With four speakers, we might even call the IPPS November seminar a small symposium. All four talks will explore aspects of parasitic plant–microbiome interactions. Each presentation will last 20–30 minutes, with the session starting at 1 PM and concluding at around 3 PM GMT.
The four speakers and their presentation titles are:
Olubukola Oluranti Babalola — North-West University, South Africa
Microbiome-Informed Biocontrol of Striga hermonthica in Maize: Integrating Rhizosphere Microbial Ecology, Metagenomics and Biotechnology
Mohamed Hijri — Université de Montréal, Canada
Potential Plant-to-Plant Transmission: Shared Endophytic Bacterial Community Between Ziziphus lotus and Its Parasite Cuscuta epithymum
Lucie Poulin — Nantes Université, France
Soil as a Key Factor Shaping Parasitic Plant-Host Plant Interactions
Tamera Taylor — University of California, Davis, USA
Disentangling the Importance of Microbiological and Physico-Chemical Properties of Ethiopian Field Soils for the Striga Seed Bank and Sorghum Infestation
Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2026
Time: 1–3 PM GMT
Local start times: 5 AM in Asilomar – 8 AM in Charlottesville – 10 AM in São Paulo – 1 PM in Sheffield – 2 PM in Amsterdam – 4 PM in Nairobi – 9 PM in Kunming – 10 PM in Nara
Please note: Daylight saving time will have ended in Europe and North America by this date, so please check your local start time carefully.
Further details about the talks and how to join the seminar online will be posted in the members’ area of the IPPS website and sent by email.
We look forward to seeing you all online.