A new article relevant to PURPEST’s research scope has just been published:

Horrocks KJ, Romeis J, Collatz J (2025) Environmental impacts of agricultural pest insects: five case studies reveal overlooked impact mechanisms and specify knowledge gaps. NeoBiota 104: 251–279. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.104.158217

This study provides important insights into the environmental...

In November 2025,  Prof. Pavol Miškovský (Saftra Photonics) represented PURPEST at the CARLA360 Health Symposium, held in Bratislava and focused on career development and innovation in biotechnology and photonics.

At this symposium, Prof. Miškovský presented “Application of nanotechnology-based photonics sensors in environment, agriculture, medicine, and food...

Patent SK 289367 Accepted During PURPEST Strengthens SERS-Based Detection

Saftra Photonics achieved a major technological milestone during the PURPEST project: the acceptance of Slovak Patent SK 289367 B6. This innovative device is already being used within the project’s workflows.

Patent Title: “Device for positioning a sample in a portable Raman spectrometer, method of sample...

Researchers from Saftra Photonics, led by Prof. Pavol Miškovský, engaged in important dissemination activities at the University of Bologna over two consecutive years, showcasing scientific advances closely aligned with PURPEST technologies.

A) Workshop at the University of Bologna (February 2024)

In February 2024, Prof. Miškovský was invited by the Department of Agricultural and...

  A recent study by Kartakis et al. (2026) presents a modeling approach to predict disease expression of Phytophthora ramorum and its potential economic impacts on European forests. The research integrates ecological and economic data to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how this pathogen could affect forest health and management costs across Europe.

Key...

VIII National Meeting of Forest Health Inspectors – Tapada de Mafra, 19 November 2025

Luís Bonifácio (INIAV) presented the PurPest project at the yearly meeting of Portuguese Forest Health Inspectors, organized by ICNF. The inspectors were absolutely thrilled with the PurPest concept, showing great excitement and engagement throughout the presentation.

The overwhelmingly positive...

How can innovative detection technologies strengthen global plant health and sustainable trade?

During the World Trade Organization’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Committee Thematic Session (October 2025), PurPest coordinator Andrea Ficke (NIBIO) presented the project’s vision and progress to an audience of international policymakers, national delegations, and plant-health...

The French Ministry of Agriculture has confirmed the first detection of the pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) in France, in the Landes region.
🔗 Official announcement (in French)

This pest, a priority quarantine organism in the EU, poses a major threat to pine forests, causing rapid tree decline and death.

The discovery highlights the urgent need for early detection...

The University of Neuchâtel (UniNe) welcomed Urte Puodziunaite from VolatileAI, who develops data processing pipelines for the Sensor System Prototype (SSP), including machine learning models for analysing volatile compound data.

Urte joined the UniNe team during the ongoing measurement campaign to gain a deeper understanding of sampling dynamics and to help implement a standardized...