Apr 2022
Theme : Drought Tolerance in wheat and deregulation of GM wheat – hosted by Professor Brande Wulff
Abstract:
Biotechnology
and fundamental research are in continuous crosstalk. How some plant
species are more able to adapt themselves to adverse environmental
conditions leads us to study stress responses at the molecular level,
focusing on the first steps in which transcription factors are key
players. The sunflower HaHB4 and HaHB11 genes resulted in
biotechnological tools to improve crops. After a long way from the
laboratory to the field and from a model plant to crops, HaHB4-wheat
became the first modified crop arriving at the market in which the gene
donor is another plant. On the way are HaHB4 soybean and HaHB11 maize.
These crops have shown yield improvements in different regions with
different soil qualities, climates, and rainfall regimes. The
observation of these plants indicated that stem width is the major trait
determining seed yield. We succeeded to provoke this effect by
mechanical treatment, resulting in a yield increase.
Bio:
She
is currently a Senior Researcher at CONICET-Argentina, Senior Lecturer
at UNL, Director of the Agrobiotechnology Institute. Her research
focuses on plant adaptation to environmental stress, starting from the
study of molecules as transcription factors until modified crops in
field trials. Her degree was completed at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem (1981) and her Ph.D. at CEFOBI (CONICET-UNR). She did a
post-doc at the IBMP (Strasbourg-France, 1988-1992) and then joined the
Molecular Biology Institute (Rosario-Argentina, 1993) as a CONICET
career member. In 1999 she moved to the Coastal National University. She
is co-author of 95 articles published in prestigious journals, nine
book chapters, dozens of science divulgation articles, and co-inventor
of ten international patents involving biotechnological tools for crop
improvement. She received recognition and awards, such as Jorge Sabato
(2013), Konex Foundation (2013), Rosario city- IBR Foundation (2019),
and was selected by the BBC together with IANAS as one of the ten women
who lead science in Latin America (2013), nominated by Crop Life
International (2019) as Female Food Hero, among others. She has been
incorporated into the Santa Fe Academy of Medical Sciences (2020), the
National Academy of Sciences (Argentina, 2021), and the Latin-American
Academy of Science (2021), IICA chair (Costa Rica, 2022).