VIB and Bayer join forces for plant research

13-Jun-2008

The changes in our climate, producing extreme temperatures or persistent drought, have an enormous impact on our crops to put it briefly, the crops are experiencing stress. VIB has now concluded a research agreement with Bayer BioScience NV, the Flemish agro-biotech innovation center of Bayer CropScience, to look into this problem. Through this collaboration, the researchers aim to elucidate the mechanisms that indicate how plants handle stress. The results that will come from this research in particular, the identification of factors that make a plant 'stress-resistant' are crucially important for the development of agricultural crops with higher yield. This research is being made possible by an approved IWT project submitted by Bayer BioScience. The project gives both research centers the chance to apply the special knowledge that they have developed in the area of 'stressed plants'.

Dr. Michiel van Lookeren Campagne, Head of BioScience Research for Bayer CropScience: "Breeding crop varieties with improved resistance against abiotic stresses such as drought, heat or cold is an urgent need in the upcoming decades of climate change, diminished availability of arable land, and an ever-growing demand for food, feed and biomass. To identify the key genes underlying stress tolerance, genome-wide gene function studies and highly efficient plant testing procedures have to be carried out. With the VIB Department of Plant Systems Biology, UGent, and its world-renowned expertise in the plant sciences, we have found an ideal partner for complementing our in-house research. The department's close proximity to us (in Ghent's Technology Park) is also an advantage."

The project will be carried out in close collaboration with the VIB Department of Plant Systems Biology, UGent. The department is one of the world's top research centers in plant research and has built a strong reputation with industrial partners. VIB scientist Frank Van Breusegem and his research group have years of expertise in the area of plant stress. This new project builds further on a research agreement made in 2004 regarding 'stress in plants'.

This is a 'win-win' collaboration for the two partners: Bayer CropScience can make use of VIB's world-class expertise, while VIB has the opportunity to convert its strategic basic research into products useful to society.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/83306/vib-and-bayer-join-forces-for-plant-research.html