Nottingham, United Kingdom
June 27, 2007A
£9.2m research centre at
The University of Nottingham will break new ground in our
understanding of plant growth and could lead to the development
of drought-resistant crops for developing countries.
The Centre for Plant Integrative
Biology (CPIB) will focus on cutting-edge research into
plant biology —
particularly the little-studied area of root growth, function
and response to environmental cues.
A greater understanding of plant roots,
particularly how they respond to different levels of moisture,
nutrients and salt in the soil, could pave the way for the
development of new drought-resistant crops that can thrive in
arid areas and coastal margins of the developing world.
Because it is difficult to study roots
— as all their
growth occurs below ground level —
scientists will develop a ‘virtual root’ using the latest
mathematical modelling techniques. By developing computer models
of the root that exactly mimic biological processes, they will
be able to observe what is happening at every stage from the
molecular scale upwards.
Research in this area is crucial because
the roots dictate life or death for a plant through uptake of
water and nutrients, and response to environmental factors.
The CPIB, which is based at The
University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington Campus, has its
official opening on July 2, 2007.
Professor Charlie Hodgman, Principal
Director of the CPIB, said: "CPIB aims to set a prime example of
how multidisciplinary teams can bring novel ideas to and
discoveries in crucial aspects of plant science."
CPIB brings together experts from four
different Schools at the University
—
Biosciences, Computer Science & IT, Mathematical Sciences, and
Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering.
They will create a ‘virtual root’ of the
simple weed Arabidopsis, a species of the Brassica family
routinely used for molecular genetic studies. Expertise in
Arabidopsis research is already well developed at the Nottingham
Arabidopsis Stock Centre, which integrally linked with CPIB.
This expertise will then be broadened
into crop species. CPIB researchers ultimately aim to integrate
their ‘virtual root’ with those of other international projects
that model shoot and leaf development, leading to a generic
computer model of a whole plant which will again be used to
advance crop and plant science.
Representatives from UK research
councils, industry, publishers, and external academics will
gather at the opening event on July 2 with University of
Nottingham staff from the four academic schools involved. The
event will feature talks by members of the CPIB and invited
speakers, including:
- Professor Philip Benfey, Duke University, USA
- Professor Jonathan Lynch, Penn State University, USA
- Professor Peter Hunter, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
CPIB is funded by the Systems Biology
joint initiative of BBSRC and EPSRC, which has provided £27M for
six specialised centres across the UK. |
