Tran vs. the MSc thesis

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One of the industry's criteria for classifying (and putting a price on) rice is based on sensory properties. Scientists have devised a way of predicting cooked rice texture based on chemical analyses. However, there are times when one of these tests, which is based on rice starch's colour reaction to iodine, is not reliable because there are rice varieties with similar results but have different textures.

Enter Tran, a MSc student from UPLB, who conducted her research at the Grain Quality, Nutrition, and Postharvest Center at IRRI. For the past two years, she's been determining why rice grains of the same quality class differ in cooked texture by exploring the genetics behind these variations.


After several semesters of hard work and perseverance, this ADB scholar has passed one of her major hurdles: she defended her MSc thesis and garnered a grade of 1.00.

Congratulations, Tran! 

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