News & Events

A Consultation Workshop on the Development of Learning Materials on Biotechnology was held on October 13, 2025, at the NRCP Auditorium, Taguig City, Philippines. The consultation was part of the activities of the project titled Mainstreaming Biotechnology and Biosafety in the Philippine Education Sector led by the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines. Science communication experts from ISAAA Inc. will lead the development of the learning materials. ISAAA Executive Director Dr. Rhodora Romero-Aldemita presented the proposed learning objectives and topics that will be used to develop modules and teaching guides.

Durian, or Durio zibethinus, is an exotic fruit with high economic value in Southeast Asia. This study aims to determine the genetic variants based on the chloroplast genome between species and cultivars in the Durio genus and design the molecular marker based on microsatellite resources. The research was conducted by collecting the data of 8 chloroplast genomes followed by the genome structure and organization analysis, variants analysis, phylogenetic relationship analysis, and possibly, primer designing. The results illustrate that regions with high Pi values for the nucleotide diversity analysis were the regions in ycf1, psbZ-rps14, accD, and rpl33-rps18.

In 2010, a legal battle on the coexistence of genetically modified (GM) and non-GM crops redefined the debate on GM crops in Australia. Steve Marsh, an organic farmer from Kojonup, Western Australia, discovered GM canola on the farm of his neighbor, Michael Baxter. This incident led to the loss of Steve Marsh’s organic certification for the majority of his property. As a result, he decided to sue Michael Baxter to seek compensation for the damages he had suffered. Ten years after the Supreme Court of Western Australia’s 2015 decision, the case remains the country’s only reported decision on the coexistence of GM and non-GM crops. In an article published in Griffith Law Review, the author Michail Ivanov, a PhD candidate from the University of Adelaide, revisits the novel case of Marsh v Baxter and discusses the coexistence of GM and non-GM crops in Australia and the regulations governing them.

More than 40% of the world’s cultivated land is degraded, affecting more than three billion people. Because 95% of our food depends directly on soils, restoring soil health is fast becoming one of the most powerful levers for climate action and resilient food systems, and a focal point for the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. The inaugural session of the “Road to Belém” webinar series brought together scientists, policymakers, development partners and innovators to explore how to scale biosolutions for soil health and climate action. Biosolutions which are biological or naturally derived products like beneficial microbes and natural fertilizers,

Drought is the most damaging abiotic stress for soybean yield; cultivars with improved drought tolerance are needed to sustain and increase crop production. PI 603535 previously was identified as an ultra-slow canopy wilting (CW) line in a genome-wide association study but the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) underlying this phenotype have not been determined. In this study, a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from Benning × PI 603535 was evaluated for three years under rain-fed conditions. CW was rated following extended periods of drought when CW variation was present.

Conventional plant resistance breeding has primarily focused on intracellular immune receptors, while cell-surface pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) have been underexplored because of their comparatively modest contributions to resistance. However, PRRs offer untapped potential for crop improvement. Here we demonstrate that the Arabidopsis receptor-like protein RLP23, which recognizes molecular patterns from three distinct microbial kingdoms, confers broad-spectrum resistance when introduced into the Solanaceae crop tomato.

The 2025 edition of the World Food Forum (WFF) flagship event kicked off today at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome. The week-long Forum features the scheduled participation of 10 heads of state and government, 115 Ministers and Vice-Ministers, as well as numerous representatives from governments, the private sector, civil society, international organizations, research institutions, youth, Indigenous Peoples and other stakeholders in agrifood systems.

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is a major cash crop in the coastal region of Kenya, as a source of livelihood for small-scale farmers in Kilifi, Kwale and Lamu counties. Despite being an important food crop, cashew nuts are highly susceptible to aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus flavus, primarily due to their nutritional profile and poor pre-harvest and post-harvest practices. The presence of aflatoxins poses significant health risks to consumers of cashew nuts due to the carcinogenic, genotoxic, and hepatotoxic nature of these toxins.

The Philippine Bureau of Plant Industry issued a Biosafety Permit for the Commercial Propagation of Bt cotton (GFM cry1A) developed by the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA). The permit was granted to PhilFIDA after completion of the biosafety evaluation and the requirements for commercial propagation based on the DOST-DA-DENR-DOH-DILG Joint Department Circular (JDC) No. 1, Series of 2021. BPI issued the permit on August 24, 2023, and announced the approval on their website.

Indian farmers may soon benefit from new rice lines that deliver bigger harvests while requiring less water and labor. Scientists from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have developed new rice lines suited for dry direct-seeded rice (DDSR), a method in which seeds are planted directly into dry soil rather than flooded paddy. This approach reduces water use and labor costs, which are major challenges for farmers.

B-box (BBX) transcription factors are critical regulators of light-mediated anthocyanin biosynthesis, influencing peel coloration in plants. To explore their role in red mango cultivars, we identified 32 BBX genes (MiBBX1-MiBBX32) in the mango (Mangifera indica L.) genome using a genome-wide analysis. Phylogenetic and structural analyses classified these genes into five subfamilies based on conserved domains. A collinearity analysis revealed segmental duplication as the primary mechanism of MiBBX gene family expansion, with purifying selection shaping their evolution.

Led by Associate Professor Kevin Esvelt, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab's Sculpting Evolution group are pioneering groundbreaking research to combat Lyme disease. The initiative, called Mice Against Ticks, aims to reduce Lyme cases on Nantucket by genetically engineering wild white-footed mice to be immune to the infection.