Sugarcane researchers around the world each year in January gather to connect and foster collaboration at a showcase of current advancements hosted by the International Sugarcane Consortium of Biotechnologists (ISCB).
For the past decade, SRA’s Cytogeneticist, Dr Nathalie Piperidis, has led the sugarcane workshop for the ISCB every year.
Dr Piperidis also has the honour of awarding the James Irvine Travel Grant to give young scientists the opportunity to attend, assessed on the quality of their research work.
The winners of the travel grants for PAG 32 (2025) were two young women:
- Dr Nina Reis Soares, the University of Sao Paulo, who is investigating the genetic control of meiosis, a type of cell division, in sugarcane, and
- Dr Ramanathan Valarmathi, Senior Scientist at ICAR Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore, India, who is working on screening wild sugarcane germplasm for drought tolerance-related traits.
Both gave impressive presentations on their areas of research.
“These talented young researchers are contributing valuable insights to the field and it is a pleasure to support their work and help promote a path in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics for women and girls,” Dr Piperidis said.
Attending the sugarcane workshop held great interest for the biotechnologists and was just one part of the overarching annual Plant & Animal Genome (PAG) conference.
Held each year at San Diego, the conference hosts more than 3000 genetic scientists and researchers, along with 130 exhibits, 150 workshops, 1100 posters and more than 1,800 abstracts providing forums on recent developments and plans in the sector.
Pictured: Nina Reis Soares (l) and Ramanthan Valarmathi (r) are congratulated by Dr Nathalie Piperidis at the workshop.
