www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

The German research programme on plant genomics will start its next period ?
called GABI-FUTURE ? in the summer of 2007.
Through a process of international peer review and internal voting within
the programme?s Scientific Advisory Committee, some 38 new projects were
recommended to receive funding from the German Federal Ministry of Research
(BMBF).

Most of the recommended projects put forward are joint public-private
initiatives between academic and industrial partners, with an estimated ?55
million coming from government and ?11 million from industry over the next
three years. Such partnerships will help further encourage the transfer of
results, knowledge and techniques, as outlined in GABI?s bridging concept.

GABI-funded projects will focus mainly on boosting plant resistance against
abiotic and biotic stress with optimised metabolism, harvest organs and
morphologic architecture. Other projects will concentrate on the efficient
use of water and nutrients, health promoting ingredients, low-input energy
plants and further development of GABI?s future infrastructure. In addition
to Arabidopsis as a model, the proposed plant species comprise cereals ?
including maize and rapeseed ? sugar beet, potato and some minor crops.

The German plant science community and industry welcomed GABI-FUTURE,
describing it as a clear signal of the government?s commitment to plant
genomics.

[www.epsoweb.org]