Cereal genomics for “Food security and human health”

Date

Tuesday 09 August 2016

Time

12:30-13:30

Venue

CSIRO Black Mountain B1 Lecture Theatre

Speaker

Dr. Navreet Bhullar, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)/CSIRO

Seminar summary

Wheat and rice both contribute a major share to human diet as they are produced and consumed globally. For many of the world’s poorer populations, these are often the sole available source for daily caloric energy and therefore, also for micronutrients. In Asia, around 3 billion people depend on rice for 35–59% of their energy and in many other developing countries, the dietary contributions of rice are substantially higher. In light of the growing population, widespread malnutrition and biotic and abiotic stresses that increasingly threaten production of enough cereal grains, it is critically important to develop varieties with good grain quality and high yield under adverse conditions. Therefore, improving both rice and wheat grains for their nutritional qualities as well as understanding the molecular processes that play a key role in protecting these crops against biotic and abiotic stresses could contribute significantly to global food security. In this presentation Dr. Navreet Bhullar will present recent results from her work related to the above aspects.

Speaker bio

Dr. Navreet Bhullar leads Cereals biotechnology research group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. The areas of her research activities include crop biofortification, biotic and abiotic plant stresses, genetic diversity exploration and mining for novel genes in the crop genepools. She has published several peer-reviewed research articles, review articles, book chapters and co-edited a book entitled ‘Agricultural sustainability’. Navreet received distinctive appreciations to her research work, including the prestigious Gatersleben Research Award in 2010.

Navreet will start with us from early October and is very happy to be available after the seminar to discuss with anyone interested in the work.

Weblink: http://www.pb.ethz.ch/research/rice-and-crops.html

A selection of most relevant publications can be found here: http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/84018/publications

Dr. Jen Taylor is the host for this speaker.

 

 This is a public seminar.

No visitor pass is required for non-CSIRO attendees going to Lecture Theatre Building 1.