June 5, 2009
The Seed
Biotechnology Center (SBC) was started in
the spring of 1999 when one half-time employee
was hired to work with Professor Kent Bradford,
the newly named Director. Ten years later, the
SBC has grown into a hub for research, education
and outreach. It is with great pride the SBC
celebrates its 10th anniversary.
To help commemorate its accomplishments, the SBC
recently hosted a symposium entitled “Seed
Biotechnologies: Filling the Gap between the
Public and Private Sector.” This two-day event
brought together 169 people, including 84
researchers in the private sector, to discuss
most advanced techniques to improve crop
plants. Topics discussed included facilitation
of conventional plant breeding through the use
of molecular markers, use of biotechnology to
create novel traits and varieties,
commercialization of new technologies and
germplasm, and the education of current and
future plant breeders and scientists.
“It was humbling to see the great turnout,” said
Dr. Allen Van Deynze, Director of Research for
the SBC. “We were particularly pleased to see
the interactions between industry scientists and
academics, exactly what the Seed Biotechnologies
Symposium aimed to foster.”
Since its inception, Dr. Bradford has strived to
improve seed technologies for agricultural and
consumer benefit. The Seed Biotechnologies
Symposium is a great example of this vision and
commitment to strengthen the seed community.
“A goal of the SBC is to bring outstanding
scientists from around the world to California
where local scientists in the seed industry can
learn about their work and interact with them.
The excellent keynote speakers invited to the
symposium, as well as our own elite scientists
from the University of California, provided an
exciting view of the current state of plant
genetics and breeding,” stated Bradford.
However, this celebratory event offered more
than just an update on the progression of
research in the field. Bradford continued by
saying that “in addition to the symposium
itself, the opportunities for networking and
development of collaborative projects resulted
in new initiatives that will be the focus of
future work at the SBC.”
Thank you to
all those who joined us May 11-12, 2009, for
helping us create such a sucessful symposium!
Due to the large number of requests, we have
requested permission from the speakers to
provide the audience members with access to the
slides. PDF versions of the presentations are
shown below:
Symposium presentations (PDF)
- Blumwald, Eduardo - Engineering drought tolerance in crops
- Bradford, Kent - Commercialization/regulation of new varieties
- Bradford, Kent - First 10 years of the Seed Biotechnology Center
- Causse, Mathilde - Improvement of sensory quality in tomato
- Chi-Ham, Cecilia - Technology transfer in the public sector
- Dirks, Rob - Plant breeding revised and reversed
- Freymark, Peter - Education of plant scientists; an industry perspective
- Jahn, Molly - Educating the next generation of plant breeders
- Kridl, Jean - Nitrogen use efficiency in crops
- McElroy, Jeff - Biomass supply chain and breeding for energy
- Michelmore, Richard - Molecular markers for lettuce improvement
- Osborn, Tom - Molecular assisted selection in vegetables
- Van Deynze, Allen - Private/public partnerships