Project Grant 20203361031996

This $300,000 award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) will fund the development and field testing of elite poplar tree varieties with reduced lignin content for more sustainable and efficient wood fiber production. The project aims to establish a short-rotation agroforestry system utilizing these genetically engineered poplar trees with enhanced traits for increased pulp yield and reduced carbon...

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,...

This federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (CFDA 47.074 - Biological Sciences) provides $699,870 to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to develop simplified and efficient genetic modification technologies applicable across economically important grass and cereal crops. The 3-year project aims to leverage recent advances in plant regeneration from leaf tissues to adapt methods for use in crops like maize, sorghum, wheat, and biofuel grasses. The goal is to...

This federal Project Grant award, valued at $300,000.00 and provided by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, aims to conduct greenhouse and laboratory research to evaluate the growth, developmental, and genetic basis of spring wheat response to multigenerational exposure to weed competition. The key objectives are to: (i) assess growth and developmental changes in wheat, (ii) evaluate hormonal...

The West Virginia State University Research and Development Corporation was awarded $500,000 by the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the 1890 Institution Capacity Building Grants program (CFDA 10.216) to develop breakthrough biotechnology for switchgrass as a bioenergy feedstock. The three-year project aims to increase photosynthesis and biomass production in switchgrass through genetic engineering by introducing a foreign gene to...

The Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded Astalake Biosystems, Inc. $181,500 under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program to develop improved alfalfa varieties through synthetic biology. Alfalfa is a perennial legume with potential benefits to soil health, environmental health, and animal and human nutrition. Under this one-year project grant running from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, Astalake Biosystems will utilize its synthetic...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences program Project Grant award of $1,197,505 to the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium, Inc. (IWGSC) will generate full genome sequences and annotations for eight strategically selected bread wheat landrace varieties. Additionally, the award will update the existing International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) Chinese Spring reference genome. These genomic resources will be critical for mobilizing the vast...

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded South Dakota State University (SDSU) a $648,885 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive grants program. The grant will fund research from May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2026 to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying wheat grain yield, quality, and resilience to environmental stress. Specifically, SDSU researchers will fine-tune expression of the S1 gene in wheat, identify S1-interacting...

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...

This $585,289 Project Grant awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program supports research to develop soybean varieties with reduced levels of antinutritional factors, specifically trypsin inhibitors and lectins. The long-term goal is to produce improved, commercially viable soybean cultivars that can enhance the nutritional value and feed efficiency of soybean meal for livestock. Key objectives include...