Global climate change, rapid population growth and shifting diets are creating intense pressures on agricultural systems. The recent advent of CRISPR/Cas as an additional tool for gene editing has spurred countless innovations in crops and livestock. From improved yields to enhanced drought tolerance, gene editing has enabled a range of promising improvements in a vast array of organisms. In this AfS Live webinar, three young scientists will discuss their work in gene editing for agriculture, their hopes for the technology and the role they seek to play in shepherding the next generation of agricultural biotechnology.
Panelists include Nicholas Karavolias, a Ph.D. candidate at the Innovative Genomics Institute, home of CRISPR/Cas technology, at the University of California, Berkeley. His work seeks to provide an overview of how gene editing has been applied in agriculture for climate adaptation. He uses CRISPR/Cas9 in rice to generate varieties that are more drought-tolerant, and in cassava to improve nutritional attributes. Maci Mueller is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Davis. Her work explores the relative advantages of gene editing and conventional breeding to drive the genetic improvement of cattle. Navneet Kaur is a Post-Doctoral Research Scientist at Rothamsted Research and a 2019 Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellow. Her expertise is in the area of plant molecular biology and metabolic engineering, specifically focused on provitamin A biofortification of banana.
Sarah Evanega, director of the Alliance for Science, will moderate.
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