On October 22, 2024, at 16:00, the School of Horticulture hosted Dr. Ho Weiseng from the University of Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) for an academic report titled "From Laboratory to Field Experiments: Establishment and Micropropagation of Polyploid Clones in Neolamarckia cadamba". The event took place in the multifunctional auditorium on the first floor of the Academic Exchange Center at Xinyang Agricultural and Forestry College, attracting over 140 faculty and students from the School of Horticulture.

The meeting was chaired by Shoufu Gong, the Dean of the School of Horticulture. Dr. Ho began by discussing the economic value, habitat conditions, and ecological habits of Neolamarckia cadamba. He highlighted the key achievements of his research team in polyploid cloning and outlined future research directions. Using the growth process of polyploid Neolamarckia cadamba as an analogy, he encouraged attendees to approach scientific research methodically and steadily to achieve meaningful results.

As a token of appreciation, Dr. Ho presented the School of Horticulture with academic works related to Neolamarckia cadamba. Dean Gong expressed gratitude to Dr. Ho and urged faculty and students to embrace the spirit of scientific inquiry, remain grounded, and foster continuous innovation to advance their research endeavors.

About the speaker: Dr. Ho Weiseng is currently the Deputy Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Malaysia Sarawak, as well as an Associate Professor and PhD supervisor at the Faculty of Natural Resources and Technology. He earned his PhD in Genetics from the National University of Malaysia. His research interests encompass the genetic assessment of tropical forest species, the development of molecular markers for tree improvement, and the production of high-quality planting materials through tissue culture techniques. Dr. Ho has led 13 influential research projects, published over 40 academic papers in top scientific journals (total impact factor: 723), authored four research monographs, and delivered over 120 papers at various conferences, seminars, and academic symposiums. Additionally, he has submitted numerous DNA sequences to the NCBI gene bank, significantly contributing to the genomic resources for the studying wood formation in Neolamarckia cadamba.

(Written by Lin Tao Zhang, Photography by Dan Lei Zhang)