Over 50 students from Plovdiv University visited CPSBB

Over 50 students in Molecular Biology, Ecology and Chemistry from Plovdiv University “Paisii Hilendarski” held their practical training in Plant Physiology at CPSBB. They were welcomed by the Director of CPSBB, Prof. Dr. Tsanko Gechev who is also a lecturer at the University in Molecular Genetics. He presented in brief the history of CPSBB’s establishment, the fundamental and applied research conducted by the international scientific team at the Center, as well as the departments and the state-of-the-art technological equipment. 

Main highlights of Prof. Gechev’s presentation were the support of the Program “Research, Innovation and Digitalization for Smart Transformation” (PRIDST) and the European Union for the sustainable development of CPSBB, as well as the accreditation of the Center for education of PhD students in Biotechnology. 

The students were also introduced to some of the Bulgarian and foreign researchers from Poland and South Africa, who work at CPSBB. They presented to the visitors the ICP-MS and GC-MS technologies, bioreactors, growth chambers and specialized rooms for in vitro plants (Haberlea rhodopensis) and the model plants Arabidopsis thaliana. The research with the model organism C.elegans in the domains of longevity, obesity and photoaging, as well as main work principles with confocal microscopy were also demonstrated.

The visit ended with a tour in the greenhouse facilities of CPSBB where experiments with economically-important crops are currently conducted (maize, tomatoes, pepper, strawberries and raspberries) within the projects BOOSTER, NatGenCrop, CropPrime, HealthyDiets4Africa and AgroDigiRise.