News

Researchers from the International Rice Research Institute’s Rice Genetic Design and Validation Unit received the Best Poster for Crop Physiology Award during the 27th FPSAP Scientific Conference “Innovative Plant Solutions for a Sustainable and Climate-Smart Agriculture”, held on 27 August- 1 September 2023, Princesa Garden Island Resort, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

Virginia "Vangie" Laluz led the presentation along with Marina Manzanilla, Florencia Montecillo, and Juvy Reyes in a discussion that unveiled their groundbreaking work at the Genetic Transformation Laboratory (GTL), under Dr. Inez Slamet-Loedin. Their poster, “An efficient Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method for genome editing and overexpression study in indica rice” highlighted an improved A. tumefaciens-mediated transformation system tailored for indica rice, a vital tool in transgenic and genome-editing research platforms.  These techniques are important for introducing novel traits, such as drought tolerance and high-yield characteristics, into rice varieties, advancing sustainable and climate-smart agriculture.

Their modifications to the transformation process yielded efficiencies ranging from 24% to  98% in indica rice. Additionally, their optimization efforts, employing geneticin for neomycin phosphotransferase II (nptII) selection markers, achieved transformation efficiencies spanning from 27% to 58%.

Virginia Laluz, Sherry Lou Hechanova, Marina Manzanilla, Florencia Montecillo, Juvy Reyes, Norman Oliva, Sung-Ryul Kim, Kurniawan Rudi Trijatmiko, and Inez H. Slamet-Loedin authored the said research paper.