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February 2, 2024
White Paper 2024: Plant Genetic Resource Digital Commons – conservation to consumption
A concise White Paper has been developed as a distillation of issues that builds on prior work of the DivSeek community, feedback from stakeholders and partners.
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June 27, 2023
Breedbase: a Game-Changing Open Software for Plant Breeding Management
To meet the grand challenge of breeding the next generation of climate-adapted crops, we’re going to need innovative solutions that enhance and accelerate plant breeding programs. One such game-changer in the field is Breedbase, a comprehensive breeding management and analysis software platform. Breedbase is designed to assist plant breeders in managing and analyzing their breeding […]
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May 24, 2023
GRIN-U: free online content for genebank staff and educators
In a field that’s as highly specialized as agricultural genebanking, transferring knowledge from one generation to the next can be a challenge. GRIN-U (GRIN-U.org) is an online learning platform that seeks to address this challenge by providing free learning content for genebank staff around the world. Sustaining a global network of genebanks that conserve […]
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May 3, 2023
Software synergies: reimagining the future of crop breeding
Across almost all industry and research domains, it is becoming increasingly evident that the faster we can share data, the faster we can collaboratively invent new solutions and products. Of course, this is also true for the research and development of future-proof crop varieties. This is why the people behind Genesys and Germinate have […]
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April 20, 2023
The DivSeek Oceania Hub: Harnessing Biodiversity Resources across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific
Representatives of the DivSeek Regional Hub for Australasia recently convened at the University of Queensland to discuss the scope, use, and accessibility of plant biodiversity resources across Oceania. Bringing together experts from various disciplines, the meeting facilitated conversations about how to best maintain plant genetic resources that are comprehensive, traceable, and accessible to research. This […]
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March 27, 2023
A Guide to Practice for the Plant Genetics Research Community
This week a prominent ‘perspective’ paper appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), that provides an excellent overview and explanation in plain English of the international agreements that govern use of Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) as well as best practices for complying with the agreements. PGR underpin not only the future of […]
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March 19, 2023
GeneSys: a gateway into the world’s gene banks
“Databases, databases, and more databases.” These are the words Matija Obreza uses to describe the digital landscape that crop scientists enter when faced with the challenge of locating data and germplasm for their next project. Obreza is head of genebank information systems at the Crop Trust, the only organization whose sole mission […]
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March 5, 2023
Illumina accepted as first partner organisation of DivSeek International Network
Illumina, an American biotechnology company known best for producing genomic sequencing technology, has just become the first official partner organisation of DivSeek International Network. Illumina technology has many applications across the life sciences. In recent decades, their integrated and desktop sequencing systems have become indispensable in the study of plant genetic resources (PGR), particularly in […]
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February 28, 2023
Here’s how pangenomics can help fast-track crop improvement
Recent advances in genomics technologies are providing plant breeders with new tools to improve crop yield, quality, and disease resistance. Two approaches that have been gaining increased attention in recent years are pangenomics and haplotype catalogue (HapCat) analyses. These analytic methods are the primary focus of DivSeek’s Chickpea PanGenome & HapCat Hub, which is […]
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February 20, 2023
DivSeek in San Diego – highlights from our AGM and PAG 30 workshops
On January 12, 2023, DivSeek International Network held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in San Diego. After two years of COVID disruption, the meeting was an opportunity for members of the DivSeek community to meet face-to-face. During the meeting, Executive Director Graham King presented on the progress made over the past year – such as […]
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