Huntsville, Ala. — HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, in collaboration with the University of Georgia, will host the second CROPS conference June 5-8, 2017, bringing together leading genomics researchers and plant breeders from around the world.
CROPS will address the intersection of newly emerging genomic technologies and their application to crop improvement.
“Enormous progress has been made in plant genomics in just a few short years. We have gone from generating a single reference genome for a single plant, to generating hundreds of reference plant genomes and detailed diversity of crop collections,” said Jeremy Schmutz, faculty investigator and co-director of the HudsonAlpha Genome Sequencing Center (HGSC). “The expectation for the conference is that we can all learn from the best ongoing efforts to apply these significant plant genomic resources to improving crops, regardless of our focus on any specific plant.”
An internationally-renowned group of speakers has been selected from the some of the key areas in crop genomics. Keynote speakers include Michael Purugganan, PhD, of New York University and Edward Buckler, PhD, of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Attendees will be introduced to some of the history of Huntsville with tours of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and dinner under the Saturn V Rocket. They also will enjoy the Hops on the Helix social and have the opportunity to sample from local breweries and food trucks on the Jackson Center lawn.
To learn more, visit http://hudsonalpha.org/crops.
About HudsonAlpha: HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is a nonprofit institute dedicated to innovating in the field of genomic technology and sciences across a spectrum of biological challenges. Opened in 2008, its mission is four-fold: sparking scientific discoveries that can impact human health and well-being; bringing genomic medicine into clinical care; fostering life sciences entrepreneurship and business growth; and encouraging the creation of a genomics-literate workforce and society. The HudsonAlpha biotechnology campus consists of 152 acres nestled within Cummings Research Park, the nation’s second largest research park. Designed to be a hothouse of biotech economic development, HudsonAlpha’s state-of-the-art facilities co-locate nonprofit scientific researchers with entrepreneurs and educators. The relationships formed on the HudsonAlpha campus encourage collaborations that produce advances in medicine and agriculture. Under the leadership of Dr. Richard M. Myers, a key collaborator on the Human Genome Project, HudsonAlpha has become a national and international leader in genetics and genomics research and biotech education, and includes more than 30 diverse biotech companies on campus. To learn more about HudsonAlpha, visit: http://hudsonalpha.org/.
Media Contact:
Margetta Thomas
mthomas@hudsonalpha.org
256-327-0425