On 24 July 2023, Mr. William Sparks, Chief of Regional Agriculture Innovation Network (RAIN) project, along with the delegation from Winrock International Institute for Agriculture Development visited BIOTEC for further collaborative discussion under the USDA-funded Thailand RAIN project after entering the WINROCK-NSTDA MoU on 21 June 2023.
During the visit, Dr. Kuakoon Piyachomkwan, Deputy Executive Director, introduced BIOTEC and overviewed the whole value chain of cassava that BIOTEC researchers have developed. In line with the showcase on the implementation of knowledge and technology transfer for sustainable cassava value chain in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand (CLMVT) was presented by Dr. Warinthorn Songkasiri, Director of Biochemical Engineering and Systems Biology Research Group. Dr. Theerayut Toojinda, Deputy Executive Director in Bioscience and Biotechnology for Agriculture, presented BIOTEC’s highlight on rice research and a success story on the implementation of BCG Naga Belt Road project.
After the collaborative discussion, Dr.Wonnop Visessanguan, BIOTEC Executive Director encouraged Winrock representatives to see BIOTEC’s exhibition of cassava research achievement from upstream to downstream including cassava tissue culture, cassava disease diagnostic kits, cassava starch/ flour processing and products, wastewater treatment system for biogas production.
In addition, BIOTEC hosted the Winrock team to visit our key facilities including BIOTEC Bioprocessing Facility (BBF), which Dr. Siwaporn Wannawilai, Industrial Bioprocess Technology Research Team Leader and Dr. Chanikul Chutrakul, Researcher, led the tour showing BIOTEC’s up-scaling facilities. Another high-throughput infrastructure, Dr. Cattarin Theerawitaya, a researcher from Innovative Plant Genetic and Physiology Research Team, convinced the visitors the plant phenomics facilities for agricultural research. The Winrock delegation also visited the National Omics Center (NOC), in which Dr. Sithichoke Tangphatsornruang, NOC’s Director, demonstrated the state-of-art facilities and its services on Omics.