GEVES at the EPPO 2026 conference
Pathologists from GEVES attended the EPPO (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation) conference on the diagnosis of plant pathogens, which took place in Vienna, Austria, from 22 to 24 April.
This leading international event brought together more than 150 experts from 32 countries to discuss current and future challenges in the detection of pathogens in plants and seeds.
The GEVES teams played an active role in the scientific discussions, through a number of poster presentations, oral presentations and contributions to panel discussions, demonstrating their commitment to developing robust, innovative diagnostic methods that meet international regulatory requirements.
The lively discussions at this event contribute directly to improving practices, supporting the seed sector and ensuring the long-term protection of crops.
On this occasion, Justine Foucher spoke at the “Test Development and Validation” session to present and discuss a method for the simultaneous detection of five fungal taxa in flax seeds, designed to meet the operational needs of laboratories.
Jaiana Malabarba presented a study on pathogens transmitted via tomato and pepper seeds, with a view to developing an improved and reliable detection method based on real-time PCR using seed extracts.
Mylène Ruh presented the SeqDetectVeg project, which aims to develop high-throughput sequencing (HTS) tools for the multi-target detection of bacterial and fungal pathogens transmitted via vegetable seeds.
Amandine Lê Van presented the development and international validation, as part of an ISHI international project, of a protocol for detecting Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae in bean seeds, a key issue for the prevention of plant health risks.
Finally, Nicolas Denancé presented and contributed to discussions on developments in the field of seed health testing, putting the technical monitoring methods used and the various tools developed by ISTA (image database, methods, bibliographic inventory) into context.
GEVES’s participation in this EPPO conference confirms its active role as a National Reference Laboratory within international scientific networks, its recognised expertise in seed health quality, and its ongoing commitment to the development, validation and harmonisation of detection methods.
