Robigalia Roundup XXXIV

Hello Robigalia Readers,

If you’re new here, Robigalia is your weekly roundup of the latest research, researchers, scholarships, and opportunities in plant pathology globally.

Now onto this week’s newsletter…

I highlight a recent study examining the variation in Magnaporthe oryzae avirulence genes.

I introduce Sharjana Akter, a recent Master’s graduate from Bangladesh Agricultural University.

As always, there are several new job and PhD opportunities listed. Make sure you’re a subscriber to have these opportunities and events delivered directly to your inbox every Monday.

Weekly Plant Pathology Highlights

• Observations on Rhamnus alaternus Naturally Infected by Xylella fastidiosa subsp. multiplex ST87 in the Mediterranean Maquis of Monte Argentario (Tuscany, Italy)
  

• Intraspecific Variation and Recent Loss of Ancient, Conserved Effector Genes in the Sudden Oak Death Pathogen Phytophthora ramorum
  

• Variation of Avirulence Genes in the Blast Fungus from Jiangxi Province, China
  

• Exploring the Research Evolution of Cacao Diseases Over the Past Two Decades: A Review

Research Student of the Week

⭐ Meet Sharjana Akter⭐

This week, we meet Sharjana Akter, a recent Masters graduate from Bangladesh Agricultural University. Sharjana’s research project was focused on the detection of defence-related genes in rice for the management of rice blast disease by endophytic bacteria, with her thesis titled "Variation in Rice Blast Fungus and Its Biocontrol Management with Endophytic Bacteria".

Sharjana's interest in plant pathology started during her undergraduate degree when she had an opportunity to explore rural life. She witnessed firsthand how devastating plant diseases can be for farmers, especially in vulnerable areas like the Haor regions of Bangladesh. Seeing entire rice fields lost to diseases like blast and bacterial leaf blight left a deep impact on her, inspiring her to find solutions that could help protect crops and support farmer livelihoods.

During her research, Sharjana isolated Bacillus velezensis from healthy rice roots and observed it’s disease suppression mechanism against the rice blast pathogen Pyricularia oryzae. She also tested the growth promoting traits of B. velezensis including indole acetic acid ( IAA) production, siderophore production, ammonia production, hydrogen cyanide production and phosphate solubilization capacity.

Sharjana has used methods such as qRT-PCR to measure defence-related gene expression in rice inoculated with P. oryzae and the beneficial B. velezensis, finding upregulation of gene upstream of the salicylic acid pathway. She also observed lower disease incidence in rice plants by treating with B. velezensis.

Sharjana’s advice for fellow students in plant pathology is to integrate both molecular and field-based approaches to uncover innovative solutions for plant disease management.

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

Scholarships and Jobs

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

PhD/Master’s Scholarships

• ** PhD, Water sampling for detection of vegetable pathogens, University of Canberra (Closes 12th June)

• PhD, Plant-pathogenic Fungus Interaction, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands (Closes 16th June)

• MiCRop Gravitation Program (Microbial Imprinting for Crop Resilience) is hiring eight PhD and postdoctoral researchers, Netherlands (Various close dates)

• PhD, Pre-conditioning of natural enemies for better biological control of insect pests in grain crops, Murdoch University (Closes 15th July)

• iPhD with CSIRO, Southern Cross University, and Jagun Alliance in applied plant pathology and sustainable agriculture. Domestic students only. (Apply by 28th July)

• M.Sc. in Plant Pathology at Brandon University, Canada

Jobs

• ** Join the Plant Pathology Journal as a Technical Reader, Remote, (Closes 15th July)

• ** Postdoctoral researcher in fungus-microbiota interactions, Universität zu Köln (Closes 27 June 2025)

• Postdoctoral Scientist, Quantitative Disease Resistance in Quinoa, Germany (Apply ASAP)

• Scientist - Entomology, Alice Holt, Farnham, Surrey (Closes 15th June)

• Corteva Agriscience is seeking a Field Scientist to join the Crop Health Research and Development (CHRD) Integrated Field Science (IFS) team in the South San Joaquin Valley of California (No close date listed)

• Scientist – Plant Virology, The World Vegetable Center, Taiwan (Closes 15th June)

• Head of Plant Pathology, The College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources at North Dakota State University (Closes 16th June)

• Senior Technical Officer: Forest Health, South Australia (Apply by 19 June 2025

• Pre-doctoral Research Assistant - Computational Biology & Lab Automation, (Closes 15th June)

• Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Plant-Microbe Interaction – University of Florida (Closes June 15th)

• Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the University of Florida (UF) Plant Pathology Department (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)

• Join the Potnis Lab in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at Auburn University as a Research Associate in computational biology (No close date)

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

Events

• ** The 44th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology is happening July 14 - 17, 2025 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal

• ** Registration for the 10th Stromlo Plant Pathology Conference is now open, happening 27 & 28 November at Australian National University

• ** Free online attendance for the Australasian myrtle rust conference is happening 16 - 17 Jun 2025

• XVII IOBC Meeting about Biological and Integrated Control of Plant Pathogens , with 150 presentations of 4 days happening 11 - 14 June 2025 in Torino, Italy

• The 17th International Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildews Conference (ICRPMC2025) is happening for 15-20 Jun, 2025 in Vancouver, British Columbia

•  Congress of the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union happening 6 - 10 Jul, 2025, in Bari, Italy

• Register now for the Annual conference of the Oomycete Molecular Genetics Network happening 12th July 2025 in Cologne, Germany

• Register for the 20th Congress on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, happening 13-17 Jul 2025, in Cologne, Germany​

• ​Plant Health 2025, happening ​August 2-5 in Honolulu, Hawaii

• ICPPP 2025: International Conference on Phytopathology and Plant Pathology, happening 21-22 Aug, 2025 in Rome, Italy

• Register for Plant Pathology 2025 and Early Careers Plant Pathology 2025, happening 9 - 11 Sept 2025 in Nottingham, UK

• Register to attend the Great Lakes Plant Science Conference (GLPSC 2025) happening 12 - 14 Sept 2025 at Michigan State University

• The 12th Meeting of the IUFRO Working Party Phytophthora in Forests and Natural Ecosystems is happening 13 - 18 Sept, 2026 in the Cape region of South Africa

Other Opportunities

• ** Nominations for BSPP Honorary Membership 2026 are now open.

  Recognise an outstanding contributor to plant pathology and the BSPP community (Closes 31st July)

Meme of the week

Before you go…

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

• Head over to the Robigalia Instagram for additional plant pathology content

Until next week,

Alyssa

_{** Disclaimer: No dogs were harmed in the production of this newsletter.}