ICPPB 2022 – Discussing diseases and dancing in the rain
Joanna Vicente reports from the 14th International Conference on Plant Pathogenic Bacteria (ICPPB) which took place 3-8 July in Assisi, Italy.
Surrounded by sunflower fields and olive trees, 196 delegates gathered in the idyllic setting of the Hotel Valle di Assisi for the 5-day 14th International Conference on Plant Pathogenic Bacteria (ICPPB). Despite sweltering in temperatures of well over 35°C, the conference entitled ‘The impact of plant pathogenic bacteria on global plant health’ had a full programme of talks, poster presentations and excursions.
The congress had participants from all over the globe. It was a great opportunity to meet long term collaborators and colleagues as well as making some new connections. It was also good to see early career researchers, the next generation, presenting talks and posters and engaging fully in the conference.
The programme included talks on various bacterial plant diseases including keynote lectures, shorter talks and selected 2-minute poster presentations. Sessions included:
- Molecular plant-bacteria interactions
- New tools for disease diagnostics and pathogen identification
- Nanotechnology in disease control
- Disease epidemiology and pathogen ecology
- Bacterial pathogens and the phytobiome
- Natural and engineered plant resistance
- Disease emergence and pathogen evolution
- New insights into Xylella fastidiosa
- Disease control and prevention
The BPD projects received mentions in talks and posters including:
- a talk by Carrie Brady on the taxonomy of bacteria associated with Acute Oak Decline (AOD) and a poster with a 2-minute presentation by Daniel Maddock (both from University of the West of England, Bristol) on potential origins of AOD associated bacteria, linked to the Bac-Stop project
- Robert Jackson (Birmingham Institute of Forest Research) and Michelle Hulin (NIAB, Cambridge)’s keynote talk on the emergence of host-adapted phytopathogens and the role of prophages in transfer of virulence genes that mentioned the Pseudomonas-Prunus project
- two talks on the XanthomonasThreats project, one by Joana Vicente (Fera Science) on three diseases that might threat UK crop production, and a talk by Vardis Ntoukakis (Warwick University) on the identification of disease resistance to black rot of brassicas
- a poster with a 2-minute presentation on the Brigit project by Jennifer Cole (Fera Science)
On Wednesday there was a conference excursion to the medieval town of Gubbio, where we visited museums and churches under the expert guidance of very good tour guides. Lunch was a real feast and we lost count of the courses that kept coming!
On Thursday we had the social dinner at the University of Perugia. After a walk in the garden, we started the evening with an exquisite short concert by the Coro Santo Spirito Volumnia that included our conference organiser, Roberto Buonaurio. Dinner was later accompanied by a storm complete with thunder and lightning which hit Perugia. After fears that it would dampen the mood, we realised that it made the occasion even more special with colleagues taking the opportunity to cool down by dancing in the rain!
Importantly, at this conference we also took time to remember colleagues that are no longer with us, including James Alfano and Philippe Prior and two UK scientists, David Stead and Alan Vivian. The memorial talks were beautifully delivered and made us realise the breadth of achievements of these remarkable scientists. This conference was dedicated to Nicola Sante Iacobellis, chairman of the organising committee, that sadly passed away six weeks before the event.
We take this opportunity to thank the organising committee headed by Roberto Buonaurio for managing to put together a fantastic conference. The ICPPB was a great opportunity for all participants and we came back with more connections and fresh knowledge on every aspect of plant bacterial diseases!
by Joana G. Vicente, Bacterial Plant Diseases Programme Coordination Team
This conference followed on from a satellite meeting, the two-day 4th International Erwinia Workshop. You can read Joana’s review of that meeting here.