A Season of Citrus Innovation, Student Achievements, and Scientific Engagement: Spring–Summer 2025
- citpathlab
- Sep 3
- 2 min read
Early May (May 3, 2025), Gainesville, FL: Dr. Ozgur Batuman gave a seminar during UF/IFAS Plant Pathology's inaugural Plant Breeders Workshop, which brought together faculty and staff members from various departments to foster collaboration across disciplines.
June 8-10, Bonita Springs, FL: Dr. Ozgur Batuman, Dr. Sanju Kunwar, and Lauren Fessler Mathews attended the 38th Annual Meeting of the Florida State Horticultural Society.
Lauren gave a talk titled, "Defining Best Management Practices for Trunk Injections of Oxytetracycline in Citrus: Exposure Time" and,
Sanju presented on "Optimizing Antibiotic Rotations and Alternative Therapeutics for Sustainable HLB Management in Florida Citrus".
July 25, Belle Glade, FL: MS student Selin Boga presented a poster titled, "Potential of Australian finger lime (Citrus australasica) derived hybrid interstocks for sustainable management of huanglongbing in citrus" at the South Florida Student & Post-doc Research Symposium. There, in addition to sharing her project, she was able to connect with other researchers in the area and learn about crop production systems throughout the region.
August 2-5, Honolulu, HI: Dr. Ozgur Batuman, Dr. Sanju Kunwar, and Lauren Fessler Mathews attended Plant Health 2025, the annual meeting of the American Phyto pathological Society.
There they were able to connect with plant pathologists from across the country that come from many different universities and disciplines. Lots was learned from the slate of talks and presentations at the conference and all three presented ongoing research in the lab.
Sanju moderated the Citrus HLB Disease session and gave the concluding talk titled "A Multi-Faceted Approach to Managing Huanglongbing (HLB) in Florida Citrus Orchards".
Dr. Batuman presented a poster titled "Potential of Australian finger lime (Citrus australasica) derived hybrid interstocks for sustainable management of huanglongbing in citrus" on behalf of Selin Boga and,
Lauren presented another poster titled "Evaluating the ability of oxytetracycline to maintain efficacy after exposure to high temperatures".
Additionally, Dr. Batuman and Lauren had the opportunity to do some additional networking during the Industry & Extension Networking event and the Women and Allies in Plant Pathology Breakfast, respectively.
Lauren also had the privilege of attending the Tour of Tropical Crop Production where she learned about the wide range of cropping systems in Hawaii.
Scholarships (Awarded in April, June, and August): To help with travel costs to attend Plant Health 2025, MS student Lauren Fessler Mathews was awarded the Francis Aloysius Wood Memorial Award by UF's Department of Plant Pathology. She also was awarded the John Edwardson Plant Pathology Scholarship by the department and most recently UF CALS granted her the Muriel Rumsey Foundation Scholarship.
Comments