Award Recognition For Plant & Food Research Scientists

This year’s Science New Zealand Awards honour a number of Plant & Food Research/Rangahau Ahumāra Kai scientists. Dr Daryl Rowan, an accomplished organic chemist, received the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Team Award went to the multidisciplinary Filling the Void team and Dr Rebecca Bloomer received the Early Career Researcher Award.

Dr Rowan is a former Principal Scientist and Science Group Leader and is now an Honorary Fellow of the Biological Chemistry & Bioactives Group. He has over 40 years research experience and has played a pivotal role in developing metabolomics capabilities within Plant & Food Research/Rangahau Ahumāra Kai. Dr Rowan supported and guided the development of phytohormone and biomarkers platforms, metabolomics of taonga species, and has championed the value of metabolite analysis in providing understanding of important biological questions.

View a video about Daryl's work here

The multi-disciplinary Filling the Void project received the Team Award for their work in laying the foundation for a new breeding programme for Aotearoa, New Zealand. Their goal was to develop a novel berry that would combine the commercial benefits of blueberries with the colour-filled flesh of bilberries. This new hybrid berry would contain five-fold the health promoting anthocyanins of blueberries – a true super berry with exciting potential for Aotearoa. The team made real progress in understanding the genetics and chemistry of these berries and created new hybrid plants. In future, this increased knowledge could help breed other fruits with high flesh colour.

View a video about the Filling the Void project team's work here

Dr Bloomer, who received the Early Career Researchers Award, leads Plant & Food Research’s medicinal cannabis breeding and germplasm research. She also provides expert knowledge to identify the role of epigenetics in delivering resilient Plant & Food Research potato varieties, and is making a significant contribution to the ‘The Flowering Crisis: Confronting a changing climate’s threat to New Zealand’s tree crops’ project, applying knowledge from her breakthrough discoveries from her postdoctoral fellowship in understanding dormancy and chilling in perennial fruit crops.

View a video about Rebecca's work here

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