Robigalia Roundup #18

Hello Robigalia Reader and welcome to another week of Robigalia! If you’re new here, Robigalia is your weekly roundup of the latest research, researchers, scholarships, and opportunities in plant pathology globally.

This week, we list plenty of new PhD positions, jobs, and other opportunities, and we introduce a recent PhD graduate who produced biopolymer-based nanosystems for the delivery of biocontrol agents. As always, Robigalia subscribers can access my online database with summaries of Robigalia featured articles.

Keep reading for the latest updates!

Weekly Plant Pathology Highlights

• Herbaria provide a valuable resource for obtaining informative mRNA (trust me, despite the title this is a plant path paper)
  

• Exogenous bacterial cellulose induces plant tissue regeneration through the regulation of cytokinin and defense networks
  

• Strawberry Green Petal Disease Pathosystem in Québec, Canada
  

• The trichothecene mycotoxin deoxynivalenol facilitates cell-to-cell invasion during wheat-tissue colonization by Fusarium graminearum

Research Student of the Week

⭐ Meet Sangeetha B M ⭐

Sangeetha's passion for plant pathology began during her Bachelor of Science studies, where her curiosity about pathogens, biocontrol agents, and their interactions with hosts led her to specialise in this field for her master's degree. During her postgraduate studies, she developed a keen interest in nanotechnology and its potential integration into plant disease management strategies.

During her master's, Sangeetha worked on bio-intensive management of chilli powdery mildew disease, employing various biocontrol agents and organic products. She acknowledges that developing nano delivery systems was challenging, but she persevered through continuous failures, which ultimately helped her refine the process and achieve positive results.

During her PhD programme, she focused on producing biopolymer-based nanosystems for the delivery of biocontrol agents like Trichoderma. Her research evaluated these nano delivery systems against seed-borne and foliar pathogens in groundnut and sunflower crops. Her work revealed that these systems activated genes related to jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA)-mediated resistance pathways in plants when challenged with biotrophic and necrotrophic pathogens.

Sangeetha advises fellow students that research in plant pathology can be intellectually demanding. She encourages them not to be disheartened by setbacks, emphasising that failures are valuable learning opportunities. In her words, "Challenges and failures are what make us strong in life."

Sangeetha is committed to continuing her career in plant pathology and nanotechnology and is actively seeking opportunities.

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

🌟 Want to feature your research? Fill out the EOI to feature in Robigalia 🌟 

PhD Scholarships and Jobs

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

PhD Scholarships

• ** Silencing Fungal diseases: unlocking RNAi as novel tool to control Agricultural Pathogens, Massey University (Closing 26th Feb)

• ** Bidirectional mobile sRNA signalling in pea-downy mildew interactions, University of Worcester (Open year-round)

• ** Chemical warfare in the rhizosphere: unpicking the defensive role of plant root exudates against the bacterial pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum, University of York (Closing 14th March)

• ** Primed for Protection: Cell Wall Modifications in Plant Defense and Long-Term Immunity, University of Sheffield (Closes 14th March)

Jobs

• Postdoctoral Researcher Position at UC Davis in the Melotto Lab

• Assistant or Associate Professor and Extension Specialist - Ornamental Plant Pathology (No closing date listed)

• Permanent Researcher position in Stephane Blanc group at PHIM, INRAE, Montpellier France to work on Traffic of viral macromolecules within host plants and role in the biology of multi-component viral systems (Deadline 4th March)

• Coming soon: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Molecular diagnostics at University of Canberra

• Research Assistant in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

• Research Assistant Professor in mycotoxin fungal biology in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana (Open until position is filled)

• The Plant Pathology Department at the University of Florida is advertising for a Assistant or Associate Professor in Plant Pathology (Open until position filled)

• Assistant Professor in Diagnostics and Bioinformatics at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University (Deadline 28th February)

Other News and Opportunities

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

• ** Submit your abstract and be part of the EMBO | EMBL Symposium "Infection: pathogens, hosts, and microbiomes. You have until 3 March!

• ** 40 travel awards will be awarded to eligible APS Student Members to support their attendance to present their research at Plant Health 2025 in Hawaii (Closing 28th March)

• ** The Art in Phytopathology competition is BACK! This is your chance to showcase your passion for plant diseases through your artistic talents (Closes 1st April)

• ** Fungal Pathogens: Emerging Threats and Future Challenges, Jan 12–15, 2026, Breckenridge, CO, United States

• Apply to attend the 17th International Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildews Conference in Vancouver which offers opportunities for early-career researchers to share their research with the agricultural community

• Register for the 8th International Workshop on Resistance Mechanisms and Breeding in forest trees in Canada, June 1-6, 2025

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

• Submit your abstracts by 31st March 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 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