The 35^th Symposium of the European Society of Nematologists took place in Córdoba, Spain, from 15-19 April 2024, and Portuguese partners from INIAV were present.

During this week-long event, David Pires gave the short talk "Nematology in the digital age: mastering communication", within the framework of WP6, and Maria Lurdes Inácio, Ana Fundurulic and Maria João Camacho presented the...

During the second week of April 2024, AIRMOTEC / CHROMATOTEC welcomed partners from SINTEF, Saftra Photonics, University of Warwick and Volatile for an intercomparison to test and evaluate newly-developed sensors and detection units by PurPest project partners. Over the course of the week, AIRMOTEC targeted 3 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) tracers from Phythophthora ramorum, Cotton...

In March, Pavol Miškovský from Saftra Photonics visited SINTEF. The goal was to test how to use Saftra's Ramascope to detect volatile organic compounds, in order to detect pests on plants.

This visit was a valuable preparation for PurPest's detailed test campaign in April, where several technologies will be tested and compared.

The Hercules Laboratory team, Dora Teixeira, Ana Galveias and Marina Costa, responsible for VOCs analysis, went to INIAV, on February 28th, to discuss the WP1 ongoing tasks and visit the facilities directly involved in PurPest works.

Miroslav Berka, Ph.D. student from Mendel University, visited NIBIO in Ås, Norway, from January 29^th to February 10^th, 2024, to exchange experiences and methods for collecting, analyzing and comparing volatile organic compounds (VOC) produced by Phytophthora ramorum and P. plurivora isolates on agar plates. He is working with Dalphy Harteveld and...

Our PurPest partner Stelios Kartakis visited Kiran Horrocks, Jana Collatz and Joerg Romeis at Agroscope, to learn and work on the CLIMEX model about Spodoptera frugiperda (to obtain the climatic suitability of the pest). That was the first step towards the economic impact assessment of Task 5.2. 

The training was held from the 22^nd to the 26^th of January...

The technology that is being developed in PurPest is covered in the December 2023 European Forest Institute (EFI) newsletter, which is directly distributed to 850+ recipients across the Mediterranean network and beyond. The project is also featured on the MedForest website.

PurPest coordinator, Andrea Ficke, kicked-off the second annual project meeting in Padua, Italy, by lighting a candle.

The event took place in a hybrid format, and was an opportunity for all members to come together and discuss the progress that was made in the different work packages, and share the outputs that were produced.

Participants also had the chance to visit the beautiful Orto...

Our PurPest partner Ted Turlings received the 2023 Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist, for his contributions to the fields of Chemical Ecology and Plant-Insect interactions, and his work on the biological control of plant pests through volatile compounds.

Read the full story here.