Pioneers in genome editing in Colombia win prize
The team of CIAT’s genetic transformation platform won first prize in the poster session that was carried out at the sixth congress of the Seed Association of the Americas (SAA) in Cartagena, Colombia, from 5 to 7 September.
The agenda covered various themes that the industry faces: Intellectual Property, Biotechnology, Phytosanitary Issues, and Seed Treatments. One of the activities was the poster session with presentations by national institutions, universities, and companies on the themes of the congress.
In the poster session, the team from the Platform presented a detailed summary of the work that has been done in genome editing in rice since 2014. Genome editing is considered today to be the most powerful tool for generating desirable variability in the genome of plants, animals, and humans.
“We are the pioneers in the development of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology in Colombia. As a team, we are happy because we are the reference center for the national institutions that are developing it,” said Sandra Valdés, Research Assistant at the Platform.
The prize is an incentive to continue with the work of spreading information about the scientific principles behind the technology, so that the public in general may be well informed about the uses and safety of gene editing, a theme that will be covered during the Symposium: Genome editing. Changing agricultural research in Latin America, which will be held at the CIAT headquarters in Cali, Colombia, on 17 and 18 October.
The team will continue at the vanguard with innovative strategies that increasingly position the CRISPR/Cas9 technology in the region. For more information, please contact: Paul Chavarriaga at [email protected] or Sandra Valdés at [email protected].