On 28 March 2022, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presided over the opening ceremony of NSTDA Annual Conference 2022 (NAC2022) at Thailand Science Park, Pathum Thani. The event, to take place from until 31 March on a virtual platform, is organized under the theme “Revitalizing Thai Economy through BCG Research and Innovation”.

In his report statement, Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Minister Prof. Dr. Anek Laothamatas, spoke of NSTDA performance in the past year. NSTDA outputs and outcome in 2020 include 738 scientific publications, 433 IPs, THB 25.224 million induced STI investment and 9,213 farmers benefited from knowledge and innovation. NAC2022 activities – seminars, exhibition and open house – aims at highlighting Bio-Circular-Green Economy (BCG) which was declared the national agenda by the Thai government last year.

After declaring the conference open, Princess Sirindhorn was given a tour to the exhibition hall where she visited the display on projects under Princess’s initiative such as the environmental conservation and rehabilitation project in Mae Sot, Herbs for Healthy Water, KidBright for children with special needs and Sirindhorn Science Home Field Hospital for Disabled Persons. In addition, she was introduced to the following BCG research highlights:

• Plant-based eggs. BIOTEC-NSTDA in collaboration with Drop and Pick Group Company Limited developed pasteurized liquid plant-based eggs. The plant-based eggs have similar texture to conventional eggs and can be used in a variety of dishes. The product is suitable for vegans and people with egg allergy.
• Rapid strip test for cassava mosaic virus. The immunochromatographic strip test is a tool for controlling the outbreak of cassava mosaic virus. The test is simple to use and can give a result within 15 minutes, making it suitable for field use.
• Pseudotyped virus for assessing the COVID-19 vaccine efficacy. The pseudotyped virus designed by BIOTEC-NSTDA has been used to evaluate the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed in Thailand.
• Microneedle technology. A technology has been developed to fabricate microneedle patches consisting of needles with less than 10-µm tip radius. Microneedles are a painless and less invasive transdermal delivery system of drugs and vaccines.
• BodiiRay P. BodiiRay P is a portable digital chest X-ray machine developed by NSTDA’s Assistive Technology and Medical Devices Center (A-MED). The machine comes with the software system for database management of patients, image processing and viewing, and can be linked to the hospital’s Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS).
• Hypoallergenic rubber gloves. MTEC-NSTDA developed the technology to reduce allergy-inducing protein in rubber gloves. The technology offers a higher value product utilizing natural rubber latex.
• AR/VR technology. The exhibition presents applications of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in engineering design and developing educational media for new normal learning.
• National Biobank of Thailand (NBT). NSTDA established NBT in 2019 as a national infrastructure for conserving Thailand’s biological resources which include both specimens and their supporting information to sustainably foster research and Thai bioeconomy. NBT’s recent bioresources collection include plants and microbes from the biodiversity study of mangrove forest and microorganisms collected from caves in Sutun UNESCO Geopark. NBT also works with the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation on a plant conservation project and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on seed bank.

To participate in NAC2022 online activities, please visit www.nstda.or.th/nac.