When: Tuesday, Sept. 19, at 2 p.m.

Where: The UF/IFAS Plant Diagnostic Center, University of Florida campus, 2570 Hull Road in Gainesville

About:

The plant doctors are in the house, and they want to invite media in to see how persistent plant diseases are tackled at the UF/IFAS Plant Diagnostic Center.

The UF/IFAS Plant Diagnostic Center provides plant diagnostic knowledge and services to solve plant health problems.

Center Director Carrie Harmon and Emily McElroy, George A. Smathers Libraries associate dean for research and health sciences, will give opening remarks and will be available for media interviews.

Attendees will tour the center and its multipurpose library and will meet librarians from the George A. Smathers Libraries’ Academic Research Consulting & Services to learn how they support researchers.

The center is a member of the National Plant Diagnostic Network  consortium of diagnostic laboratories and serves as the host institution of the Southern Plant Diagnostic Network.

Scientists at the plant disease center tackle challenges including lethal viral necrosis of St. Augustine grass, which is caused by sugarcane mosaic virus and is a growing problem in Florida, as well as solutions to diseases that can kill palm trees.

Recognizing its importance to agriculture in Florida and beyond, UF/IFAS opened a state-of-the-art facility for the center in 2013. The facility includes a containment lab, allowing it to accept samples from every state and territory, as well as international samples – the only diagnostic lab in the Southeast U.S. that can do so. A teaching lab enables the center to help train diagnosticians from around the world.

Media contact: If you plan to attend this event, please contact Joe Kaleita, communications specialist for the Plant Pathology Department, at 352-273-4614 or at joekaleita@ufl.edu.

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