Congratulations to those FABI ans that were capped at the Autumn Graduation Ceremony of the University of Pretoria . Dr Gabrielle Carstensen Thesis: Bacterial wilt of Eucalyptus : understanding pathogenicity and the virulence of the causal agents. Supervisor: Prof TA Coutinho Co-supervisors: Prof SN Venter , Prof MJ Wingfield Dr Runlei Chang Thesis: Ophiostomatoid fungi associated with conifer-infesting bark beetles in China. Supervisor : Prof ZW de Beer Co-supervisors: Prof MJ Wingfield, Prof X Zhou, Dr A Duong Dr Feifei Liu Thesis: Species diversity and host associations of plant pathogenic Ceratocystis species in China. Supervisor: Prof SF Chen Co-supervisors:Prof MJ Wingfield, Dr I Barnes Dr Gloria Valentine Nakato Thesis: Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum : population diversity and the identification of potential sources of resistance from banana accessions representing the Musa diversity worldwide. Supervisor: Prof TA Coutinho Co-supervisors: Dr G Mahuku (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Tanzania), Dr EPP Wicker (CIRAD Agricultural Research for Development, France) Dr Vou Moses Shutt Thesis: Bacterial pathogens of tomato in South Africa: identification, population diversity and cultivar susceptibility. Supervisor: Prof TA Coutinho Co-supervisors: Prof JE van der Waals, Dr T Goszczynska (Agricultural Research Council) Dr Elrea Strydom Thesis: Soybean blotchy mosaic virus: Molecular characterization and seasonal persistence. Supervisor: Prof G Pietersen Dr Erika Viljoen Thesis: Genetic diversity analysis of the Amaranthus genus using genomic tools. Supervisor: Prof DK Berger MSc Esna du Plessis Dissertation: Population biology and impact of Austropuccinia psidii in South Africa. Supervisor: Prof J Roux Co-supervisors: Dr I Barnes, Dr AR McTaggart Ludwig Eksteen Dissertation: Patterns and drivers of host use by the European woodwasp, Sirex noctilio , in South African pine plantations. Supervisor: Dr JR Garnas Co-supervisor: Prof BP Hurley Zimbili Ethel Mlunjwa Dissertation: Expression analysis of selected maize primary metabolism genes in response to Cercospora zeina inoculation in the glasshouse. Supervisor: Prof DK Berger Redzuan Rauf Dissertation: Ceratocystis wilt on Acacia mangium and Chrysoporthe canker on Eucalyptus in Sabah, Malaysia. Supervisor: Prof MJ Wingfield Co-supervisor: Dr I Barnes Bianca Rodrigues-Jardim Dissertation: Characterisation of Sirex noctilio and Culicoides imicola sex determination pathways. Supervisor: Dr WC Fick Co-supervisors: Prof B Slippers, A. Postma-Smidt Tanya Welgemoed Dissertation: De novo assembly of transcriptomes from near-isogenic maize lines for novel defence gene discovery. Supervisor: Prof DK Berger External co-supervisor: Dr RE Pierneef (Agricultural Research Council) BSC Honours Jenna Craddock Shawn Fell Stefan Ferreira Phillip Greef Robert Jansen van Vuuren So Ri La Anneri Lotter Ophelia Maila Ingrid Marais Aaron Maringa Nomaswazi Maseko Sthembiso Mngadi Jamie Mollentze Lebone Sebapu Precious Kothibe Sedibane Byron Sonnekus Taponeswa Tasiya Palesa Thys Amber Tulloch Raven Wienk BSc Bernard Smit