VirFree joins the expertise of academia and private companies to: (i) identify new viral and viroid strains or species affecting fruit trees and grapevine; (ii) optimise existing and develop novel virus detection methods; (iii) improve propagation and sanitation methods for producing high quality plants for planting of fruit trees and grapevine. To this aim, diagnostic tools currently used in certification programs will be combined with advanced technologies such as next generation sequencing (NGS) and nanobodies. Eight academic partners within the EU and associated countries, three within Third Countries and five non-academic partners are involved in VirFree. The knowledge will be disseminated to academic institutions, nurseries and other private sectors. Training of a new generation of researchers will be done considering the needs of both industrial and academic sectors a priority.
Project Leader: Francesco Di Serio
IPSP personnel: Michela Chiumenti, Angelantonio Minafra, Beatriz Navarro
Start: 01/01/2017
End: 31/12/2022