Academic Seminar (Course)
FENS G032
27.11.2024 - All Day
SEMINAR: Food or Non-food: Plant Biotechnology is the Future
Plant biotechnology has emerged as a pivotal tool in agriculture and industry, enhancing crop resilience, productivity and nutritional value while also offering sustainable solutions for industrial applications. Techniques such as genetic modification, genome editing, marker-assisted selection and omics technologies facilitate the development of plants with improved biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, including resistance to diseases, drought and salinity. These advancements contribute to food security and sustainable agriculture practices, addressing global challenges like climate change, population growth, and resource scarcity. Additionally, plant tissue culture and cell suspension culture enable large-scale production of valuable plant species, plant-derived extracellular vesicles and bioactive molecules, including secondary metabolites with applications in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and the food industry. Through micropropagation, rapid clonal propagation of elite genotypes and pathogen-free plants are achieved, ensuring uniformity and enhanced yield in crops. Conversely, conserving the gene pool is crucial for advancements in these fields, beyond just achieving uniformity. Therefore, both tissue culture and DNA barcoding play vital roles in supporting biodiversity and conservation efforts. Collectively, these technologies offer transformative solutions to meet global agricultural demands and open new industrial applications, positioning plant biotechnology as a cornerstone of sustainable development. This talk will explore our research into both agricultural and non-agricultural applications of plant biotechnology based on these powerful tools.