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Faculty Focus: Holland Wins International Maize Genetics Award

N.C. PSI News

A small white box on PVC pipe poles over plots of soybeans in sandy soil.

Jun 9, 2020

Low-Cost Cameras Could Be Sensors to Remotely Monitor Crop Stress

Researchers from CALS and COE, led by postdoctoral research scholar Paula Ramos-Giraldo, have worked together to construct a low-cost camera system to monitor crop stress remotely. Their StressCam will aid researchers, plant breeders and ultimately farmers. 
Four bottles of hand sanitizer.

Jun 9, 2020

Fewer Cars Mean More Hand Sanitizer

NC State partners with Novozymes to make a product once taken for granted – hand sanitizer. 
Seedlings with mutations in genes involved in making a plant growth hormone have curly cotyledons, the first two “leaves” of a plant shoot, or short roots. (Labeled seedlings on black)

Jun 3, 2020

Complementary Mutations: A Rollercoaster of Scientific Discovery

NC State researchers discover a new genetic mutation that could “fix” another mutation in the same gene, an enzyme involved in making a plant growth hormone — after a rollercoaster of ups and downs. 
Rodolphe Barrangou, professor and co-founder of TreeCo, with genome edited poplars.

Jun 1, 2020

NC State Spin-off TreeCo To Breed a Better Forest

TreeCo, start-up company founded by by two NC State researchers, is setting out to revolutionize the forestry industry by combining insights from tree genetics with the power of genome editing. 
A bunch of clean, top-grade sweetpotatoes

May 27, 2020

Big Data for Better Sweetpotatoes

An interdisciplinary team led by Cranos Williams is setting out on a three-year project to use artificial intelligence to make sweetpotatoes even more profitable. The team will image hundreds of thousands of sweetpotatoes to increase the percentage of sweetpotatoes grown that are USDA grade 1. 
A family gathered around a restaurant table set with colorful napkins, silverware, glassware and coffee cups

May 27, 2020

Generational Generosity Supports Agribusiness Breakthroughs

Growing up in Rocky Mount, Bill Culpepper planned to go back home after graduation, but the Vietnam War and his introduction to agribusiness changed his plans and his life. Now, he and his family -- three generations Wolfpack strong -- are making a significant gift to the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative to support future agribusiness breakthroughs. 
The new greenhouse at Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in western North Carolina.

May 26, 2020

Topping-off for Tomato Breeding

NC State’s tomato breeding efforts, led by Dilip Panthee, just got a boost in the form of a new 1440-square-foot greenhouse at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center. 
Five people hold shovels with red ribbons near a trough of soil set up on a stage

May 13, 2020

Partner Profile: North Carolina Soybean Producers Association

The North Carolina Soybean Producers Association was one of the first commodity groups to pledge their support for the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative (N.C. PSI). Owen Wanger, CEO of the association, shares why it supports the N.C. PSI. 
Soybean plants in a laboratory with colorful tubes in the background.

May 11, 2020

CRISPR Plants: New Non-GMO Method to Edit Plants

Wusheng Liu has developed a new way to get CRISPR/Cas9 into plant cells without inserting foreign DNA. This will allow for precise genetic deletions or replacements for specialty crops, without GMO regulatory hurdles. 
A corn field in North Carolina

May 7, 2020

Faculty Focus: Holland Wins International Maize Genetics Award

Jim Holland, a U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service plant breeder and geneticist based in NC State’s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, received an international maize genetics award for his decades of research on corn diversity and breeding in disease resistance.