SaBRe recently participated in the 2026 VIFF Convening hosted in St. Louis, bringing together researchers, students, project leaders, and partners from across the country to share ideas, strengthen connections, and discuss the future of sustainable bioeconomy research.

The Convening provided an opportunity to highlight the progress being made across the SaBRe project and to engage in conversations with other VIFF teams about how science and innovation can help address the growing challenges associated with Sargassum accumulation throughout the Caribbean and surrounding regions.

Throughout the meeting, participants exchanged knowledge, explored new ideas, and discussed pathways for transforming Sargassum into valuable products while creating meaningful environmental, economic, and community benefits. Highlighting the importance of developing solutions that move beyond the laboratory and create real-world impact for coastal communities affected by Sargassum blooms.

The event also showcased the strength of collaboration across the VIFF ecosystem. Researchers shared advances in their work and built meaningful connections that support collective success and advance the shared VIFF mission. A particular strength of the Convening was the opportunity to bring teams together to identify complementary expertise and explore new ways to leverage capabilities across projects. These discussions are already expanding the scope of collaborative research and creating exciting opportunities for innovation.

For example, SaBRe is working with the WAVES team at Idaho National Laboratory to evaluate how pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment affects Sargassum biomass and its subsequent processing. Collaborations with BioCirV and CMORE are enhancing our understanding of Sargassum feedstocks by providing complementary analytical capabilities and new perspectives on how biomass composition and preprocessing influence downstream applications. Discussions with DIWAV identified opportunities to connect biological conversion technologies and explore new pathways for generating value-added products from Sargassum-derived materials. Meanwhile, future collaborations with REFRAME will help strengthen efforts related to techno-economic analysis, sustainability assessment, and feedstock logistics, providing important tools to guide future research and deployment strategies.

Students also had opportunities to present their work, build professional networks, and engage with experts from a wide range of disciplines. Special shoutout to Shamwari Anseeuw for winning best poster presentation and our students Krishi Mantri and Austin Seaman for their equally awesome job with their presentations.

For the SaBRe team, the Convening reinforced the value of partnerships, innovation, and community engagement as essential components of our mission. The discussions highlighted exciting opportunities to continue advancing research, support the development of sustainable solutions, and expand the impact of our work in the years ahead.

We thank all participants, collaborators, students, and stakeholders who contributed to a productive and inspiring event. We look forward to building on the momentum generated during the Convening and continuing to work toward innovative solutions for the global Sargassum challenge.

Special thanks to Schmidt Sciences and the Virtual Institute for Feedstocks of the Future (VIFF) for organizing such a productive and fun event and for their support of the SaBRe Project.