Robigalia Roundup #13

Hello Robigalia Reader and welcome to the first edition of Robigalia for 2025! If you’re new here, Robigalia is your weekly roundup of the latest research, tools, and opportunities in plant pathology.

This week we highlight recent research in plant fungal pathogens, and we introduce a Masters student researching Bacterial Leaf Blight in rice. As always, Robigalia subscribers can access my online database with summaries of Robigalia featured articles.

Keep reading for the latest updates!

Recent plant pathology highlights

• Translocation of effector proteins into plant cells by the flax rust pathogen Melampsora lini
   

• Mechanisms of regulated cell death during plant infection by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae
   

• On the lookout for a potential antagonist against Cryptostroma corticale—an insight through in vitro dual culture studies
   

• A LysM effector mediates adhesion and plant immunity suppression in the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea

Research student of the week

Meet Anika Alam

Anika Alam is an emerging plant pathologist with a focused research agenda targeting one of Bangladesh's critical agricultural challenges. Her current research project delves into the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), which causes Bacterial Leaf Blight (BLB) in rice—a devastating disease responsible for 20-50% yield losses in wetland regions.

Anika’s research aims to isolate and characterise Xoo from selected haor regions and evaluate the pathogenicity of these isolates. She is also isolating and characterising the endophytic bacteria from the region to assess their antagonistic activity and plant growth-promoting determinants against Xoo. She is also evaluating the impact of endophytic bacteria on antioxidant enzyme activity and defence-related gene expression in the rice plants under various biopriming treatments.

Inspired by an undergraduate plant pathology course, Anika has been passionately pursuing a career in this critical field. She is currently seeking a PhD position, eager to expand her knowledge and contribute to scientific understanding.

Anika's advice to aspiring plant pathologists is profound yet simple, “Embrace challenges as opportunities”. She believes that every unanswered question is a potential breakthrough, and plant pathology is more than a career—it's a mission to protect global food security and ecological systems.

If you want to find out more about Anika’s research, you can reach her via LinkedIn.

🌟 This could be you! Fill out the EOI to feature your research in Robigalia 🌟 

PhD Scholarships and Jobs

New opportunities below are indicated by two asterisks at the start of the entry **

PhD Scholarships

• ** Improving the design and implementation of spore traps, based at James Cook University

• ** Epidemiology of Botryosphaeriaceae associated with mango dieback, located at NT DAF and ANU

• ** Ranking priority plant pest and diseases and their preparedness activities, located at ANU

• ** PhD opportunity in Improved Methodology for the Detection and Pathogenesis of Acute Oak Decline at UWE, Bristol

Jobs

• ** The Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry is seeking applications for a

  Postdoc position in bioengineering immune receptors for potato blight resistance

• ** Work with the Cyril Zipfel group to decipher the molecular mechanisms underlying plant immunity, with emphasis on the identification and characterization of pattern recognition receptors

• ** The Dodd Group at the John Innes Centre are hiring a Postdoctoral Researcher to work on interactions between circadian programs in Bacillus subtilis and plants

• ** The Plant Pathology Department at the University of Florida is advertising for a Assistant or Associate Professor in Plant Pathology

• ** Assistant Professor in Diagnostics and Bioinformatics at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University

• ** The School of Integrative Plant Science (SIPS) welcomes applications for a 9-month, full-time tenure-track position in Field Crop Pathology at the assistant professor level

Other News and Opportunities

New opportunities below are indicated by two asterisks at the start of the entry **

• ** Register for the 8th International Workshop on Resistance Mechanisms and Breeding in forest trees in Canada

• Abstracts are open for the 25th Australasian Plant Pathology Society conference in Sydney in May 2025. They are also offering bursaries for ECRs!

• Join the Plant-Microbiome Interaction Symposium at the John Innes Centre, 10-11 February 2025

• Save the date for the Congress of the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union happening July 6 - 10th in Italy

• Register your interest for the 17th Australasian Plant Breeding Conference in Sydney in June 2025

Meme of the week

Before you go…

• Like or didn’t like this new newsletter format? Let me know if the comments!

• Think a friend (or two) could benefit from reading? I’d love it if you could share this link with them.

Until next week,

Alyssa