Award announcement: Seeding Discovery Competition

In April 2019, Plantae and Conviron partnered to launch the Seeding Discovery Competition. The competition aimed to equip a successful university or college student with a high-performing GEN1000 plant growth chamber that would enable them to fulfill a meaningful research program in the field of plant sciences, biology, and biotechnology. The competition was judged by a panel of plant scientists assembled by Plantae’s founder, the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB).

Plantae and Conviron are delighted to announce the first place proposal was awarded to Horton Lai from the joint program at the University of British Columbia / British Columbia Institute of Technology. Horton’s proposal focused on key agricultural crops and how to mitigate the impacts of climate change by experimentation with the C4 plant Setaria which tolerates hot and dry conditions better than C3 plants.

Second place was awarded to Margo Paces, Master’s student at the University of Colorado Denver. Margo’s study focused on climate change and its impact on sensitive alpine ecosystems. Margo’s research objective was to understand if rare alpine species can germinate and survive in future climate conditions.

Madeleine Gehrke at the University of Missouri was awarded third place in the competition. Madeleine’s proposal focused on the model plant Arabidopsis - characterizing the phenotypes of putative regulators of rapid iron deficiency response with the ultimate goal being to increase the nutritional content of food.

Plantae and Conviron thank all that applied to the Seeding Discovery Competition and extend congratulations to the award recipient.

About Plantae

Plantae was developed to address the need for a community and knowledge foundation for the global plant science community, based on input and ideas from members of the community. It is a crowdsourced initiative powered by The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) and represents our ongoing commitment to the plant science community. Plantae is for everyone in the plant science community regardless of location or career phase, from plant science students to educators and researchers to authors, editors, and professionals.

About Conviron

Conviron is the world’s largest designer and supplier of plant growth chambers and rooms. Leading universities, government agencies, and agricultural biotech companies around the globe rely on Conviron’s highly engineered controlled environments to solve many of today’s challenges in food production and safety. With design and manufacturing facilities in Winnipeg, Manitoba and wholly owned Argus Controls in Surrey, British Columbia, Conviron employs a global sales and distribution network with offices in the US, UK, and Australia.