Fighting Bac: New technologies for predicting and detecting bacterial plant diseases (Stakeholder Workshop)

In the second of our Fighting Bac workshops our researchers will share new approaches for identifying and modelling disease outbreaks. The workshop will focus particularly on the next steps for translating these findings into real world innovations and how stakeholders can get involved.

The challenges facing plant health in the UK and worldwide are constantly evolving due to factors like climate change, global trade and changing land use. That might mean previously absent diseases reaching our shores or existing pathogens spreading to new areas or hosts. It has never been more important to have robust ways of detecting pathogens and predicting how they might spread so they can quickly be contained.

Several of our projects are working on improved ways to do exactly this. They are working to understand bacterial taxonomy, host-specialisation, and the mechanics of transmission, which could hold the key to predicting the emergence and spread of new diseases. They are also modelling how climate forecasts, trade routes, changes in land management and other factors might influence disease outbreaks.

In this workshop researchers will share their findings so far, as well as their ideas for the next steps to turn their research into pioneering products or processes. Stakeholders will be invited to contribute to this future-focussed conversation, identifying potential areas of collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Confirmed projects:

• Xanthomonas Threats (understanding Xanthomonas spp genetics, host range, transmission and resistance)
• Pseudomonas-Prunus (understanding host specificity and predicting host range for Pseudomonas syringae)
• CALIBER (understanding disease transmission and developing diagnostic tools for Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum)

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