🌱 We're starting 2026 by taking lab science into the field, supporting crop, forest, and ecosystem protection across Europe. 📄 Catch up on the latest PurPest activities in our January newsletter: www.purpest.eu/news/newslet...

Genetic variation in a plant-parasitic nematode is associated with gene expression changes conserved across evolutionarily distant host plants https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.07.698247v1

#MicroSky: Fungal EVs to fight nematodes? A nematode-trapping fungus is now an RNA delivery platform to shuttle RNAi molecules into root-knot nematodes, slashing their mobility and infectivity. An eco-friendly leap toward sustainable pest control. Read Huang et al. doi.org/10.1111/1751...

Soil in the Atacama Desert supports unexpectedly diverse and resilient nematode populations, with biodiversity patterns closely linked to elevation, precipitation, and temperature gradients. doi.org/hbjtfx

🚨 The pinewood nematode, a critical forest pest species, was sighted for the first time in France last November. 💡 FORSAID researchers joined the response team, working to improve pest monitoring and detection methods using innovative digital tools. 👀 Find out more: forsaid.eu/news/france-...

Researchers have discovered a periodic scaffold in the epidermis adjacent to the nervous system of C. elegans. The find may indicate similar structures in other organisms. Learn more in this week’s issue of #ScienceAdvances: https://scim.ag/4qaC6BF

🌱 #PracticeAbstract1️⃣: New modelling shows tropical root-knot #nematodes could spread north in #Europe as winters warm🌡 High-risk regions for future invasion are identified, helping #farmers & agricultural #advisors plan ahead👩🏾‍🌾👨🏻‍🌾 📗Read it: bit.ly/3LxAYcr @exeter.ac.uk @scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu

🤖 As I approach the final months of my PhD, I decided to run a small experiment. I asked Gemini to audit my professional footprint (analyzing my Google Scholar and ORCID profiles) and predict my career trajectory for the next five years. 💭 The analysis was surprisingly detailed 👇

Call for #abstracts📢 36th ESN #Symposium in the #Netherlands🪱 📅 On June 1-5, the European Society of #Nematologists will organise the #ESN2026 event in Egmond aan Zee #Amsterdam 📍Deadline for submitting #abstracts is 15 January❗️ Register for the event👉🏼 esn2026.nl/registration... @w-u-r.bsky.social

“Comparative Transcriptomic Analysis of Soybean Recombinant Inbred Lines Differing at the Rmi1 Locus for Resistance to Meloidogyne incognita During Early Stages of Nematode Infection,” by Kelly Goode and Melissa G. Mitchum. Read the open access article: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-04-25-0143-SC

🌲 For 27 yrs, Europe's response to the PWN stayed the same: 🪓🔥. Millions spent on diagnostics & buffer zones, yet the #nematode spread from 🇵🇹 to 🇪🇸 and now 🇫🇷. Diagnostics matter, but aren't a cure. Time to fund solutions: biocontrol & long-term management. Buffer zones failed. Science didn't. 🔬✅

Excited to announce we are organising a YNN themed session at the 36th Symposium of the European Society of Nematologists June 1–5, 2026. This session will explore unexpected or negative results to extract meaningful messages. Submit your abstract until the 30th January -> forms.gle/9wU8tGbwLxaS...

🔬 Excited to continue driving high-impact science and raising the bar for excellence at the institute in 2026. 🌍 Proud of the collaborative bridges we've built with this work, and grateful to my co-authors for pushing the boundaries of international science with me. Onwards! 🚀

🎄🔬 Taking a break from the bench to cultivate some holiday cheer! Wishing you a restorative Holiday season and a New Year filled with fruitful discoveries in plant health. 🌱✨

🫘 Thank you once again to Voz do Campo for the invite and opportunity. 📘 Originally published in Nitrogen (doi.org/10.3390/nitr...) over the summer, our insights have now been translated into Portuguese, and featured in the final edition of 2025! Find out more 👇 vozdocampo.pt/arquivo/52395

🌍 #NEMEMERGE at #AdvancesInNematology 2025🧬 Our coordinator Hans Helder took the stage at the @aabiologists.bsky.social event in #London #UK to showcase the #NEMEMERGE project to the global nematology community🪱 It was a great opportunity to connect with researchers. Thank you❗️ℹ️ bit.ly/498xMwN

A newly identified nematode species, Diplolaimelloides woaabi, appears to be unique to the Great Salt Lake and may play an important ecological role in this saline environment. doi.org/hbfhcs

Root-knot nematode egg masses host distinct bacterial communities, according to research by Daniele de Brum et al. Significant differences were found in the communities colonizing symptomatic and asymptomatic plants in field conditions: https://doi.org/10.1094/PBIOMES-10-24-0099-R

PXD071707 🚨 Proteomic profiling of rice (Oryza sativa Nipponbare) roots during compatible interaction with the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne graminicola 🚨 New dataset alert! 🚨

Thank you @aabiologists.bsky.social for the invitation to present. I had a fantastic time at the conference!

A new study: Multi-component trail pheromones of the #entomopathogenic #nematodes #Steinernema diaprepesi and #Heterorhabditis bacteriophora doi.org/10.1016/j.ji... #EPNs #biocontrol #pheromones #ascarosides #trailpheromone #behavior #insect #pests @pheronym.com @entsocamerica.bsky.social

🚀 2025 was defined by internationalization: contributions used in classrooms and documents, and worldwide collaborations. 🧠 But the real story is about the mindset shift behind the work. Read the Year in Review: 👉 dpires.substack.com/p/wrapping-u... #PhDLife #AcademicChatter

A new paper, co-authored by WormAtlas directors Dave Hall and Nate Schroeder, describes how C. elegans community research resources, including WormAtlas, provide the infrastructure that supports nematode research around the world. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🌍 Honored to see our work cross borders! 🚜🌾 Voz do Campo approached me to republish an article I co-authored (originally in Nitrogen doi.org/10.3390/nitr...). It is now available in Portuguese in their final 2025 edition. 👇 Sneak peek below, and full online version to follow once available.

From nematode to Nobel: How community-shared resources fueled the rise of Caenorhabditis elegans as a research organism - a perspective written by 11 scientists, six of whom are Nobel laureates www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Le nématode du pin Bursaphelenchus xylophilus est un ver microscopique capable de tuer certains conifères en bloquant la circulation de leur sève. Il a récemment été détecté en France pour la 1e fois, dans les Landes. Des mesures de restriction sont mises en place pour empêcher sa propagation.

Engineering microbes to soak up more carbon, boost crop yields and restore former farmland is appealing. But synthetic biology fixes must be done thoughtfully. 👉 Read the full story: theconversation.com/enginee...

DYK that while working for the USDA, Dr. Fatma Kaplan was introduced to beneficial nematodes and learned that they used the same class of communication signals as plant-parasitic nematodes do? Learn more about Pheronym's journey in this podcast episode 🎧 joegardener.com/podcast/nema...

🚨 New paper is out! 🌿 We review how #pesticides affect life across ecosystems, from microbes to amphibians, and highlight strategies to mitigate their ecological impacts. Sustainable pest management needs healthy ecosystems. 👉 Read at www.mdpi.com/2413-4155/7/...

How a #plant- #parasitic #nematode can infect a wide range of #organisms

⚠️ The spread of the pinewood nematode is a development of great concern to the future of European forests. 🤝 We stand by our fellow #HorizonEurope project @purpest-eu.bsky.social as we pursue complementary innovations in the management of such outbreaks. #Forests #Pests #PlantHealth

The first #NEMEMERGE #newsletter is out 📩💥 🔝The project has reached one year and a half of implementation and we have come up with a good number of #advancements & #results🪱. To read the 1st issue👉🏾 bit.ly/4i9XOmm To subscribe👉🏾 bit.ly/49ZdQNE @w-u-r.bsky.social @scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu

Nematode worm

🚨 First detection of the pinewood nematode in France 👉 Learn more about how @purpest-eu.bsky.social aims to streamline detection through technological innovations: www.purpest.eu

Absolutely excited for #VNC25 tomorrow! Featuring talks from ECRs, 2 workshops, a murder mystery, and a pub with games. We are excited to have registrations from 55 countries! If you are interested in joining the YNN board, come along to our info session from 16:00-16:25 CET.

Please share. U Vermont is now advertising the soil ecology position that was vacated when I retired in 2024, and was caught in a hiring freeze last year. The job posting number is F3517PO. A direct link to the announcement: www.uvmjobs.com/postings/83858

🆕 Our new paper is out in The ISME Journal!🌱🧬🦠 We uncover how epigenetic regulation drives chemical crosstalk between plants & microbes — key to sustainable agriculture. Proud collaboration with our friends of Dr. Mengcen Wang's lab @ZJU @itqbnova.bsky.social 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/isme...

New paper !! 🌱 Transcriptional re-programming of defense responses in Capsicum annuum roots induced by the interaction of the endophyte fungus Pochonia chlamydosporia and the plant-parasitic nematode Meloidogyne incognita Read: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #plantsciences #transcriptomics

Le nématode du pin, ver ravageur qui a déjà sévi au Portugal et en Espagne, a fait son apparition dans la forêt des Landes, l'une des plus vastes d'Europe, où la filière sylvicole redoute une prolifération "dévastatrice"

Nématode du pin : "Un prédateur de plus qui peut obliger à éradiquer tous les arbres d'un secteur" www.franceinfo.fr/france/nouve...

Nématode du pin : détecté dans les Landes, il fait trembler la forêt et les autorités 🔗https://l.sudouest.fr/sdXU

Nématode du pin dans les Landes : la traque va s’amplifier 🔗https://l.sudouest.fr/vZLX

Bad news for the French Pine forests! 😩 First outbreak of the #Pinewood #Nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus on Maritime #Pine (Pinus pinaster) in the Landes de Gascogne Forest (Southwest France). #PWN #ForestHealth #ForestPathology agriculture.gouv.fr/sante-des-ve...

🚨 The detection of the pinewood #nematode in France🇫🇷 exposes the flaws of current management strategies, focused on delaying rather than creating actual solutions, like we highlighted in our latest paper: doi.org/10.1007/s106... 📰 News: www.ouest-france.fr/environnemen...

✍️ I’ve just filled out the @femsmicro.org survey, a great chance to make sure microbiologists’ voices are heard across Europe! 🌍

❓Interested in the fundamentals of effective research communication? ❗️Here is a webinar that will discuss these questions and more: 💻IUFRO Masterclass in Research Communication and Pathways to Impact 🗓️17 November 🕔17.00 UTC 🔗 us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi... #ForestScience #ScienceCommunication

✍️ Open letter signed ✅

🪱 Virulent vs. avirulent #nematodes ✅A #virulent nematode population can infect & reproduce on plants carrying resistance genes. ❎An #avirulent population cannot overcome plant resistance and fails to reproduce. Watch #video 🎦 bit.ly/3WfIAlI @xsorribas.bsky.social @scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu