Featured Photo: Delegates of the prestigious Borlaug Fellowship Program, including BIOTECH researcher Robert A. Nepomuceno (front row, second from left). Credit: Kerry Clark/University of Missouri

Robert A. Nepomuceno, University Researcher at the Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Root Inoculant (VAMRI) Laboratory under BIOTECH’s Program Agriculture and Forestry, has been selected to participate in the prestigious Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship Program by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This fellowship provides training and collaborative research opportunities for researchers and professionals from developing and middle-income countries focusing on the promotion of food security and economic growth. 

Nepomuceno will engage in advanced research activities in the United States from 16 August to 16 November 2024. His research will focus on CRISPR CAS9 gene editing technologies, with applications in rice cultivation, including hands-on training in in planta genetic transformation techniques. He will also evaluate the edited genotypes and phenotypes of the transformants.

As part of the fellowship, Nepomuceno will undertake several key activities, including visits to the USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C. and participation in a specialized training at Texas A&M University, the International Symposium on Rice Functional Genomics in Arkansas, and the World Food Prize event in Iowa.

According to the USDA website, the Borlaug Fellowship Program honors Nobel laureate Norman E. Borlaug, an American agronomist and humanitarian known as the “Father of the Green Revolution.” The program has been implementing research and training on agriculture-related topics since its inception in 2004, including agronomy, veterinary science, nutrition, food safety, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, natural resource management, agricultural biotechnology, agricultural economics, and agricultural policy. (Arnold T. Abuyog)