Plant Genetic Engineering Laboratory

Development of non-transgenic technology for targeted gene mutations in plants (Honours/Master/PhD)

This project is in collaboration with Prof. Zhu, director of the Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology (Chinese Academy of Sciences). CRISPR technology allows to target genes for mutation with an unprecedented accuracy and does not leave any secondary effects in the genome. This technology is now being used in all major crops for genetic improvement but as any new technology, CRISPR can still be improved. We want to develop enhanced CRISPR systems to speed up the production of better crops.

 

Plant defence mechanisms controlled by G-proteins (Honours/Master/PhD)

Plants are always fighting a multitude of pathogens and they have developed very sophisticated defence mechanisms during evolution. Some of those mechanisms are now relatively well known but new ones are still being discovered. G-proteins are a new player on this never ending battle and they seem to be really important. As prove of that, if you mutate one of the subunit genes, plants get extremely sensitive to pathogens. We want to know more about the mechanisms controlled by G proteins to protect plants.

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Next generation diagnostic technologies (Honours/Master/PhD)

Up to a third of the agricultural production is lost due to three major causes: disease outbreaks, insect attack and weed competition. Among them, losses caused by crop diseases are the most important issue globally, especially in agriculturally reliant countries. In the absence of resistance, the ideal method to control disease outbreaks is by early detection in the field before it spreads to neighbouring farms. It is therefore essential to develop new disease diagnostic technologies that are sensitive, reproducible, highly specific and (if possible) able to detect multiple pathogens in a single assay.

We are working to develop the next generation of diagnostic technologies combining Molecular Biology and Nanotechnology. Our methods aim to eliminate expensive equipment and complicated sample preparation in order to be able to deploy them in the field.

 

Crop yield improvement (Honours/Master/PhD)

Given the imminent food crisis that humanity will face in the next 50 years, crop yield enhancement is of paramount importance. Among all foods of plant origin, the Poaceae family, with members such as rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, barley, oat, rye and millet occupies a preeminent place in feeding humanity, not only as a direct source of carbohydrates but also as an increasing part of farm animal diets. We are interested in improving yield by controlling genes with a direct positive effect on yield. Some of the yield-enhancing genes have been characterized in rice but they can be applied to other grain crops.

 

Custom projects (Honours/Master/PhD)

Although it is not the usual way to do it, you can contact us and propose your ideal research project. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to accommodate your project in our current research but at least we will have a think about it.