Marlene Ortiz-Berrocal is a PhD candidate at the Center for Genomic Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where she is conducting research on rice genetic engineering and biological nitrogen fixation. She is a co-founder of Científicos Mexicanos Aliados por el Saber en la Agricultura (C-MASA), a group of Mexican science allies who are working to engage and empower scientists to communicate their knowledge to decision-makers and the general public in order to balance the debate around genetically modified organisms. She has a bachelor’s degree in experimental biology from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana – Iztapalapa, and has always been interested in using biotechnology to help solve real problems in agriculture. ”