Welcome to another edition of the Robigalia Roundup!

If you’re new here, Robigalia is your weekly roundup of the latest research, researchers, scholarships, and opportunities in plant pathology globally. Make sure you’re a subscriber to have these opportunities and events delivered directly to your inbox every Monday.

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NOTES FROM THE HOST

Hello {{first_name | Robigalia readers}},

Last week, my beautiful family flew from Perth to Sydney to celebrate my PhD graduation at the University of Sydney.

It was a great day to cap off my time at the University, and I had the chance to also celebrate with my primary supervisor Peri Tobias.

Peri and I also sat down for a chat to discuss her current work on Cocoa vascular streak dieback and her journey into her current position at USyd. I’ll be summarising our chat in the coming weeks and sharing it through the newsletter.

In other exciting news, last week I was also awarded a small grant from Eucalypt Australia to conduct population-level disease resistance research in my role at the Botanic Gardens of Sydney.

Utilising our extensive collection of Australian leaf samples, I will investigate the evolution and diversity of NLR genes within the population of a threatened Eucalyptus species in New South Wales.

The project is set to kick off in 2026, and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on its progress!

Lastly, keep an eye on your emails this Friday. The first in the series of Robigalia conversations will be dropping into your inboxes 🥳

Now, onto this week’s edition:

  • I share some recent publications on drought and disease resistance, including a study from our Research Student of the Week

  • I introduce a PhD student from the Botanic Gardens of Sydney (ReCER) & the University of Sydney

  • I list 4 new PhD scholarships, 3 new jobs, and 2 upcoming events

Let’s dive in!

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Progress on drought and disease

  • Karina Guo et al., Genomic prediction of disease resistance provides a path to marker assisted restoration in a wetland foundation tree species

  • Natanella Illouz-Eliaz et al., Drought recovery in plants triggers a cell-state-specific immune activation

  • Mengru Li et al., The Apple Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase MdMAPK6 Increases Drought, Salt, and Disease Resistance in Plants

RESEARCH STUDENT OF THE WEEK

Meet Karina Guo

This week, I’m excited to introduce someone I have had the pleasure of getting to know over the past couple of years, Karina Guo, a PhD student from the Botanic Gardens of Sydney (ReCER) and the University of Sydney.

Karina’s work in plant pathology didn't originate from a personal interest, but she has since grown to love the field. After completing her Honours in Ecology and Chemistry, Karina was recently honoured with the 2024 Harper Prize for her publication based on her Honours thesis, which used a machine learning approach to assess leaf traits of Eucalyptus. Now, with an interest in ecology and a growing interest in plant pathology, Karina is fascinated by how widespread a pathogen's impact can be on an ecosystem.

Karina’s PhD is focusing on the broad-leaved paperbarks (Melaleuca quinquenervia) and their resistance against myrtle rust (Austropucinnia psidii). Her project focuses on building information and collaborating directly with on-ground restoration practitioners to help fight against the disease and bridge the gap between science and action. The project spans multiple facets of science, from genomics to drought experiments to large-scale planting experiments.

Karina is especially proud of this project for its application. Working side by side with practitioners and witnessing their love and investment in their fields is what makes her work truly worthwhile. She even found herself setting up a drought experiment in a greenhouse on New Year's Eve during peak summer. But seeing the results at the end of it is such an adrenaline rush she’ll never tire of.

❝

meet the people your work impacts

Karina Guo

Karina’s advice for remaining invested in a long-term project like a PhD is: “to meet the people your work impacts and make pretty plots that make you proud and happy and do justice to the amazing work you've done!”

For those of us working with Karina, it’s no secret that outside of her PhD, Karina’s been really into snorkelling, and the interest came completely out of the blue (pun-wholely-intended)! Karina describes it “like unlocking a whole new world around me, I never noticed! Similar to me stumbling into plant pathology!”

You can connect with Karina on LinkedIn to keep up with her research!

Connect with Karina

OPPORTUNITIES AND EVENTS

New plant pathology opportunities are listed below. For the full list of live opportunities and events, head to my Opportunities and Events Board using the buttons below.

New PhD/Master’s Scholarships

VIEW ALL SCHOLARSHIPS

New Jobs

VIEW ALL OPEN JOBS

New Events/Seminars

VIEW ALL UPCOMING EVENTS

MEME OF THE WEEK

THAT’S A WRAP

Before you go: here are 3 ways we can help each other

1) List a scholarship, job, or event in Robigalia — We help you advertise your opportunity or event to a global network of plant pathologists for free.

2) Book a Robigalia coaching call — Whether it’s career advice, assistance with an application or general advice, you can check my schedule to book in some time with me.

3) Support Robigalia - Support the ongoing production and distribution of the Robigalia newsletter through Patreon.

See you next Monday

P.S. Why Robigalia? The name originates from the Ancient Roman festival dedicated to crop protection. You can read all about the history here:

History of Robigalia

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