population genetics of Chrysoporthe austroafricana in Southern Africa. Supervisor: Dr NA van der Merwe Co-supervisor: Prof J Roux Wilma Nel Taxonomy and biology of the plant pathogenic fungus Thielaviopsis basicola. Supervisor: Prof. ZW de Beer Co-supervisors: Prof. BD Wingfield, Prof. MJ Wingfield, Dr A Duong, Dr A Hammerbacher Mashudu Nxumalo Characterization of Burkholderia isolates associated with root nodules of Vachellia karoo in South Africa. Supervisor: Prof SN Venter Co-supervisor: Prof ET Steenkamp Nam Pham New Calonectria and Cylindrocladiella species from Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. Supervisor: Prof. MJ Wingfield Co-supervisors: Dr I Barnes, Dr S Chen Stefan Priem Characterisation of the cellulose biosynthesis cluster and its role in Pectobacterium adherence to biotic and abiotic surfaces. Supervisor: Prof LN Moleleki Co-supervisor: Prof TA Coutinho Kavani Sanasi Ophiostomatoid fungi associated with pine-infesting bark beetles in Guatemala. Supervisor: Prof. ZW de Beer Co-supervisors: Prof. MJ Wingfield, Dr A Duong Riaan Swanepoel Optimizing Illumina de novo transcriptome assembly for non-model plants. Supervisor: Dr E Mizrachi Co-supervisor: Prof. F Joubert BSc Honours Leandri Bezuidenhout Marlise Buys Ricu Claassens Claudette Dewing Lomile Khoete Jesse Hartley Angelique Jacobsohn Christoff Joubert Hye Jin Lim Mancha Mabaso Kayleigh Maier Modjadji Makwela Fezile Mthunzi Ashleigh Smith Nicole Soal Hannes Strydom Normal 0 false false false EN-ZA 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-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Arial;} Francois Viljoen (Group photo credit: UP/EyeScape)