In March 2025, two consecutive Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) were held at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops (IFVCNS) in Novi Sad, Serbia, bringing together researchers from IFVCNS, the University of Rostock (UROS), and the University of Padua (UNIPD). These missions focused on troubleshooting and standardizing protocols for omics-based research in sunflower drought tolerance.

Activities included setting up a new drought experiment under chamber-controlled conditions, aligning stress protocols across labs, and optimizing RNA extraction and qPCR procedures. The teams worked collaboratively to refine gene expression workflows, particularly for ABA-related genes, and to ensure comparability between experiments conducted in Novi Sad and Padua.

These STSMs strengthened methodological consistency across CROPINNO partners and laid the foundation for coordinated data interpretation in upcoming project phases.