Centre for Crop and Disease Management
The Centre for Crop and Disease Management (CCDM), with investment and co-support from Curtin University and GRDC, reduces the impact of crop disease for Aussie growers.
Learn more at www.ccdm.com.au
- 🌾 2026 GRDC Grains Research Updates are nearly here! Proud to have Mark Gibberd chairing “CCDM in the Spotlight” with our students presenting their latest research. 📅 Mon 16 Feb | 🕐 11:30am 📍 Session 4 – Disease 👉 Register here: buff.ly/kREkfa9 @curtinuniversity.bsky.social, #GRDC
- 🎫 The #GRDCUpdates Perth 2026 are right around the corner! Catch Nola D'Souza presenting on The Australian Fungicide Resistance Extension Network. 📅 Mon 16 Feb | 🕑 12:10pm | 📍Session 4 Disease 👉 Register here: buff.ly/kREkfa9 @curtinuniversity.bsky.social, #GRDC
- 🌾 We’re now on Instagram! 🌾 CCDM is excited to join Instagram — your new go‑to spot for updates on crop disease research, field day highlights, and the breakthroughs helping Australian growers stay ahead of disease challenges 📍 Follow us at: @the_CCDM @curtinuniversity.bsky.social, #GRDC
- 🌾 Student Spotlight 🌾 Meet Jade Davis, a PhD student investigating why net form net blotch (NFNB) is evolving so rapidly in WA barley. Her research explores how host genotype and alternative splicing may drive this shift. Supported by Curtin RTP & GRDC. #GRDC, @curtinuniversity.bsky.social
- 🌟 CCDM at the Discover Expo! 🌟 Our scientists — Elizabeth Czislowski, Fatima Naim & Irina Kuznetsova — ran hands‑on STEM fun for Year 8/9 students. 🧬 Extracting strawberry DNA Such an awesome day of curiosity & science! 💚✨ @curtinuniversity.bsky.social ,#GRDC
- Strong research relies on strong data. This article highlights why making data more accessible and shareable is an important step forward for the grains industry — something CCDM proudly supports. 👉 groundcover.grdc.com.au/innovation/i... @curtinuniversity.bsky.social, #GRDC
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- 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 🌾 Curtin PhD student Yutathkarn Coles is tackling net form net blotch in barley using cutting-edge epigenetics & bioinformatics. His work aims to uncover histone-driven disease dynamics & boost pre-breeding immunity. @curtinuniversity.bsky.social, #GRDC
- ✨ Happy Holidays from all of us at CCDM! 🎉🌾 Thank you to our amazing team, collaborators & partners for your support in 2025. 🌱🧬 Wishing you joy & relaxation—see you in 2026! We’re back Jan 5. 🌟
- 🌾 Science in Action: CCDM’s Top 5 Highlights of 2025 🌾 From triple fungicide resistance to breakthroughs in canola disease management, here’s some of the top highlights that shaped 2025! 👉 Read here : buff.ly/OE4ZdNB curtinuniversity.bsky.social, #GRDC
- 🌾 Central NSW growers – how’s the season finishing up for you? In our latest CCDM Spotlight, @em_ayliffe & @MarkGibberd discuss the tight finish and strategies for managing crown rot next year 👀 🦠 📹 Watch the video here: youtu.be/ij6CAu7ljWM 📰 Read the seasonal update here: buff.ly/sjhvmrz
- We’re thrilled to share that Hediyeh Tahghighi has won Second Place in the Life Sciences category of the 2025 LMA/VIA Image Competition for her entry: “Microscopic Invasion: Ascochyta vs Chickpea.” Congratulations, Hediyeh!🎉 #GRDC, @curtinuniversity.bsky.social, hediyeht.bsky.social
- 🌾 How’s is the season wrapping up for WA? In our latest CCDM Spotlight, David Lane & @MarkGibberd discuss the season, new diseases popping up and plans for next year 👀 🦠 📹 Watch the video here: youtu.be/fPGzD3E7gDE 📰 Read the seasonal update here: www.ccdm.com.au/seasonal-upd...
- Reposted by Centre for Crop and Disease ManagementThe paper submission smile @tony_ancy! 😃 Always been a pleasure to guide @theccdm.bsky.social post-graduate students in closing out a project with the submission of their first manuscript draft for peer review! 😍
- Reposted by Centre for Crop and Disease ManagementOur PhD student @tony_ancy 👩🎓identified evidence of distinct Australian wheat powdery mildew pathotypes and sources of strong resistance against the disease🌾 A @theccdm.bsky.social x @InterGrain1 collab! 🤝
- 🌏 Spotlight Seasonal Update 🌏 The 2025 season is coming to an end and harvesting is nearly done. Here, CCDM gathers 4 local updates from around Australia on how it’s getting along. 📰 Read more: www.ccdm.com.au/seasonal-upd... #GRDC #CurtinUni
- Reposted by Centre for Crop and Disease ManagementOur @theccdm.bsky.social preprint on the domain function and interactors of the effector-regulating transcription factor PnPf2 in Parastagonospora nodorum is live! 😁 Led by Shota Morikawa @callumverdonk.bsky.social Collabs 👉 @danielcroll.bsky.social @evan-john.bsky.social
- 🌾 Fungicide resistance happens when fungi survive repeated exposure to the same fungicide group-making disease control harder. That’s why AFREN exists: to help growers manage resistance & protect grain production. Credit: ROC-Engagement and Impact #GRDC, @curtinuniversity.bsky.social
- 🌟 CCDM researchers represented with pride at major conferences across Australia! ✅ Canberra: Biometry in the Bush Capital 2025 & Stromlo Plant Pathology ✅ Adelaide: ASPS-2025 From talks to posters, our team shared cutting-edge plant science research. #GRDC, @curtinuniversity.bsky.social, #BIBC2025
- 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭🌾 Meet Asiri Padukka Vidanalage, a PhD student working to unlock SNB resistance by cloning key susceptibility gene in wheat and analysing plant signalling pathways. Advancing crop protection for a sustainable future! @curtinuniversity.bsky.social #GRDC
- Reposted by Centre for Crop and Disease Management#strompath25 continues with @tobyenewman.bsky.social taking us through RNA interference in sclerotinia diseases …
- Congratulations to @larskamphuis.bsky.social on his appointment as Deputy Director of the Centre for Crop and Disease Management!🎉 Lars has been a research group leader with CCDM since 2016, driving innovation in crop protection and sustainable agriculture. 🌱 #GRDC, @curtinuniversity.bsky.social
- Make sure to add this week's CCDM talk to your calendar 📆 If you're on #CurtinUni campus Friday 5 Dec, come hear from 10x Genomics, Geoff McDermott, as he explores: Cellular Insights in Plant Science: A New Era of Single Cell and Spatial Profiling 🧫🌿
- CCDM made a big impact at MLS Symposium 2025! 🎉 Congrats to our award winners: 🏆 Viet-Cuong Han – Graeme Robertson Award 🎤 Nimllash Thangam & Naomi Gray – Best Oral Presentation 📊 Mohitul Hossain – Best Poster #GRDC, @curtinuniversity.bsky.social
- CCDM hosted the AAGI/GGA Experimental Design Workshop! Led by Adam Sparks, Barbara Kachigunda & Rose Megirian, it equipped grower groups with skills in: ✅ Trial design & protocols ✅ Managing outliers ✅ Planning field trials Proud to support best practices in experimental design! #GRDC
- 🌿 CCDM is at the Stromlo Plant Pathology Conference 2025! 🌍🔬 Our researchers are sharing cutting-edge work on crop disease management at ANU. 📅 27–28 Nov 🗣 Talks on RNA interference, fungicide dynamics & more. 🔗 www.wheatbiosecurity.com/10th-stromlo... #GRDC, @curtinuniversity.bsky.social
- 🌱 Stronger Lentils Ahead! Breeders now have new markers for developing lentil varieties with improved Ascochyta blight resistance. CCDM researchers have mapped the genetic regions that help lentils fight off this pathogen. 📖 doi.org/10.1002/tpg2... #theGRDC #CurtinUni @larskamphuis.bsky.social
- Congratulations to Julia Easton & James Hare - now Associate Professors! Julia leads C4AP for farm profitability & sustainability. James builds bioinformatics power to fight crop disease. CCDM is proud to foster talent & advance agriculture! 🌱 @curtinuniversity.bsky.social #GRDC
- Make sure to add this week's CCDM talk to your calendar 📆 If you're on #CurtinUni campus Friday November 21st, come hear from CCDM'S Kat Zulak as she explores aerial surveillance for antimicrobial resistance detection 🌱
- Make sure to add next week's CCDM talk to your calendar 📆 If you're on #CurtinUni campus Wednesday November 19, come hear from AMU foundation Vice-President Marcin Smiglak, as he explores Commercialising Designable Salicylates Beyond the Lab 🔬
- Thrilled to announce… #AFREN received a High Commendation at the 2025 Engagement Australia Excellence Awards in the Industry Engagement Category 🌟 Supporting the grains industry to tackle fungicide resistance🌱 Congratulations to everyone involved! #theGRDC #CurtinUni #EngagementAustralia
- Student spotlight🌾 Kai Bagley is a PhD student developing multivariate spatial models for on-farm experiments using multilayer sensor data. His work will help growers make more reliable, data-driven agronomic decisions. 🧠📊 #theGRDC #CurtinUni #foodagility
- Make sure to add this week's CCDM talk to your calendar 📆 If you're on #CurtinUni campus Friday 7th Nov, come hear from CCDM’s Toby Newman as he investigates Exploring cross-kingdom RNA interference at the Sclerotinia–host interface 🧬
- Student spotlight🌾 Isobel Screaigh was an Honours student at CCDM whose research on fungal transcription factors just led to a published paper - doi.org/10.1099/acmi... She now works at DAFF as a molecular biologist, identifying plant pathogens using DNA sequencing. #theGRDC #CurtinUni
- Make sure to add this week's CCDM talk to your calendar 📆 If you're on #CurtinUni campus Friday 31st Oct, come hear from CCDM’s Huyen Phan as she explores Transposon-associated adaptation of the Australian Parastagonospora nodorum population 🌾
- 🧪 Fungicide resistance: how it develops, how we fight it 🌾 Hear from CCDM’s Nola D’Souza on the GRDC podcast 🎙️ as she shares how resistance is tracked in the lab, the role of AFREN & how growers can slow its spread. 🎧 Listen: bit.ly/3WFUEMY 💻 AFREN: afren.com.au #theGRDC #CurtinUni
- Reposted by Centre for Crop and Disease ManagementWHY USE #YEAST AS A TOOL WHEN YOU'VE GOT STAGO?😁 Out now on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social, our collab @theccdm.bsky.social led by @labkatz.bsky.social and Fran Lopez-Ruiz developed Parastagonospora nodorum as a tool to study #fungicideresistance genes. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Centre for Crop and Disease ManagementOur @theccdm.bsky.social @CurtinEand #advancedscience student @CarliaHerbst turn to present her research on protein-protein interactions in Parastagonospora nodorum 😎. @callumverdonk.bsky.social
- Reposted by Centre for Crop and Disease ManagementOur @CurtinEandA @theccdm.bsky.social #advancedscience student 👨🎓Keshara Thanthrige (right) presenting his research assessment on the development of selectable marker recycling♻️ in a fungal pathogen. Well done mate! 👏 @ShotaMorikawa69 @callumverdonk.bsky.social
- Reposted by Centre for Crop and Disease ManagementDo we need to reassess how disease resistance ratings on crops are determined? 🤔 Our @theccdm.bsky.social preprint revealed co-infection of wheat by P. nodorum & P. tritici-repentis breaks down resistance BUT there is a CAVEAT www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Make sure to add this week's CCDM talk to your calendar 📆 If you're on #CurtinUni campus Friday 24th Oct, come hear from CCDM’s Research Students as they introduce themselves and provide snapshots on their research 🧪🔬
- 🎉 Huge congrats to Dr Fatima Naim on winning a Young Tall Poppy Science Award! 🌱 Her groundbreaking work in plant physiology & disease tolerance is helping fight crop disease and boost resilience. 👩🔬 #theGRDC #CurtinUni #AIPS
- Make sure to add this week's CCDM talk to your calendar 📆 If you're on #CurtinUni campus Friday 17th Oct, come hear from APPN's, Dr Hammad Khan & A/Prof Nic Taylor as they explore Phenotyping of Crops using Australian Plant Phenomics Network (APPN) Facilities 🌱
- Make sure to add this week's CCDM talk to your calendar 📆 If you're on #CurtinUni campus Friday 10 Oct, come hear from CCDM’s Arundhati Singh as she explores From seed to leaf: mapping fluxapyroxad dynamics 🍃
- 🌾 WA growers – how’s the season going for you? In our latest CCDM Spotlight, David Lane & Mark Gibberd discuss the season, early fungicide application and future planning 👀 🦠 📰 Read the seasonal update here: buff.ly/uspzo3h
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- 🌾 Central NSW growers – how’s the season going for you? In our latest CCDM Spotlight, Emma Ayliffe & Mark Gibberd discuss the low foliar disease pressure and how for dryland croppers eyes are turning to crown rot 👀 🦠 📰 Read the seasonal update here: buff.ly/UYxx6Nt
- 🌏 Spotlight Seasonal Update 🌏 The 2025 season has begun; some early crops are on their way and some are just emerging now. We got 4 local updates from around Australia earlier this month on how it’s starting out. 📰 Read more: buff.ly/uspzo3h
- 🌾 Canola field trials in action at @CurtinUni! 🌾 We're testing 9 varieties across 660 plants to better understand resistance to Sclerotinia stem rot. Covered plots + red rice inoculation = ideal conditions for disease development. 🍚🦠 #theGRDC #CurtinUni @mcderbyshire.bsky.social
- Our fungicide resistance team joined the Stirlings to Coast Farmers field day last week sharing insights and collecting disease samples. Leon Hodgson & Nola D’Souza gave some great updates on fungicide testing, resistance mapping & AFREN 🌿 📷: #Stirlings2Coast #theGRDC #CurtinUni
- Reposted by Centre for Crop and Disease ManagementOur @theccdm.bsky.social postdoc @callumverdonk.bsky.social came up with the goods @cbsmwa.bsky.social!!! Congrats on the New Investigator Award! 🏆💪 #CBSMWA #CBSMWA2025
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- Reposted by Centre for Crop and Disease ManagementBig thank you to @cbsmwa.bsky.social for letting me waffle on about my work on Pf2 and it's role in effector regulation! #effectors #CBSMWA #CBSM @theccdm.bsky.social @karchuntan.bsky.social
- Make sure to add this week's CCDM talk to your calendar 📆 If you're on #CurtinUni campus Friday 26 September, come hear from CCDMs Ancy Tony as she explores Developing Genetic Resistance in Wheat to Powdery Mildew 🌾
- 🌱 It’s been a brilliant week at #IFLRC2025 & #APC2025 in Perth! 🔬 CCDM kicked things off with the welcome reception and we had great talks from @larskamphuis.bsky.social & Bernadette Henares, plus posters from CCDM staff. 🎉Congrats to all that worked hard to run this conference. #theGRDC #CurtinUni
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- Reposted by Centre for Crop and Disease Management📢💥Team work pays off!!! Looks @theccdm.bsky.social lads found a new epistasis-regulated (probable) necrotrophic effector from Stago nodorum @callumverdonk.bsky.social @ShotaMorikawa69
- 1,2,3...The @theccdm.bsky.social lads teamed up for an effector bioassay experiment 😁 @callumverdonk.bsky.social
- Make sure to add this week's CCDM talk to your calendar 📆 If you're on #CurtinUni campus Tues 23 Sept, come hear from RICA Seed Center’s Joseph Moughan as he explores Driving Conservation Agriculture Principles in the Seed Sector of Rwanda and Lessons for East-Central Africa.
- Reposted by Centre for Crop and Disease Management1,2,3...The @theccdm.bsky.social lads teamed up for an effector bioassay experiment 😁 @callumverdonk.bsky.social
- Make sure to add this week's CCDM seminar talk to your calendar 📆 If you're on @CurtinUni campus Thursday 18 September, come hear from Australian National University’s Peter Solomon as he explores What is happening in the Solomon Lab? 🧪🔬
- 🎤 Big congrats to Nimllash Thangam for making it to the #FameLab Australia National Final! 🌱 Catch his talk on pathogens in lentil crops & how molecular tools are fast-tracking crop protection 🌾🧬 📅 Sept 18 📍 @wamuseum.bsky.social 🎟️ visit.museum.wa.gov.au/boolabardip/... #CurtinUni #theGRDC
- 🌱 Less than a week to go until the 8th International Food Legume Research Conference and the 5th Australian Pulse Conference! 🌿 📅 15–19 Sept | 📍 Pan Pacific Perth 🌍 Dive into legume science, sustainability & global markets! 🔗 Register: www.iflrc-apc2025.com/registration/
- 🧠 Can AI help us understand how fungal pathogens infect plants? A new review says yes. AI tools show promise in modelling effector–plant protein interactions to fight crop disease🌾 📖 doi.org/10.1016/j.cs... #GRDC #CurtinUni @callumverdonk.bsky.social @kgagalova.bsky.social @mcderbyshire.bsky.social
- Make sure to add this week's CCDM talk to your calendar 📆 If you're on #CurtinUni campus Friday 12 Sept, come hear from CCDM's Erin Elstermann and Melanie Dixon as they explore How can we support the adoption of best practice research data management in the grains industry? 👩💻
