Robigalia Roundup #27

Hello Robigalia Reader, 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 learn about the use of new generation fungicides for the control of grey mold, and I introduce Abigail Graetz, a PhD student at The Australian National University researching leaf microbiomes of rust infected plants.

With the anniversary of Robigalia on the 25th April, keep an eye out for a special edition of the Robigalia Newsletter this Friday. Make sure you’re subscribed to get this delivered directly to your inbox.

Now, read on the for latest …

Weekly Plant Pathology Highlights

• Sensitivity of Soybean (Glycine max) Pathogens Diaporthe aspalathi, D. caulivora, and D. longicolla to Difenoconazole and Fluopyram Fungicides
  

• Control of Botrytis cinerea from Chilean Grapevines by Pydiflumetofen: Baseline and Carboxamide-Mutant Sensitivity
  

• Bacterial pathogen deploys the iminosugar glycosyrin to manipulate plant glycobiology
  

• Rapid and Sensitive On-Site Nucleic Acid Detection of Three Main Fusarium Pathogens of Maize Stalk Rot Based on RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a

Research Student of the Week

⭐ Meet Abigail Graetz ⭐

This week’s research student of the week is Abigail Graetz, a PhD student at the Australian National University. Abigail decided in early high school that she wanted to pursue a career in science, thanks to some fantastic high school science teachers and supportive parents. After completing her undergraduate degree in Microbiology at the University of Tasmania, Abigail moved to the ANU in 2020 to complete her Honours year with the Schwessinger Lab. This continued into a PhD in plant-microbe interactions in 2021, and Abigail has quickly come to love plants, both in the lab, and in her downtime.

For her PhD, Abigail is characterising the fungal and bacterial communities in leaf microbiomes of plants under rust fungus infection using long-read Nanopore metabarcode sequencing. Her project aims to develop cost-effective, reproducible protocols for using Nanopore sequencing to characterise microbiomes, utilising these protocols to answer biological questions about whether rust diseases influence microbial community structure, whether this is consistent across wild grasses and wheat, and how this knowledge can be applied to reduce the impact of rust diseases on wheat in agriculture.

Central to her project has been a benchmarking study on using long-read ITS metabarcode sequences for fungal identification, aiming to establish best-practice for reliable, species-level classification of fungi using ITS sequences. This manuscript is currently in preparation, so stay tuned!

Abigail wants to keep working in plant-microbe interactions and phytopathology once she finishes her PhD, and is excited to see what this may mean more broadly. Abigail is passionate about communicating science in an accessible way, and has loved getting involved with tutoring/teaching during her PhD. She looks forward to exploring how to combine her technical skills and knowledge with her passion for science communication.

Abigail's top tip for other students is to find the people you can talk with - whether it's to synthesise information, get feedback, bounce ideas around, or ask for advice, strong networks are integral to succeeding as a student.

If you want to find out more about Abigail’s research, you can reach her via LinkedIn or post them in the comments.

PhD Scholarships and Jobs

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

🌟 If you have a scholarship or job available in your group, fill in this form to have it listed in Robigalia 🌟

PhD/Masters Scholarships

• ** PhD: Explore Belowground Plant Interactions for Sustainable Crop Protection, Aarhus University, Denmark (Apply by May 1st)

• PhD Opportunity - Unlocking Tomato Resistance to Viral Diseases at Wageningen University & Research

• PhD Opportunity - Grapevine Resistance to Fungal Diseases – UMR CNRS 7267 EBI, France

• PhD fellowship in Plant-Microbe-Insect Interactions at the The Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

• PhD position in Lipopeptide-Based Biocontrol Strategies Against Septoria Tritici Blotch in Wheat (Apply by May 2nd)

• Apply for a scholarship at The Sainsbury Laboratory for a one-year taught MSc in Global Plant Health

Jobs

• ** Senior Biosecurity Advisor, Kiwifruit Vine Health, Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty (No close date listed)

• ** Phytopathology Researcher with a specialisation in Fungal bioassays, Ceradis in Wageningen (no close date listed)

• ** Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the University of Florida (UF) Plant Pathology Departmen (Closes 15th June)

• ** Postdoc in Biochemistry and Plant Biology to study the function and interaction of Pathogenesis-Related proteins from plants and pathogens (No close date)

• Graduate Research Assistantship - Xylella fastidiosa infection in a hybrid microfluidic model of plant-microbe interactions (No close date listed)

• Post-Doctoral Associate - epidemiology, molecular characterization, and management of Verticillium dahliae and Colelcotricum coccodes (Open until filled)

• Postdoctoral Research Associate – Systemic Immunity and Growth-Defense Trade-offs, Brookhaven National Laboratory (Open until filled)

• Postdoctoral fellow to investigate a link between plant disease resistance and primary metabolism, ANU (Closes 4th May)

• Research Associate - Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, NC State University (Open until filled)

• Tree Fruit Extension Educator – Tree Fruit Post Harvest Pathology and Physiology, Washington State University (Closes 22nd April)

• Professor - Microbial Interactions in Plant and Environmental Systems, University of Copenhagen (Closes 27th April)

• 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)

Other News and Opportunities

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

• ** Submit an abstract, and apply for a travel grant to attend the inaugural Great Lakes Plant Science Conference (GLPSC 2025) at Michigan State University (Apply by April 30th)

• ** Public Policy Board Early Career Internship, APS, Open to US citizens (Apply by May 16)

• Attend the Florida Phytopathological Society (FPS) biennial meeting, May 6-8, 2025, at the UF/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center in Fort Pierce, Florida

• Register for the 19th FPS Biennial Meeting at the University of Florida - Indian River Research and Education Center May 6-8, 2025

• Enter the AIPP-IAAS Italia video award “Plant protection in a minute” V Edition

• Register now for the Annual conference of the Oomycete Molecular Genetics Network 

• Register for Plant Pathology 2025 and Early Careers Plant Pathology 2025, the main annual meetings of the British Society for Plant Pathology

• Register for the 20th Congress on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, in Cologne, Germany​

• Save the date for the Australasian myrtle rust conference happening 16th - 17th June 2025 in Auckland, NZ

• 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

• Register for the 25th Australasian Plant Pathology Society conference in Sydney in May 2025.

• 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…

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Until next week,

Alyssa