A workshop done on pathogen detection took place on Friday 15th at ‘“Centro Ricerche , Sperimentazioni e Formazione in Agricoltura ‘Basile-Caramia’ ” in Locorotondo (Bari).

The workshop was led by Dr Angelantonio Minafra, IPSP – CNR, who presented the activities of the FREE@POC project in the field of pathogen detection and demonstrated the illustrative example tests.

We had 12 people attending the half-day demonstration of instrument-free molecular techniques for the detection of X. Fastidiosa in olive tissues. The techniques performed were: colorimetric LAMP and recombinase-polymerase amplification followed by lateral flow strip detection.

The participants were researchers and technicians belonging to: Regional Phytosanitary Service, Plant Protection Laboratories of University of Foggia and University of Bari, CIHEAM (Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes – Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari), CRSFA Locorotondo, COLDIRETTI ( Farmers interprofessional organization), and Nurseries technical staff from Vivai Capitanio (Monopoli), Vivai Floras (Ruvo di Puglia), Vivai Fortunato (Sammichele di Bari).