Project Grant 20203361031806

This $699,870 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports the development of simplified and highly efficient genetic modification technologies for economically important grasses and cereal crops. The "PLANTTRANSFORM: SMART GRASS" project aims to overcome the current constraint in the plant science research community regarding the capacity to genetically modify major crop plants. The award establishes a...

This federal Project Grant award, provided by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310), aims to develop a new method for producing hybrid seeds in wheat and barley. The $649,976 award to the University of California, Davis will leverage advanced gene editing (CRISPR) and plant transformation techniques to induce conditional male sterility in diverse varieties of bread wheat and barley. This research...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) project grant for $305,000 awarded to Luminova Biotech LLC aims to develop a technology that enhances plant mitochondrial function using light to reduce oxygen and boost plant growth and stress tolerance. The project will first demonstrate proof-of-concept in a model plant system, evaluating the technology's impact on critical plant growth and development parameters. If successful, this technology could...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences (CFDA 47.074) Federal Grant Program provides $279,922 to the University of California, Davis to develop new methods for generating diploid gametes in maize. The project aims to enable the inexpensive production of high-yielding hybrid maize seeds through asexual reproduction, which could have a significant impact on U.S. agriculture. The research approach involves editing multiple genes involved in cell...

This three-year, $1.8 million project grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Integrative Organismal Systems aims to develop rapid transformation and gene editing techniques in maize through the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074). The University of Missouri System will work to establish a system for precisely inserting transgenes and editing genes at predetermined sites in the genome of maize. Researchers will create "landing pads" on five chromosomes of a...

This $270,244 Project Grant awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program supports a research project conducted by South Dakota State University (SDSU) to improve heat tolerance in wheat. The key objectives are to: 1) Create novel variations in the Rubisco activase 2 (RCA2) gene to enhance thermostability, 2) Evaluate the impact of these mutations on photosynthetic efficiency and heat tolerance, and 3)...

The University of Wisconsin System was awarded a $585,503 project grant by the USDA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program to lay the groundwork for introducing the traits responsible for efficient biological nitrogen fixation into elite maize (corn) accessions adapted to the US Midwest. The key objectives are to: Determine the nitrogen-fixing ability of parent lines and establish a correlation between nitrogen fixation and plant traits like aerial root number and diameter....

The National Science Foundation Division of Integrative Organismal Systems awarded Rutgers, The State University $1.46 million under the Biological Sciences (CFDA 47.074) federal grant program from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2025. The project aims to develop a new method for direct chloroplast transformation in Arabidopsis flowers using re-engineered Agrobacterium. Researchers will modify Agrobacterium to deliver T-DNA containing antibiotic resistance markers to plant chloroplasts. They...

Montana State University received a $644,293 Project Grant award from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. The four-year project aims to develop new wheat varieties with increased biomass and seed yield through genetic modifications to the Teosinte Branched 1 gene, which influences tiller production in cereal plants. The university will create new spring, winter, and...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant, awarded under the Integrative Activities program (CFDA 47.083), will support collaborative research at Kansas State University to identify the genetic basis of plant regeneration, specifically focusing on maize. The $400,000 award will fund the project from September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2027. The primary goal is to better understand the genetic mechanisms controlling plant cell proliferation and growth, which are critical for successful...