IRRI: Matthew Morell is IRRI’s director general with decades of leadership experience driven by a passion for scientific excellence, an understanding of private-public partnerships, a sound capacity for stakeholder engagement, protection of intellectual property, and people engagement skills.

Incoming Director General Matthew Morell proudly waves the IRRI flag after receiving it from outgoing Director General Robert Zeigler and IRRI Board Chair Emerlinda Roman.In stirring rites held early Friday afternoon at the headquarters of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Matthew Morell took over the reins as the institute’s ninth director general (DG).

One hundred years ago, in the first paper in the first edition of GENETICS, Calvin Blackman Bridges provided evidence for the chromosome theory of inheritance, laying the groundwork for much of the genetics research that has followed (Bridges 1916). As we discuss a paper that is arguably a cornerstone of modern genetic analysis, it is well worth remembering that this two-part paper was the report of Bridges’s Ph.D. thesis work (indeed, we find it sobering to compare the impact of our own theses to that of Bridges’s).

The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service release the Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report on the agricultural biotechnology updates in China in 2015. According to the report, China is one of the largest producers and importers of biotech crops globally. It produces biotech cotton, but has not yet approved any major biotech crop recently. The Chinese government is currently revising its biotechnology regulatory system.

Researchers led by Lin-Hui Yu from the University of Science and Technology of China, reported that the Arabidopsis ENHANCED DROUGHT TOLERANCE1/ HOMEODOMAIN GLABROUS11 (AtEDT1/HDG11) also confers drought and salt tolerance in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) and the woody plant poplar (Populus tomentosa Carr.). Although the gene has been known to confer tolerance to crops such as rice and Arabidopsis, this was the first time it was used for both cotton and poplar.

Scientists at the Salk Institute have discovered a way by which plants assess light to outgrow their neighbors. The study shows how the depletion of blue light detected by molecular sensors in plants triggers accelerated growth to overcome a competing plant. The new study changes the previously believed concept that plants respond to diminished red light by activating the growth hormone auxin to outpace its neighbors. However, this is the first time researchers have shown that instead of changing auxin levels, plants use cellular sensors called cryptochromes that respond to diminished blue light by turning on genes promoting cell growth.

FAO 7 January 2016, Rome - Prices of major food commodities declined for the fourth year in a row in 2015, averaging 19.1 percent below their previous-year's levels, as the dwindling global economy also triggered sharp price falls from metals to energy markets. FAO's Food Price Index averaged 164.1 points over 2015 and ended the year even lower, at 154.1 points during the month of December.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization, a biotech trade association representing biotech companies, academic institutions, state biotech centers and related organizations across 30 countries, has changed its name to Biotechnology Innovation Organization. According to BIO, the change of name better reflects the remarkable progress and groundbreaking innovations its members attain in healing, fueling, and feeding the world.

HCMC - The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on January 4 launched the daily average inter-bank exchange rate between the Vietnam dong and the U.S. dollar and reference exchange rates between the dong and some other foreign currencies. The move is in line with the central bank’s Decision No. 2730/QD-NHNN dated December 31, 2015, which took effect on January 4.

WHO 29 December 2015 | Conakry - Today WHO declares the end of Ebola virus transmission in the Republic of Guinea. Forty-two days have passed since the last person confirmed to have Ebola virus disease tested negative for the second time. Guinea now enters a 90-day period of heightened surveillance to ensure that any new cases are identified quickly before they can spread to other people.