Gates Cambridge Scholars Anoop Tripathi and Greg Reeves have continued their rich collaborative work on plant sciences across the years and across the world.
This meeting represented the ripple effect of the Gates Cambridge community, where scholars from different cohorts continue to inspire, support and collaborate beyond their time at Cambridge.
Anoop Tripathi
In the world of plant sciences, connections often transcend time, geography and even plant species. Such is the case with Greg Reeves and Anoop Tripathi, two Gates Cambridge Scholars from different cohorts who first worked together in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge between 2020 and 2022.
Greg, who stayed on at Cambridge after completing his PhD, and Anoop, who was Senior Research Laboratory Technician in the Department of Plant Sciences, worked on a new grafting technique which overturned the long-standing consensus that monocot plants such as grass and grass-like flowering plants could not graft.
Their collaboration laid the foundation for a continued exchange of ideas and expertise, which recently took Anoop all the way to New Zealand.
Greg [2014] has spent years managing New Zealand’s kiwifruit breeding programme as the Head of Kiwi Fruit Breeding, Plant and Food Research, Motueka. His work focuses on developing new and improved kiwifruit cultivars, ensuring the resilience and productivity of this economically significant crop.
Meanwhile, Anoop [2022] is a third-year PhD student in the Department of Plant Sciences where he researches crop resilience.
The ripple effect
Recognising the power of collaboration, Anoop recently visited Greg in New Zealand, gaining first-hand experience with the breeding facilities, labs and orchards that drive kiwifruit innovation. Anoop says the visit provided an opportunity to exchange knowledge, explore cutting-edge breeding techniques and discuss potential research synergies between the two scholars’ respective fields.
Anoop says: “This meeting was more than just a professional visit; it represented the ripple effect of the Gates Cambridge community, where scholars from different cohorts continue to inspire, support and collaborate beyond their time at Cambridge. The potential for future projects stemming from this exchange reinforces the importance of global scientific networks in tackling agricultural challenges.”
As Gates Cambridge Scholars, both Greg and Anoop embody the ethos of innovation, collaboration and impact, proving that the connections formed during their time at Cambridge can extend far beyond the university’s walls, reaching from the labs of plant sciences to the orchards of New Zealand.
*Do you have a Gates Cambridge friendship story from the past 25 years? If so email mandy.garner@admin.cam.ac.uk.
