December 2022 - 14

Biotechnology is key to crop improvement
By Gary Pullano
VGN Senior Correspondent
A new organization consisting of
plant biotechnologists is working
to accelerate the development of
new plant varieties to meet demand
in coming decades. It's a project
organizers believe will positively
impact growers' ability to enhance
crop production amid intensifying
resource and climate challenges.
" The global capacity to produce
plants using genetic engineering
is critically short of demand, " said
Joyce Van Eck, associate professor at
the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI).
" There are too few facilities and
people with the expertise to perform
this work, which is having a negative
impact on plant science research
worldwide. "
Van Eck was the featured presenter
in an August BTI webinar titled,
" Feeding the Plant Through Plant
Biotechnology. "
Biotechnology is key to crop
improvement, enabling researchers
to determine the functions of genes,
which can then be bred into crops
using traditional methods or modern
engineering methods. Unfortunately,
there is a big bottleneck: There aren't
enough service providers to deliver
genetically engineered plants to the
atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PH/
overview) to serve as a repository of
protocols, and the organization will
host workshops and master classes
to train people on how to engineer
different species.
" PlantGENE will be a catalyst to
bring groups together to tackle issues
related to plant biotechnology and
crop improvement, " Van Eck said.
" The network will help increase
capacity for plant genetic engineering,
coordinate facilities to work together
and train new scientists who can
become experts in plant genetic
engineering techniques.
" Ultimately, PlantGENE will
The PlantGENE steering committee includes, from left, Heidi Kaeppler, University
of Wisconsin; Bill Gordon-Kamm, Corteva Agriscience; Wayne Parrott, University
of Georgia; Veena Veena, Danforth Plant Science Center; Joyce Van Eck, Boyce
Thompson Institute; and Keunsub Lee, Iowa State University. Not pictured is Nigel
Taylor of the Danforth Plant Science Center. Photo: Boyce Thompson Institute
research community, nor are there
enough scientists trained to
engineer the plants.
To overcome this logjam, Van Eck
was awarded a $500,000 grant (IOS
2210962) from the U.S. National
Science Foundation (NSF) to create
the Plant Genetic Engineering
Network Research Coordination
Network (PlantGENE).
PlantGENE is a network of plant
biotechnologists that will work
together to facilitate the sharing of
technology, knowledge and protocols.
The community-driven initiative
also will have a website (plantgene.
increase capacity for delivering
genetically engineered plants to
the research community, " said Van
Eck, who is also an adjunct assistant
professor in the College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences at Cornell University.
A coordinator for PlantGENE, to be
located at BTI, will work with facility
managers at different facilities to
streamline communication among the
network, universities, private sector
and international organizations.
" This person will make BTI the hub
of a network coordinating training and
workshops to get more people doing
plant biotechnology, " Van Eck said.
The PlantGENE steering committee
includes Van Eck, Veena Veena and
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December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2022
