The President's Prize
In 2024, the ISPMF initiated the President’s Prize for the best PhD student oral presentation. This prize is awarded every two years, and the winner receives a bursary for travel costs, accommodation, and conference fee to the ISPMF conference occurring the same year. The winner is also invited to present an oral presentation at the ISPMF conference. In 2026, the conference will be held in Valencia, Spain on May 13-15.
The winner was selected by the Prize Committee, from a shortlist of 7 students who presented their work at an online webinar on Feb 2nd, 2026.
The winner is:
Nora Liu
Context-dependent Pattern-triggered Immunity Control of Agrobacterium-mediated Transient Expression Efficiency Production of Optimized Biopharmaceuticals in Physcomitrella.
The Plant Chemetics Laboratory, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, UK.
Nora (Yinuo) Liu is a third-year DPhil student at the University of Oxford. She completed her integrated Master’s degree in Biology at Oxford, where her thesis focused on molecular virology and bioinformatics. During her undergraduate studies, she completed a research placement at the John Innes Centre under the supervision of Professor George Lomonosoff, working on the production of virus-like particles (VLPs) in plants as vehicles for RNA delivery. She then began her DPhil in Interdisciplinary Biosciences at the University of Oxford in the Plant Chemetics Laboratory under the supervision of Professor Renier A. L. van der Hoorn. She is jointly supervised by Dr Kyoko Morimoto at the biotechnology company Kyomei. Her doctoral research focuses on understanding agroinfiltration-mediated transient expression from an apoplastic immunity perspective. She aims to develop and optimise alternative plant species for transient protein production, dissect the immune basis of permissiveness and resistance to agroinfiltration, and strategically modulate plant immunity to improve the efficiency of Molecular Farming platforms.
11th International Meeting on Recent Advances in Plant Biotechnology
ISPMF is pleased to announce it´s support of the
11th International Meeting on Recent Advances in Plant Biotechnology (RAPB 2026) in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The Meeting is scheduled to be held on June 2–3, 2026, in a hybrid format (both in-person and online).
This year, the Meeting will focus on three main scientific topics:
- Molecular Farming of Pharmaceutical Proteins
- Genetic Engineering of Plants for Improving Crop Yield and Quality
- Biotechnology of Plant Secondary Metabolism and Biodiversity
Additionally, a satellite workshop, “Biotechnology for Plant Stress Mechanisms and Adaptation,” will be organized within the framework of the RECROP COST Action.
Older stuff below ....
Down this section you will find older posts containing content and videos which are still of interest.
Have fun exploring.
PhD-Student Workshop
2nd online workshop
Monday, March 24th, 2025
from 14:00 to 16:30 (CET)
(9-10:30 am EST)
Online event of six short talks, 15 + 5 mins, followed by an interactive discussion (30 mins)
Organized and moderated by Rima Menassa
GoldenTMV: A Modular TMV-Based System for Transient and Stable Expression in Plants
Marta Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Valencia, Spain
Effects of Air Temperature on Transient Expression of Influenza Hemagglutinin in
Nicotiana benthamiana: Analysis of Transgene Transcription and Plant Stress Responses
Patthasarun Pruksarojanakul, Tokyo, Japan
Protein nanoparticle vaccines to prevent non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica colonization in poultry
Carly Charron, Ontario, Canada
From Plants to Bones: How Plant Viruses are Rooting for Bone Tissue Engineering
Johannes Grader, Aachen, Germany
Development Of A Second-Generation Multiepitope Homologous Virus-Like Particle
(VLP)-Based Vaccine Candidate Against SARS-CoV-2 On A Plant Platform
Halis Batuhan Ünal, Ankara, Turkey
Production of Optimized Biopharmaceuticals in Physcomitrella
Leon M. Hanke, Freiburg, Germany
Virus-like particles (VLPs) made
in plants and elsewhere
Online workshop
Past Event - Recordings are now available
Commentary
The field of Plant Molecular Farming (PMF) was rocked by the announcement in February, that the Canadian biotechnology company Medicago Inc. had closed. The International Society of Plant Molecular Farming responds to this news in a commentary published today in the journal nature biotechnology.
We argue that the advances Medicago made over the last 5 years did much to de-risk PMF and bring the technology into the mainstream. Their demise does not reflect a failure of science or PMF technology, but was primarily a business decision based on market environment.
The scientific, economic and social justifications for further investment in PMF remain compelling, and many other companies continue in the PMF arena, with commercially successful products and full pipeline.
Cellular Agriculture for Food Applications
Online workshop in collaboration with the InnCoCells consortium
Past Event - Recordings are now available
5th ISPMF conference, Rome 2022
"... have you seen this? The book of abstracts is now available""Members only, and they have photos...."
Book of abstracts & photos
BryoTechnology
Molecular Farming with Moss
2nd online workshop on plant-made pharmaceuticals
Past event - Recordings are available for ISPMF members
Ralf Reski, University of Freiburg, Germany
Mosses in Biotechnology
Andreas Schaaf, Eleva Biologics, Freiburg, Germany
BryoTechnology: Biopharmaceutical production with moss
Henrik Toft Simonsen, Mosspiration Biotech, Copenhagen, Denmark
Diverse, fast, and fatty mosses
Development of Products for Mucosal Administration and Status of Clinical Trials
1st online workshop on plant-made pharmaceuticals
Past event - Recordings are available for ISPMF members
Richard Strasser, Vienna, Austria
Production of IgAs and glycosylated Fc-fusion proteins for mucosal applications
Nobuyuki Matoba, Louisville, KY, USA
Manufacturing, characterization, and mode of action of the novel mucosal healing protein EPICERTIN
Kenneth E. Palmer, Louisville, KY, USA
Preclinical and Clinical Development of a Q-GRFT Nasal Spray for Broad Spectrum Coronavirus Prophylaxis
And the winner is ...
ISPMF News
ISPMF News