Chula Master’s Student Wins Double Gold and Special Award at ICSTEM 2025 in Malaysia 

Chulalongkorn University proudly extends its warmest congratulations to Mr. Saranyu Maensatit, a master’s student in the Interdisciplinary Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University, for winning the Double Gold Medal and Special Award at the International Competition on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (ICSTEM) 2025, held from October 9 to 11, 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His winning innovation is titled “Discovery of Novel Cell-Type Specific Marker Genes in Rice Based on a Standard scRNA-Seq Data Analysis Pipeline.” 

Saranyu explained that currently, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data analysis in plants often relies on known marker genes to identify cell types. However, the available database of cell-type specific marker genes in rice remains limited. This innovation aims to discover new cell-type specific marker genes not yet included in existing databases by applying bioinformatics tools and methods. 

He added that the strength of this innovation lies in its use of bioinformatics approaches to predict cell-type specific marker genes—a method that is simpler and faster than direct identification through laboratory experiments. The innovation can also be applied to screen marker genes from single-cell RNA sequencing data. 

This innovation is the result of a collaborative research effort by: 

• Mr. Saranyu Mansatit, master’s student in the Interdisciplinary Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University 
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kitiporn Plaimas, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University — thesis advisor 
• Widya Fajariani, doctoral student in the Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University — under the supervision of 
• Prof. Dr. Supachitra Chadchawan, Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University — co-advisor 

This innovation is part of the collaborative research project “Studying Rice Drought Response Using Single-cell RNA Sequencing Technology” between Prof. Dr. Supachitra Chadchawan of the Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, and Prof. Luca Comai, Plant Biology and Genome Center, University of California, Davis. 

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