Davis, California, USA
October 4, 2011

Helping to fill a critical need for additional plant breeders, the University of California, Davis European Plant Breeding Academy (EPBA) graduated its first class of students last week. Over the six sessions held in Angers, France; Enkhuizen, The Netherlands; Barcelona, Spain; Gatersleben, Germany, and UC Davis; this class has spent more than 300 hours in classes, workshops and the field, training to become professional plant breeders.

Congratulations to the following EPBA Class I graduates:

- Guillermo Aqulla Tortosa, Semillas Fito, Spain,
- Inga Kottmann, Deutsche Saatveredelung AG, Germany,
- Liora Lifshitz, Zeraim Gedera Ltd., Israel,
- Naama Barom Eliyahu, Hazera Genetics, Israel,
- Wilbert Luesink, Norddeutsche Pflanzenzucht Lembke (NPZ), Germany,
- Supat Mekiyanon, Chia Tai Co., Thailand,
- Diego Ramos, Monsanto, Spain
- Bunterm Iamthian, Chia Tai Co., Thailand,
- Jose Maldonado, Monsanto, Spain,
- Marc Solsona, Semillas Fito, Spain,
- Dominique Rouan, Bayer CropSciences, Belgium,
- Mathieu Sanvoisin, Syngenta, France,
- Mika Isolahti, Boreal Plant Breeding Ltd., Finland,
- Andreas Girke, Norddeutsche Pflanzenzucht Lembke (NPZ), Germany.

For more information on the Plant Breeding Academy, please contact Joy Patterson at jpatterson@ucdavis.edu or visit http://pba.ucdavis.edu

The Seed Biotechnology Center was established at UC Davis in 1999 to mobilize the research, educational and outreach resources of the University of California in partnership with the seed and biotechnology industries, and to facilitate discovery and commercialization of new seed technologies for agricultural and consumer benefits.

Website: http://pba.ucdavis.edu/

Published: October 5, 2011