Developing a Translational Team Training Program using the Wisconsin Interventions in Team Science Framework

The Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program supports a national network of medical research institutions working to improve the translational process. High-performing translational teams (TTs) are critical for advancing evidence-based approaches that improve human health. When focused on content-appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes, targeted training results in the substantial internalization of training content, producing new skills that can be applied to improve team outputs, outcomes, and benefits. More rigorous approaches to develop, test, and evaluate interventions are needed, and we used the Wisconsin Interventions in Team Science framework as a model to systematize our efforts. We designed, built, and tested a five-session TT Training Program for translational researchers. The 90-minute sessions were pilot-tested with 47 postdoctoral fellows and evaluated through a structured evaluation plan. Ninety-five percent of post-session survey respondents indicated that the content and skills provided would make them more effective collaborators, and one hundred percent would recommend the sessions to colleagues. Respondents’ scores increased from pretest to posttest for most learning outcomes. Refinements from participant feedback are described. This work provides a foundation for the continued evolution of evidence-based training programs in the CTSA environment

Variation in growth rates and aggressiveness of naturally occurring self-fertile and self-sterile isolates of the wilt pathogen Ceratocystis albifundus

Ceratocystis albifundus is the most important fungal pathogen of black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) grown in plantations in southern and eastern Africa. It is a homothallic fungus but also undergoes unidirectional mating type switching. As a result, the ascospore progeny can be either self-fertile or self-sterile. The only apparent difference between these mating types is the deletion of the MAT1-2-1 gene in self-sterile isolates. There is some evidence suggesting that self-sterile isolates grow more slowly than self-fertile isolates, but this has not been tested rigorously. The aim of this study was to determine whether self-sterile isolates are less fit by examining growth rate, relative germination rate and pathogenicity. Five self-sterile isolates were generated from each of five self-fertile isolates of C. albifundus and these 30 isolates were compared. The results showed that the self-sterile isolates grew consistently slower and were less pathogenic than the self-fertile isolates. The germination ratio of self-fertile to self-sterile isolates from single ascospores collected from the ascomata of five self-fertile isolates was on average 7:3. This could be a consequence of the self-sterile isolates having a lower germination rate. This observation, and the lower growth and pathogenicity levels, suggests that self-sterile isolates are not likely to compete effectively in nature, raising intriguing questions regarding their role and value to C. albifundus and other fungi having a similar mating system.Tree Protection Cooperative Program (TPCP), the National Research Foundation (NRF; Grant Specific Unique Reference Number 83924) and the THRIP initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DST)/NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology, South Africahttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-30592016-10-31hb201

New species of Ophiostomatales from Scolytinae and Platypodinae beetles in the Cape Floristic Region, including the discovery of the sexual state of Raffaelea

Olea capensis and Rapanea melanophloeos are important canopy trees in South African Afromontane forests. Dying or recently dead individuals of these trees are often infested by Scolytinae and Platypodinae (Curculionidae) beetles. Fungi were isolated from the surfaces of beetles emerging from wood samples and their galleries. Based on micromorphological and phylogenetic analyses, four fungal species in the Ophiostomatales were isolated. These were Sporothrix pallida and three taxa here newly described as Sporothrix aemulophila sp. nov., Raffaelea vaginata sp. nov. and Raffaelea rapaneae sp. nov. This study represents the first collection of S. pallida, a species known from many environmental samples from across the world, from Scolytinae beetles. S. aemulophila sp. nov. is an associate of the ambrosia beetle Xyleborinus aemulus. R. rapaneae sp. nov. and R. vaginata sp. nov. were associated with a Lanurgus sp. and Platypodinae beetle, respectively, and represent the first Raffaelea spp. reported from the Cape Floristic Region. Of significance is that R. vaginata produced a sexual state analogous with those of Ophiostoma seticolle and O. deltoideosporum that also grouped in our analyses in Raffaelea s. str., to date considered an asexual genus. The morphology of the ossiform ascospores and anamorphs of the three species corresponded and the generic circumscription of Raffaelea is thus emended to accommodate sexual states. The two known species are provided with new combinations, namely Raffaelea seticollis (R.W. Davidson) Z.W. de Beer and T.A. Duong comb. nov. and Raffaelea deltoideospora (Olchow. and J. Reid) Z.W. de Beer and T.A. Duong comb. nov.DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology (CHTB).http://link.springer.com/journal/104822016-10-30hb201