On the 8th of April 2025, VIRTIGATION organised the opening session at the prestigious IAPV 25 conference in Murcia, Spain.
The IAPV 25: a flagship plant virology event
The International Advances in Plant Virology (IAPV) 25 edition gathered more than 230 renowned plant virologists in academia and industry from across the globe. Set in the dynamic capital of the Murcia region, the IAPV 25 took place from 8-11 April. With this record attendance, the IAPV 25 maintained its position as the flagship event for the field of plant virology.
Alongside Almería, the region of Murcia is one of the key Spanish hubs for growing horticultural crops in greenhouses. Murcia was therefore perfectly suited to discuss the latest scientific findings in all aspects of plant virology.
The Virology group of the renowned Association of Applied Biologists (AAB) organised the IAPV. For this edition, the VIRTIGATION project joined as co-organiser, alongside the Euphresco project community network for practices in plant virology (VIRNET2).
VIRTIGATION opening session on ToBRFV
After welcome remarks by the AAB lead organisers, the IAPV 25 conference kicked off with its opening session. The session was organised by VIRTIGATION communication lead David Donnerer from the RTDS Association, and moderated by the VIRTIGATION ToBRFV expert Aviv Dombrovsky from the Volcani Center.
Titled “Defining new mitigation strategies for durable disease management of ToBRFV”, the VIRTIGATION session gathered leading ToBRFV experts from project partners (i.e. Volcani Center, DCM CORP, TECNOVA) as well as from outside the project (i.e. National Institute of Biology, Fera Science).
In the first part of the session, the invited ToBRFV experts provided an in-depth overview on the latest advances in detection, prevention and mitigation on ToBRFV through practical examples and hands-on experience from the field.
Lively and spirited debate on how to control the ToBRFV pandemic
After a short break, the second part of the VIRTIGATION session included a panel discussion on the future of ToBRFV research. The panellists touched upon the entire spectrum of ToBRFV research, ranging from resistance breeding, seed testing, cross-protection, all the way to the role of imports in causing outbreaks. Thanks to the strong involvement of IAPV 25 attendees, the discussion turned into a lively and spirited debate on the future measures needed to control the ToBRFV pandemic. Special attention was thereby given to the implications of the new status of ToBRFV as a non-regulated quarantine pest in the EU as of 2025.
The panellists and IAPV 25 participants concluded that all value chain actors – from (seed) industry, researchers to growers – have a key role to keep ToBRFV in check. Especially the new regulation status for ToBRFV should not deter stakeholders to continue fighting this devastating virus with the same rigor as before. This includes stringent detection, reporting and eradication measures to maintain the ToBRFV pandemic under control.
Strong VIRTIGATION presence at the IAPV 25 poster exhibition
Several VIRTIGATION partners, including CRAG, CSIC, INRAE, KU Leuven and Julius-Kühn Institut, showcased their latest research findings in the IAPV 25 poster exhibition. The VIRTIGATION posters attracted a lot of attention from IAPV 25 participants, especially the posters created by young VIRTIGATION scientists. Overall, as in previous editions, the IAPV 25 conference succeeded again in providing a crucial platform for young plant virologists to highlight their research to the plant virology community.
Title image © Shutterstock; all other photos © 2025 RTDS Association
For more coverage of the IAPV 25:
- Recording and presentations of the VIRTIGATION opening session at the IAPV 25.
- Selected VIRTIGATION posters showcased at the IAPV 25.
- VIRTIGATION scientists Atiwich Patthamapornsirikul from INRAE and Clara Ontañón Rojas from CRAG presenting their posters in our new video format #PitchYourPoster.
