November 2019: Compiled by Willem Boshoff and Botma Visser
Professor Robert Park, Head of Cereal Rust Research at the Plant Breeding Institute (PBI) at the University of Sydney, visited Dr Willem Boshoff and Prof Botma Visser from the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State during October. Rust researchers at the two Institutions have been involved in many collaborative projects in the past and through this visit, these ties were strengthened. During his visit, he gave a talk entitled “Approaching 100 years of cereal rust research at the University of Sydney; lessons learnt and the way ahead”.
Over the past 31 years, Prof Park established a very successful cereal rust research program at the PBI and currently has 40 staff members under his supervision. His research mandate include the monitoring of several cereal rust populations in Australia, the development and release of rust resistant wheat, rye, oat and barley varieties and the cloning of rust resistance genes from these crops.