Special seminar
July 27, 2026 12:00PM - 1:30PM
Special seminar
WCIC and Wox2a: A winning combination advancing GLBRC Sorghum research.
Special seminar, Monday July 27 at 12 NOON
The Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center focuses on plant transformation capacity and production of biotech crops. We have been using the ZmWox2a gene discovered by Heidi Kaeppler’s group. in sorghum to conduct genotype-flexible transformation in many sorghum cultivars, usually with efficiencies greater than 50%.
The in-person meeting will be at FST162 for the seminar
There will be Pizza for the people joining in person!
Invitation for special seminar: Dr. Ray Collier and Natalie Walter, Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center
The in-person meeting will be at FST162 for the seminar
Time: noon local time (EST), 11 CST, 9 PST
There will be Pizza for the people joining in person!
What started about ten years ago after the donation of an industrial-style plant transformation site by Monsanto to the University of Wisconsin, has now proliferated into North America’s largest plant transformation center. The Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center has achieved transformation of over 20 crops, in collaboration and as service providers including public Universities. Dr. Ray Collier and Natalie Walter are on the forefront of molecular technologies which massively boosted transformation success and specifically large DNA-cargo delivery into some of the most transformation-resistant plant species.
Time has been set aside for meet with the experts Ray and Natalie one-on-one, after the seminar. Please let Björn Hamberger (hamberge@msu.edu) know if you would like to get a chance to talk with amazing plant transformation wizards!
WCIC and Wox2a: A winning combination advancing GLBRC Sorghum research.
Special seminar, Monday July 27 at noon EST, 11 CST, 9 PST
Dr. Ray Collier & Nathalie Walter, Molecular Technologies Department, Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center, University of Wisconsin – Madison: Seminar @ GLBRC/Michigan State University, July 27, 2026.
The Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center at the University of Wisconsin – Madison began operating in 2017, ushering in a new period of public sector plant transformation capacity and technical advancements focused on production of biotech crops using elite, agronomically relevant germplasm. WCIC conducts protocol development research and fee-for-service activities in more than 20 crops. Sorghum is an area of focus for us to support GLBRC and DOE research. An important advance in sorghum transformation has been use of the gene ZmWox2a discovered by Heidi Kaeppler’s group. We have been using this gene in sorghum to conduct genotype-flexible transformation in many sorghum cultivars, usually with efficiencies greater than 50%. To facilitate bioenergy research and field trials, we are collaborating with Bill Rooney at Texas A&M to transform bioenergy hybrids. We have focused initial work on BTx2932 and F10702 elite Texas A&M inbreds which, when crossed together, produce a photoperiod-sensitive non-flowering bioenergy hybrid for use in long-day environments. The first transformation initiations with this material began in January 2026 and we are currently harvesting seed from hundreds of plants representing 14 editing constructs and three expression constructs in both inbred lines. We are advancing on implementation of additional genetic tools to facilitate production of modified hybrids, including non-transgenic edited hybrids suitable for field trials. We are also supporting a promoter experiment with GLBRC researchers to expand the tools available for research in sorghum. Finally, we are actively working to enable the use of the GAANTRY system for delivery of large T-DNA cargoes in monocots to support synthetic biology research targeted at pathways and combinations of multiple genes.
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