Over 700 top international scientists and researchers from around 40 countries gather today for the Sixth International Rice Genetics Symposium at the historic landmark Manila Hotel.

Considered one of the world’s biggest and most important rice research conferences, this event will be opened by Her Royal Highness, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand. It has drawn an international cohort of speakers and participants who share a common goal in enhancing the understanding of rice biology to improve rice production for the world’s population.

The four-day event, which is also held in conjunction with the Seventh International Symposium on Rice Functional Genomics and the Rice Annotation Project (RAP) 6 Workshop, “builds on the excitement generated by rapid advances in rice genomics and its potential benefits to food security and the international rice industry.”

The symposium comes at a critical time when the local rice producers have suffered a blow from the recent chain of typhoons and the international rice industry is confronted by unprecedented pressure caused by record high prices and major production challenges.

The gathering of international experts promises to provide the best opportunity to share experiences in the efforts to improve the tolerance of rice to abiotic stresses, including extremes in water availability, temperatures, and toxic minerals in soils and the air.

Plenary and concurrent sessions and poster presentations and exhibits will showcase the latest developments in the field, including research on breeding, mapping of genes and quantitative trait loci, identification and cloning of candidate genes for biotic and abiotic stresses, gene expression, and genomic databases and mutant induction for functional genomics.

Workshops chaired by leading experts are expected to stimulate discussions on special topics in rice genetics. A field tour of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, Laguna, will offer a comprehensive and detailed field experience for the delegates.

The exhibitions will also showcase the latest technology and introduce potential customers to new products. The symposium will provide significant opportunities to review the latest advances in rice research, determine how recent breakthroughs can affect global food security and stimulate discussion and exchange of information and best practices on classical genetics and genomics.

We congratulate the International Rice Research Institute, its Officers and Staff led by their Director General Dr. Robert S. Zeigler, and its collaborating organizations and sponsors on the occasion of their Sixth International Rice Genetics Symposium. We wish them success in all their endeavors.