The center is built on the foundations of the Laboratory of General Genetics, pioneered by Jeff Schell and Marc Van Montagu. Research in the early days was focused on microbial genetics: the study of restriction and modification in Escherichia coli, and the search for the tumor-inducing principle (TIP) in Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
Our center does not work in isolation. Collaborative partnerships with global entities, local communities, government bodies, and other academic institutions, are vital to our success. We believe in the power of shared knowledge and technology transfer to magnify our impact.
Genome editing: special technology to produce normal agricultural crops
From the publication of the first plant genome sequence, that of Arabidopsis thaliana, researchers from VIB have been involved in helping with the assembly, annotation, and further downstream bioinformatics analyses of many plant genome sequences. Up to know, PSB has been involved in dozens of international plant genome projects and has analyzed hundreds of plant genomes. A special interest of PSB researchers has been to uncover remnants of ancient polyploidy in these genomes.
Bioinformatics and computational biology are cornerstones of modern-day molecular biology and are strongholds of the center. PSB has a longstanding expertise in many subdomains of bioinformatics, including the assembly and annotation of novel plant genome sequences, evolutionary genomics, the analysis and integration of -omics data, gene network modeling and comparative genomics. While many projects at PSB are already collaborations between experimental and bioinformatics groups, a further integration of dry- and wet-lab activities remains a key goal of the Center.
Sustainability is the heartbeat of our agricultural research programs. We concentrate on advancing agricultural methods that support food security without depleting natural resources. Our Center is at the forefront of pioneering genetically improved crops that require fewer inputs such as water, fertilizers, and pesticides.
Climate change poses an existential threat to our world, altering ecosystems and disrupting life on a global scale. Our Center’s research is geared toward understanding the intricate relationship between plant life and atmospheric dynamics. We focus on developing resilient plant varieties capable of withstanding extreme weather patterns while sequestering carbon more efficiently.
Our ambition is to accelerate the innovation cycle between lab and field. Furthermore, we will strengthen activities to understand how molecular pathways behave in field conditions in order to bring this information back to the lab. Closing the lab-to-field-to-lab learning cycle is pivotal in translating basic research findings to field applications. PSB has also developed unique ways to translate basic scientific insights into field applications.
