October 2006 NPDN First Detector newsletter

Network News

The newsletter for the NPDN First Detector Community

October 20, 2006

Volume 3, Number 9

www.sbrusa.net

First Detector Success Stories
The Training and Education Subcommittee is soliciting First Detector success stories for the NPDN review document. An example of a success story from Florida includes the following:

"Anthony Camerino, Horticulture Agent and Master Gardener Coordinator for the University of Florida, Citrus County Cooperative Extension attended a 'High Risk Pest First Detector Training' during May 2006. In August 2006, a few homeowners talked to Master Gardener volunteers about an insect that didn't exactly look like the common leaf-footed bug. The Master Gardener volunteers brought the specimen to Anthony, and he immediately suspected that the leaffooted bug was the recently detected Leptoglossus phyllopus. Specimen identification was confirmed by Lyle Buss, UF/IFAS Insect Identification Lab. This was the first find of L. phyllopus in Citrus County, Florida."

Please send success stories to your Regional Training and Education Coordinator or to Amanda Hodges achodges@ufl.edu.

The new First Detector Training website is now at http://cbc.at.ufl.edu/.

Phone:

(352) 392-3631 ext 254

Fax:

(352) 392-6532

E-mail:

clharmon@ufl.edu

We’re on the Web!

http://sepdn.org/

Click hereif you would like to receive the newsletter via email.

Published by the

Southern Plant Diagnostic Network (SPDN)
© Copyright University of Florida

Editor: Carrie L. Harmon

Online Offerings

^New Join Us at the National Meeting Registration and abstract submission is now available for the first ever NPDN National Meeting to be held January 28-31, 2007 at the Wyndham Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida. The tentative program, abstract submission instructions, registration and hotel information is available at: http://www.npdn.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=6&tabid=38. If you do not currently have a Plant Management Network (PMN) password, you will need to create one to register and/or submit an abstract.

To register:
1. Go to the Registration Tab.
2. Click on “Register On-line”.
3. On the Plant Management Network Page, go to the NPDN Members area and sign in.
4. Fill in the appropriate fields and submit the registration form.

To submit an abstract:
1. Go to the Abstract Submission Tab.
2. Click on “Log In”.
3. Fill the appropriate fields and submit the abstract.

^New The NPDN Training & Education site The new First Detector training site is at http://cbc.at.ufl.edu/. A new error-reporting system is now in place. Use of this system will help us improve the entire training experience.

^New An Advisory Council has been formed for the SPDN. Meet the members and find more information on the SPDN AC page.

Pest and Pathogen News

^New^Louisiana^{Pink Hibiscus Mealybug Finds}^{Pink Hibiscus Mealybugs Discovered in Jefferson Parish Oct 5, 2006. Link to the original press release.}

^New Soybean rust has been found infecting this year's soybeans in eleven states: AL, FL, GA, IL, KY, LA, MO, MS, NC, SC, and TX. Find more information at www.sbrusa.net.

^New Update to list of plant hosts reported with Phytophthora ramorum. Find more at the NAPPO website. The list was revised 9-11-06.

Potato Cyst Nematode Diagnostic Information Protocols and information can be found on the Nematodes page.

Permits

The USDA-APHIS-PPQ Permits Division would like to remind personnel at all diagnostic and research laboratories that all interstate movement of pathogens (diagnostic samples or research isolates) requires a permit to receive unknown samples ("526"). States receiving samples from clients in adjacent states must also obtain a permit, but the permit will not require a biosafety hood. To access the new E-Permit website, follow this link: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/permits/learn_epermits.shtml. For more information, contact Carrie Harmon. More permit-related documents can be found on the Form-n-Things page of the SPDN website.

View an SPDN slide set about eAuthentication and ePermits here .

^{Training
Opportunities}

^New Two New Training Modules Available
Two new special topic training modules have been reviewed and will be posted on the NPDN training site http://cbc.at.ufl.edu/ during the week of October 23, 2006.

Redbay Ambrosia Beetle, Xyleborus glabratus-by Amanda Ellis, Albert Mayfield III, and Amanda Hodges
Africanized Honeybees, Apis mellifera scutellata-by Amanda Ellis, James Ellis, and Amanda Hodges

Several other special topic training modules are currently under review and will be available soon.

^New Update on the National Training Program in Crop Biosecurity for First Detectors Article by Cindy Richardson-Decker (PDF)

A workshop on real-time PCR for applied plant pathologists will be held at the University of Kentucky on 23-25 Jan 2007 and again on 27 Feb – 1 Mar 2007. Participants will execute and interpret four real-time PCR experiments, extract DNA, and run a gel. Topics include theory of real-time PCR, experimental controls, PCR inhibition, use of PCR kits, licensing, minimizing sample contamination, and troubleshooting. For more information, contact Paul Vincelli (pvincell@uky.edu). [Note: workshops are filling up fast; both are half-full]

21st Annual Tomato Disease Workshop: The TDW is being held on Nov. 9-10th at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research & Extension Center in Fletcher, NC. Click here for more information. A call for presentations will soon be sent out.