During a recent visit to Shanghai, China, team members of FABI who attended the 13th International Conference on Plant Pathogenic Bacteria (ICPPB), also made use of the opportunity to visit the offices of FuturaGene Biotechnology, a company specializing in genetically enhanced woody crops for plantations and biofuels. Profs Teresa Coutinho, Fanus Venter and Ian Toth (Extraordinary Professor at FABI) had a tour of the facilities and laboratories and met with several of the staff members. These included Dr James Zhang, managing director of Futuragene, and Prof Xudong Zhou, (PhD graduate of FABI) currently Head of Research and Development of Futuragene in China, and also an extraordinary professor in FABI. The FABI team were amazed at the modern facilities and the progress that Futuragene has made in the field of biotechnology in woody crops.

Photo: Profs Xudong Zhou, Ian Toth, Teresa Coutinho, Fanus Venter and Dr James Zhang.