A competition has been opened for the position of Senior Assistant to work on the Croatian Science Foundation (HRZZ) project “Novel approach to olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae, Rossi) monitoring and/or control using volatile compounds produced by brewing by-product – BeerBy-4-OliveFly” (IP-2022-10-9643).
The position is offered for a fixed term of up to 24 months, but not extending beyond 29 December 2027, and is full-time.
A detailed description of the requirements can be found at the following links:
On 8 October 2025, PhD student Luka Čotić (DOK-NPOO-2023-10-7422) took part in the GC Masterclass Workshop held at the Bicro Biocentar facilities in Zagreb. The workshop was organised by Anas d.o.o. and delivered by Jaap de Zeeuw, a renowned international expert in gas and liquid chromatography.
During the workshop, Luka had the opportunity to gain deeper insight into common challenges related to sample preparation and injection into the column, as well as the importance of regularly replacing consumable parts—such as septa, liners, seals and ferrules—to ensure stable and reliable analytical performance, especially for the BeerBy-4-OliveFly project (HRZZ-IP-2022-10-9643).
In addition to practical guidance, he acquired essential knowledge on improving peak shape and reducing noise levels in GC and GC-MS techniques. The workshop also emphasised strategies for developing and optimising new analytical methods, offering valuable insights for future laboratory work and enhancing the quality of ongoing research.
On Friday, 26 September 2025, Researchers’ Night was held at Prokurative in Split, organised by the University of Split within the European project Blue Connect 2.0. Among the many scientific activities, a special highlight was the interactive stand led by PhD student Luka Čotić (DOK-NPOO_2023-10-7422), who delivered a workshop titled “Olive tree in danger: Diseases and Pests.”
Through engaging materials and hands-on demonstrations, visitors were introduced to the latest research findings from the HRZZ project BeerBy-4-OliveFly (IP-2022-10-9643). The workshop was designed for a wide audience – from young children and school groups to hobby growers and professional olive producers. Participants were able to take an active role, try out research methods, and learn how to interpret data on the presence and severity of diseases and pests in olive orchards.
The high turnout and strong interest once again demonstrated the importance of bringing science closer to the community and raising awareness of the role of research in sustainable olive growing. The workshop contributed to this goal by effectively connecting science, practice, and education in an accessible and engaging way.
From September 11 to 12, 2025, the Doctoral Days of the Biotechnical Field were held at the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, organized jointly by the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, the Faculty of Agriculture, and the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, all constituents of the Biotechnical Field of the University of Zagreb. Within the framework of the event, PhD candidate Luka Čotić (DOK-NPOO-2023-10-7422) presented the research results of the project BeerBy-4-OliveFly (HRZZ-IP-2022-10-9643) by the group of authors Čotić L., Zalom F., Jukić Špika M., Burul F., Bego A., and Vitanović E., entitled “Modification of Two Types of Brewer’s Spent Yeast and Their Effectiveness in Attracting the Olive Fruit Fly (Bactrocera oleae Rossi).”
The 60th Croatian and 20th International Symposium on Agriculture took place from June 1 to 6, 2025 in Bol on the island of Brač. Two posters with the results of the BeerBy-4-OliveFly project (HRZZ-IP-2022-10-9643) were presented in Section 1 Plant and Food Production:
Ana Bego presented the poster “Modification of two types of waste brewer’s yeast to obtain protein bait for olive fruit fly monitoring and/or control” by the group of authors Ana Bego, Filipa Burul, Marijana Popović, Maja Jukić Špika, Luka Čotić, Frank Zalom & Elda Vitanović
2. Luka Čotić (DOK-NPOO-2023-10-7422) presented the poster “Attraction of the olive fruit fly to two types of modified waste brewer’s yeast” by the group of authors Luka Čotić, Maja Jukić Špika, Filipa Burul, Ana Bego, Frank Zalom & Elda Vitanović
As part of the Science Festival, a workshop entitled “NETWORKS” was held on May 8, 2025 at the Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation in Split for students of the Split High School of Health. As part of the workshop, Luka Čotić, a PhD student of the project, gave a lecture entitled “Communication networks of odorants and the olive fruit fly”. During the lecture, he presented the objectives and activities of the HRZZ-IP-2022-10-9643 project “Novel approach to olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae, Rossi) monitoring and/or control using volatile compounds produced by brewing by-product” to the students and professors present.
PhD student Luka Čotić (DOK-NPOO-2023-10-7422) participated in the workshop “Introduction to liquid and gas chromatography”, which took place from April 14 to 16, 2025 at the Biocentre in Zagreb. Through interactive lectures and practical exercises, he acquired basic knowledge in sample preparation, experimental setup, optimization of analytical conditions, proper maintenance of equipment and interpretation of results in GC chromatography.
The 67th Plant Protection Conference, organized by the Croatian Plant Protection Society, took place from 4 to 7 February 2025 in Opatija at the Ambasador Hotel. At the conference, the results of the project HRZZ-IP-2022-10-9643 entitled “Modification of waste brewer’s yeast and the possibility of its use as an attractant for monitoring and/or control of the olive fruit fly” were presented in the poster section.
The 5th International Scientific and Expert Conference “Natural Resources, Green Technology and Sustainable Development/5-GREEN2024“ took place from December 3 to 5, 2024 in Zagreb at the Hotel International. As part of the conference program, Dr. Elda Vitanović presented the poster „Novel approach to olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae, Rossi) monitoring and/or control using volatile compounds produced by brewing by-product“ by the authors Elda Vitanović, Marijana Popović, Filipa Burul (DOK-2021-02-1355), Ana Bego, Luka Čotić (DOK-NPOO-2023-10-7422), Frank Zalom. Dr. Vitanović presented the first results of the BeerBy-4-OliveFly project funded by the Croatian Science Foundation IP-2022-10-9643 in a poster session.
From November 4 to 28, 2024, doctoral student Luka Čotić (DOK-NPOO-2023-10-7422) underwent scientific training in the techniques of laboratory breeding of the olive fruit fly and the basics of laboratory research on the effectiveness of attraction by volatile compounds. The training was conducted at the Department of Entomology and Nematology at UC Davis in the USA under the direction of Dr. Zalom. During this training, Luka also learned how to set up and maintain an olive fruit fly colony for laboratory research purposes, as well as the basics of testing olive fruit fly attraction to volatile compounds using the multi-choice and no-choice method. Scientific training program: Week 1: Instruction on the equipment and operation of the Laboratory for Entomology and Nematology, collecting infected olive fruit from UC Davis olive orchards and the USDA olive orchard at Wolfskill to establish an olive fruit fly colony and prepare the necessary equipment and materials for their rearing (controlled condition chambers, rearing cages, etc.), Week 2: Collecting pupae and larvae from infected olive fruits, transferring them to chambers with controlled conditions for hatching adult flies and caring for them, Week 3: Working with adult flies (males and females), transferring them to breeding cages, separating the males from the females and caring for them in order to maintain a colony, Week 4: Introduction to the basics of the multi-choice and no-choice method for carrying out laboratory tests on the efficacy of volatile compounds in attracting olive flies, data processing and presentation of the results.
