How can we protect bananas?
The Biomedical Science Journal for Teens has put research into banana Black Sigatoka disease in the spotlight. The disease is threatening commercial Cavendish banana crops worldwide, as the fungus that causes it has...
read moreGenome sequencing of Sigatoka fungus
On June 6th Caucasella Diaz, Mexico, defended her PhD thesis titled “Functional genetics and genomics of the banana black Sigatoka pathogen Pseudocercospora fijiensis” at Wageningen University. Her thesis describes the...
read moreINREF and KNAW-SPIN progress
All students are writing their PhD books! Hence, we are in harvest time. We expect dozens of new exciting papers that will move the front forward and together form a solid foundation for a new phase in Panama disease...
read moreEinar Martinez de la Parte joins the Wageningen Banana team
Since November 21, 2017 Einar Martinez, Instituto de Investigaciones en Sanidad Vegetal (INISAV), Cuba, started his PhD project on Panama disease in banana. In Cuba, more than 179.000 ha of dessert bananas and plantain...
read moreInauguration of professor Gert Kema
In September 2017 the inauguration of Professor Gert Kema as professor by special appointment for Tropical Phytopathology at Wageningen University & Research took place. During his inauguration Kema revealed what it will...
read moreBanana research at the International Congress of Plant Pathology
During the International Congress of Plant Pathology, ICPP, in Boston this summer, the banana research community will be organising two events. The first meeting is a satellite meeting on Saturday July 28 titled “Fusarium wilt disease of banana: recurrence of a...
read moreFrontiers in Plant Science Research Topic on Panama disease
The visibility of the Wageningen Panama disease research, has resulted in “Panama Disease of Banana, a Recurring Threat to Global Banana Production” a Research Topic of Frontiers in Plant Science, one of the leading...
read moreSecret sex life of fungus extends value of resistant wheat for food production
Kema and co-workers recently published an article in the prestigious Nature Genetics journal on the sex life of Zymoseptoria tritici, the causal agent of septoria tritici blotch in wheat, the most important wheat disease...
read moreNational Geographic visits Wageningen University and Research
On January 24, National Geographic visited WUR and filmed during a course that Prof. Kema is teaching on Frontiers in Medical and Veterinary Biology. They were particularly interested in banana research and visited the...
read moreNew insight into mechanism making Black Sigatoka fungus less sensitive to crop protection
An international team of scientists led by Wageningen University & Research has discovered a new genetic mechanism that makes the notorious Black Sigatoka fungus less sensitive to the main chemical crop protection products used against the disease. The discovery...
read moreMinister Sigrid Kaag visit to WUR
Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, has visited Unifarm at Wageningen University & Research (WUR). She was received by Louise O. Fresco, chairman of WUR and professor Gert Kema. The...
read moreWageningen scientists participate in Colombian Banana forum 2017
November 2017 Gert Kema and Fernando Garcia Bastidas gave a presentation at the III Colombian Banana forum 2017. About Sustainable Production: Challenges and Opportunities of the Colombian banana sector. The meeting was organised by...
read moreTransgenic Cavendish in the news
The big news of the first transgenic Cavendish banana resistant to TR4 has reached the press. In the Netherlands one of the main national news channels (NOS) made an item for their website. Fernando Garcia Bastidas, one of the banana...
read moreWorld-first Panama disease-resistant Cavendish bananas
Researchers from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, have designed genetically modified Cavendish bananas with resistance to the devastating soil-borne Panama disease. This disease is caused by the...
read moreNew website
We are proud to present our new website: www.fusariumwilt.org . Panamadisease.org will maintain accessible, but there is a serious plea to dissociate the name Panama from the disease in banana. The main reason, though was to keep up...
read moreProject together with Rahan Meristem
Rahan Meristem, and Wageningen University & Research have engaged into a project targeting at identifying Cavendish bananas with improved resistance to Panama disease or Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp....
read moreGert Kema crossed the globe
During the autumn of 2016 Gert Kema visited several important banana research teams and banana production regions and discussed many ongoing and new research projects around the globe. Philippines Kema...
read moreVisit from the Philippines
A high diplomatic delegation from the Philippines visited Wageningen University and Research as well as several spin-off companies with major activities in Mindanao on November 22. The delegation comprised of Arnel V. de...
read moreMinister of Agriculture of Costa Rica visited Wageningen University and Research
On 21 November Mr. Luis Felipe Arauz, Minister of Agriculture of Costa Rica visited the banana program at WUR. Gert Kema and Rafael Segura Mena, INREF sandwich PhD from the national banana coporation of Costa Rica...
read moreKNAW-SPIN research on the future of Indonesian bananas
The Indonesian-Dutch research team investigates social, agro-ecological and biological conditions for conserving diversity of bananas. Bananas are deep-rooted in the Indonesian landscape and form an essential ingredient of...
read morePablo Chong Aguirre graduates at Wageningen University and Research
On Monday 31 October 2016 Pablo Chong Aguirre, originating from Ecuador, successfully defended his PhD thesis on “The origin, versatility and distribution of azole fungicide resistance in the banana black Sigatoka...
read moreArticle on The conversation covered by CNN
Ioannis Stergiopoulos, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis; André Drenth, Professor of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland and Gert Kema, Special Professor of...
read moreDNA of banana fungus unravelled for more sustainable banana crops
DNA of banana fungus unravelled for more sustainable banana crops. An international consortium led by Prof. Gert Kema from Wageningen University and Research has unravelled the DNA of Pseudocercospora fijiensis, the fungus...
read moreSecuring the future of the UK’s favourite fruit
The British Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) granted a project to the University of Exeter on “Securing the future of the UK's favourite fruit”. The UK is highly dependent on imported fruit and vegetables...
read moreThe threat of Panama Disease
In 2015 Dr Gert HJ Kema made aerial images of banana plantations in the Davao region of Mindanao, the Philippines; the heart of commercial Cavendish banana production for the export trade. The Tropical Race 4 lineage of the...
read moreTeam meeting in Miami
As a satellite meeting to the 2016 International Banana Congress & ACORBOAT meeting in Miami, Florida, the INREF team met at the University of Florida and Tropical Research Center, Homestead, Florida, April 18-19 2016. The meeting was organized by Prof. Dr. Randy...
read moreDisseminating Panama Disease in banana caused by one single clone of the Fusarium fungus
Scientists at Wageningen UR have demonstrated that the same clone of the Fusarium fungus is infecting Cavendish bananas in several countries dotted across the globe. This shows that this Fusarium clone, also known as Tropical Race 4,...
read moreFernando Garcia-Bastidas in Santa Marta Colombia
Last month Fernando Garcia-Bastidas was international speaker at the "I technical banana Colloquium: threats and challenges of the Banana sector facing variability and climate change” in Santa Marta Colombia. The meeting was...
read moreCorbana publishes documents on TR4
Corbana, the National banana corporation of Costa Rica, recently has published some Spanish documents that address the Tropical Race 4 issue. These aim to raise awareness of the recommendations that can help...
read morePanama disease research on German TV channel
In November 2015 we received a German TV crew at WUR who also visited our partners in Indonesia and the Philippines. On 5 January 2016 the TV program Quarks & Co of WDR1, a national TV channel in Germany, devoted a full...
read moreON EXPEDITION IN INDONESIA TO COLLECT FUSARIUM SAMPLES FROM INDIGENOUS BANANAS
Finding wild banana accessions infected with Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc) causing Fusarium wilt of Panama disease in the tropical rain forest. That’s the goal of the second expedition PhD student...
read moreGARCÍA JOINED THE 5TH TECHNICAL BANANA MEETING OF COLOMBIA
Fernando García, PhD student at Wageningen University and Research centre, visited the city of Santa Marta in Colombia as a representative of the banana research team of Wageningen UR.AUGURA, the national banana producer...
read moreKema and Ordonez spoke on the annual meeting of the American Phytopathological Society
At the beginning of August, Gert Kema was invited to kick-off a special session titled “Banana Production at the Crossroad: Impact of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense TR4” at the annual meeting of the American...
read moreUNDERSTANDING THE DISSEMINATION OF PANAMA DISEASE IN THE PHILIPPINES
Maricar Salacinas, PhD student at Wageningen UR, works since two years on the understanding of the dissemination of Panama disease (or TR4) and the efficacy of current methodologies that are used to prevent further...
read moreKEMA VISITS BANANA PLANTATIONS IN CHINA
In May, Gert Kema, group leader of the banana research group of Wageningen UR, visited China to discuss the current Panama disease situation and new ways to slow down and prevent further spreading among Chinese banana...
read morePANAMA DISEASE OUTBREAK IN AUSTRALIA
In Australia, in March 2015, the first outbreaks of Panama disease in banana plantations were reported. Farmers, authorities and other organisations work together to limit the spreading of this devastating banana disease to...
read morePANAMA DISEASE DETECTED IN PAKISTAN AND LEBANON
Following outbreaks in Jordan and Mozambique just over a year ago, the Tropical Race 4 strain (TR4) of Fusarium oxysporum – the cause of Panama disease in Cavendish bananas – has now spread to Pakistan and Lebanon. TR4 was...
read moreNEW PHD STUDENT STUDIES THE GENES RESPONSIBLE FOR PANAMA DISEASE RESISTANCE IN BANANA
Since October 2014 a new PhD student from Indonesia, Fajarudin Ahmad, started at Wageningen University & Research centre to study the genes responsible for resistance to Panama disease. The program deals with segregating...
read moreKIDS TV-PROGRAM "HET KLOKHUIS" VISITS BANANA SCIENTISTS IN WAGENINGEN
On Tuesday the 17th of February, the Dutch kids program “Het Klokhuis” will broadcast an item about the banana recorded in the greenhouses of Wageningen UR. TV-presenter Dolores and Dr. Gert Kema, teach the kids a lot about...
read morePANAMA DISEASE RESEARCH RECEIVES AN EXTRA BOOST THROUGH THE DONATION FROM THE DIORAPHTE FOUNDATION
For the coming five years, Stichting Dioraphte is making available over 1.7 million Euros for the banana research of Wageningen UR. Part of this will be used for a research project which will start soon. The larger part of...
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