Dispersed Lighting and Bud Grade Optimization with David Hawley, PhD

Ben Amirault September 9, 2026Cultivation, Podcast

David Hawley is Principal Scientist at Fluence, where he steers the company’s global Cannabis Crop Sciences program. His team’s research, which often appears in peer-reviewed publications, has identified specific and diverse lighting strategies that consider crop yield, morphology, quality, and economics that maximize commercial growers’ objectives. At CannMed 26, David presented a poster titled, “Two novel lighting strategies to reduce …

Identifying the Skunk Genes in Cannabis with Manny Maminakis

Ben Amirault August 12, 2026Cultivation, Podcast

Manny Maminakis is the inventor and CEO of Cannamatrix INC, a cannabis bioinfomratics platform. Prior to Cannamatrix, Manny spent 12 years in the cannabis industry as an award winning cannabis cultivator and edible chef. At CannMed 26, he presented a poster titled “Computational Identification of Volatile Sulfur Compound Synthase Homologs in Cannabis sativa Using Profile Hidden Markov Models” During our …

Breeding for Better Solventless Extraction with Alisha Holloway, PhD

Ben Amirault June 3, 2026Cultivation, Podcast

Alisha Holloway is the Chief Scientific Officer at Phylos where she leads the R&D group that focuses on foundational genomic research, development of high-throughput genetic and chemical testing capabilities, discovery of genetic markers, and the development of new cannabis varieties via classical and marker-assisted breeding. At CannMed 26, she will present “Enhancing Cannabis Quality via Marker-Assisted Selection for Improved Solventless …

Decoding Natural Hop Latent Viroid Tolerance with Ansley Burtch

Ben Amirault April 8, 2026Cultivation, Podcast

Ansley Burtch is a Post-Baccalaureate Scholar in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at the University of Tennessee. Her undergraduate and post-baccalaureate research focuses on plant-pathogen interactions using computational genomics and transcriptomic approaches. She has also investigated the production of toxins by fungi and their impacts on human health. At CannMed 26 she will present “Decoding Natural Viroid Tolerance: …

Optimizing Temperature for Butane Extraction with Manny Sosa

Ben Amirault March 25, 2026Cultivation, Podcast, Safety

Manuel Sosa leads the analytical testing and research team at Abstrax Tech. In his role, Manny uses advanced techniques such as Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and HPLC to conduct rigorous tests and refine Abstrax SOPs to improve precision and efficiency. At CannMed 26, Manny will present “Temperature-Controlled Butane Extraction Minimizes Waxes While Preserving Cannabinoids and VOCs”, which explores how temperature …

Discovering Non-Glandular Trichomes Secrete Salts with Zamir Punja, PhD

Ben Amirault February 25, 2026Cultivation, Podcast

Dr. Zamir Punja is a Professor of Plant Biotechnology at Simon Fraser University in Canada. His research interests include the etiology and management of plant diseases and the applications of plant biotechnology for disease management. Since 2018, his work has focused on cannabis, identifying and describing a range of previously unreported pathogens affecting the crop and evaluating various methods for …

Mapping Cannabis Diversity with the Pangenome – Todd Michael, PhD

Ben Amirault September 10, 2025Cultivation, Podcast

Dr. Todd Michael is a leading researcher specializing in genome sequencing and analysis, currently serving as a Research Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and an Adjunct Professor at the University of California, San Diego. His research has made significant contributions to understanding plant genome architecture, particularly through the study of unique and specialized plants that offer insights …

Cannabis Crop Steering Techniques with Jose Leme, PhD

Ben Amirault July 23, 2025Cultivation, Podcast

Dr. Jose Lime is a Professor at Southern Illinois University and the principal investigator in the Cannabis Biology and Cultivation Systems lab. He and his team focus on determining how to leverage environmental controls (light intensity, duration, quality, temperature, and CO2), plant nutrition, biostimulants, and hormones to improve plant production. Moreover, the research group is developing techniques to optimize plant …

Inside the Cannabis Microbiome with Zamir Punja, PhD

Ben Amirault April 30, 2025Cultivation, Podcast

Zamir Punja, PhD is a Professor of Plant Biotechnology at Simon Fraser University in Canada. His research interests include the etiology and management of plant diseases on vegetable and horticultural crops, and the applications of plant biotechnology for disease management. Since 2018, his work has shifted to researching cannabis, where his group has described a range of previously unreported pathogens …

Gene Editing & Genetic Engineering in Cannabis & Hemp with Michael Petersen

Ben Amirault April 2, 2025Cultivation, Podcast

Michael Petersen has over 38 years of experience as a researcher and mentor in both the private and public plant biotech space. He has over 50 issued patents and his work in plant transformation and gene expression is a passion. Mike has worked on many genetic engineering/editing contracts with entities across the globe, and he now focuses on innovative hemp …

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