On behalf of the chair of the 1st International Electronic Conference on Plant Science, we are pleased to announce the winners of the Best Presentation Award:

Topic: Effects of Oleander Leaves (Nerium oleander) against Metabolism, Activity Pattern, and the Leaves Potency as Rice-Field Rat Repellent (Rattus argentiventer)

authored by Ichsan Nurul Bari, Nur’aini Herawati and Syifa Nabilah Subakti Putri

Ichsan Nurul Bari, Ph.D., is a Lecturer and Researcher at Pests Laboratory, Department of Agrotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia. He began his study at Plant Pests and Diseases Management in Universitas Padjadjaran, continue his Master Degree of Biology at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), and completed his Doctoral Degree of Applied Bioresource Science in Ehime University, Japan 2017. A licensed lecturer, Dr. Bari has worked for more than 15 years and best known for his work and research related to rodents, biochemistry, urban pest, pesticides, and plant-based extract which have been influential works in the field.

Dr. Bari actively does more than 20 various conferences on the scale national and international. He was a Scientific Seminar Speakers at the 8th World Congress of Allelopathy in 2017, ASEAN - Japan Network for Transdisciplinary Research 2018, and also won The Best Presenter Team on Joint Seminar in Ehime University 2015. He served as a trainer and coach on community services since 2011 which related to pest management in several regions of Indonesia. He also has experience as head of the committee of the National Conference and Competition “Plant Protection Day 2020”, every year he supervised the fieldwork experience for students, held by Research and Community Service Institution (LPPM) Universitas Padjadjaran. Moreover, he published two books with the title “Experimental Design with SPSS 13” and “Urban pests” which can be accessed at Elearning Unpad.

In this research, Dr. Bari collaborated with plant protection researcher Dr. Nunung (completed her doctoral degree at Gadjah Mada University) from Indonesian Center for Rice Research; and Ms. Syifa as a magister student in Plant Protection at Universitas Padjadjaran was also participating to improve this research.

Topic: Assessing the Flowering Genetic Regulatory Network in Neotropical Orchids

authored by Yesenia Madrigal, Diego Ospina-Zapata, Andrea Ramírez-Ramírez, Juan Fernando Alzate and Natalia Pabón-Mora

Yesenia Madrigal is a third year’s PhD student at Plant Evo-Devo lab (Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín-Colombia). She holds a B.S in Biology and MSc in Biology from Universidad de Antioquia (Medellín-Colombia). As an undergraduate and during her masters, she focused on the variation of floral morphology and symmetry in non-core eudicots using Cattleya trianae (Orchidaceae), Hypoxis decumbens (Hypoxidaceae) and Aristolochia fimbriata (Aristolochiaceae) as models. At the moment, Yesenia is broadly interested in the genetic and evolutionary bases of flowering, floral diversity in monocots, fruit formation and morphological adaptations in early diverging neotropical plants. Her current PhD project is focused in the genetic and evolutionary bases of flowering in neotropical orchids, to identify genes controlling the transition from vegetative to reproductive phases. She is working on the standardization of protocols for the study of emerging model species of tropical orchids and monocots, using tools like RNAseq analyses, bioinformatics, gene evolution approaches, expression analyses (ISH, qRT-PCR) and directed transformation (CRISPR-cas9). Please see more information and recent advances related with studies in neotropical plant development and evolution at Plant EvoDevo lab website: (https://www.evodevoplantas.com/).

To acknowledge the support of the conference esteemed authors and recognize their outstanding scientific accomplishments, we are pleased to launch the Best Presentation Award. Two winners will be selected and each winner will receive a cash award of 500 CHF and a certificate.