Phenotyping Book: Methods & Application

Issue 65 – December 2013

2013-12-09T23:29:54-06:00

Issue 65 – December 9^th 2013

Best wishes for the festive season to the GCP community

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Issue 64 – December 2013

2013-12-06T16:42:59-06:00

Issue 64 – December 5^th 2013

Calling for bids to host the Integrated Breeding Platform

GCP’s Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) is moving towards its Phase II, and the IBP Phase II proposal (2014–2019) is progressing well.

For this new phase, and since GCP will sunset in December 2014, IBP is seeking a Host Institution. In so doing, we’d appreciate your help in spreading the word.

More details on the search for a Host Institution.

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This newsletter is published under a Creative Commons licence

Issue 63 – November 2013

2013-11-29T22:58:32-06:00

Issue 63 – November 29 2013

As the festive season approaches, we offer you an early ‘feast’ of newsflashes from our world and beyond it. For starters, a blogpost on drought and disease, and a related range of prescribed research remedies. The next course is an on-camera quiz on wheat research, tackled with zeal, style and skill! Follow this up with a tasty tutorial on plant breeding, then sink your teeth into a succulent assorted serving of research news on beans, cassava, maize and sorghum. We round off with main GCP ‘happenings’ throughout this momentous year – not forgetting the gem that was GRM – and we end with a chronicle of comings and goings within the GCP crew. Enjoy!

News

1. Dialogues on drought and agriculture
The year 2013 witnessed considerable discussions on drought and how to combat its effects on agriculture, within the GCP community and elsewhere. More

2. Wheat examined: Crucial questions, with answers from Richard Trethowan on video
All you’ve ever wanted to know about wheat and more, as recounted by Richard Trethowan in a brand-new six-part Q&A video series centred on GCP’s wheat research, while also touching on our Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP). More

3. Learning and growing with GCP: Self-paced plant breeding course
This comprehensive tutorial entitled ‘Plant Breeding Concepts and Methods’ was designed by Theresa Fulton (Cornell University, USA) and Robert Koebner. Access this tutorial, and others, through our Integrated Breeding Platform.

4. Both broad and narrow: Scoping sorghum genetic studies
A CIRAD-led GCP-funded study on sorghum has been billed one of the broadest on genetic diversity for a cultivated crop. The study covered more than 3,000 sorghum ‘candidates’, then narrowed to a 'reference set'. Sorghum is the world’s fifth most important cereal, whose centre of diversity is nestled in northeastern Africa, with very intriguing variations across the African continent. More

5. Maize sweet and sour: A tolerant takeaway message
Just in case you missed it earlier, a team led by Leon Kochian of Cornell University, USA, (who is also our genomics Product Delivery Coordinator) discovered a sweet recipe for dealing with a sour customer – how to make maize more tolerant to aluminium-toxic soils. GCP funded this research. Among the threats to food security in the tropics, aluminium toxicity is nearly as grave a concern as is drought. More

6. To ‘b’ or not to ‘b’…?
…We have the answer so, unlike the hapless Hamlet, you need not ponder this thespian question! Beans and bean research were recently showcased in a ‘beanbag’ bonanza. In case you missed it earlier, here it is again!

Events
7. What of the note of G? GRM 2013...
It seemed the GCP General Research Meeting (GRM) this year was 'G-laden', and more…it was fruitful, offering fertile ground for ideas and fun, and overflowing with the GCP spirit! GRM gathered together 135 participants from 35 countries who shared ideas, thoughts, concerns, much more than a few laughs and a beverage or two over the four days of the meeting, which ran from 27–30 September, in Lisbon, Portugal. Just what do we mean by the GRM being 'G-laden'? More

8. Which other events did we have in 2013?

Check out our astral array of activities in the course of the year:

The merry month of May's topic was mapping a merger in the tropics, when GCP’s Tropical Legumes I (TLI) researchers met their Tropical Legumes II (TLII) counterparts in Kampala, Uganda, from 20–24 of the month. This ‘union–reunion’ was to blend the upstream research focus of TLI and the more downstream seed multiplication and distribution approach of TLII into a single initiative in a post-GCP future, once TLI Phase II winds up in mid-2014. More
Joyful June brought the yearly meeting of the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP), held on the Mediterranean shores of France, at Montpellier. From17–20 June, IBP users and developers mixed and mingled to share ideas, updates and to compare notes on improving the Integrated Breeding Workflow System (IBWS). More on the meeting
The Integrated Breeding Multiyear Course (IB–MYC) continued into its second year, starting with the group from West and Central Africa (15–26 April), followed by the South and Southeast Asia group (1–12 July), and closing with the Eastern and Southern Africa group, from 14–25 October. More
More recently, GCP’s Executive Board (EB) met earlier this month (photo). More on the EB

GCP people
9. A treatise on the nature of change
All things must flow in this world, and GCP is no exception to this law!

The year 2013 saw the ebb and flow of a number of GCP staff members and Product Delivery Coordinators over the months.

We begin with new additions to our IBP ‘stream’: Shawn Yarnes is our new Genotyping Support Service (GSS) Scientist,
while Valérie Boire joins us as IBP Communications Officer. More
And, for those who may have missed it, here are some previous 'Grandmaster moves on The Great GCP Chessboard!' More

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This newsletter is published under a Creative Commons licence

Issue 62 – July 2013

2013-07-29T21:59:52-05:00

Issue 62 – July 29 2013

People, news and networks are the focus of today's issue. Who's joining us and who's leaving? Who are the newsmakers who've been talking to us lately? We are also recruiting, seeking a new member to join our team. Also in this issue, we bring you news on a new network and video series...

1. Vacancy – IBP Communications Officer
We are recruiting for a Communications Officer for our Integrated Breeding Platform. More

2. Changes in staff and Product Delivery Coordinators
First, news from the future: Xavier Delannay and Rajeev Varshney will be leaving GCP next month (August 2013). Coming back to the present, please join us in welcoming two new Product Delivery Coordinators (PDCs) who are already on board. Ousmane Boukar (pictured) is our PDC for cowpeas, while Patrick Okori is the groundnuts PDC. More

3. Going nuts about groundnuts and genomics
Still on legumes, this month, we've been promoting our groundnut work in social media through a series of videos. In case you missed the action, which has a healthy dash of genomics, you can catch it all here.

4. Agricultural Genomics Network (AGN)
Keeping it genomics, way back in April, we announced this network which is part and parcel of our community-building efforts. Just in case you missed it, here it is again.

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This newsletter is published under a Creative Commons licence

Issue 61 – July 2013

2013-07-24T15:02:09-05:00

Issue 61 – July 18 2013

Today’s issue focuses on two momentous events: the Integrated Breeding Platform, which held its annual meeting recently, and the orderly closure of GCP next year.

1. Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP)

IBP annual meeting

This meeting took place in Montpellier, France, 17–20 June 2013. It brings together IBP users and developers, and was therefore a fitting forum for the release of Version 1 of the Integrated Breeding Workflow System (IBWS).

Release of the Integrated Breeding Workflow System

The IBWS is the heart and arteries of our Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP). The IBWS is a package of software applications for crop breeders to plan, conduct, analyse and assess the outcomes of their work. Over the coming months, we will improve this first version to optimise usability and functionality, based on the feedback we get from users. As we analyse and incorporate this feedback, the plan is to release IBWS Version 2 by the end of this year.

Access the IBWS

The IBP portal

Besides the IBWS and breeding support, what else does the IBP portal have to offer? Plenty! Starting with crop information, capacity building and crop communities to network researchers. Take a guided tour of the IBP portal with Graham McLaren on video. To zoom in on a particular area of interest, pause the video in the first few seconds once the index appears, and then click on your area of interest.

View the video

The future

The last day of the IBP annual meeting included a stakeholder discussion on IBP’s possible future beyond Phase I of the project that is going to end by mid-2014. These discussions are still in the early stages, and a follow-up discussion will take place just after the GCP General Research Meeting in September this year.

2. GCP's Sunset
GCP was founded as a time-bound programme, and as projected after 10 years of successful research and network building, we are going to close shop. Our last year of operation will be in 2014, and we are keen to ensure an orderly closure and transition as described in our sunset Position Statement. For more, see our Sunset section.

In this section, you will find 11 Position Papers, which provide both a high-level overview as well as a drill-down to specific components of our research, services, capacity building and communication and knowledge sharing. These papers take stock of achievements and lessons learnt, and also outline what will happen post-2014. Although quite advanced, these Position Papers are going to evolve until our sunset to incorporate stakeholder feedback. Thus, they may be adjusted based on the evolution of our stakeholder environment, within and outside CGIAR. In the meantime, you can access the latest drafts of the Position Papers.

In this Sunset section, you can also meet the members of the Transition Taskforce, who helped with the overall thinking on the transition process and in particular with the development of the Positions Papers.

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This newsletter is published under a Creative Commons licence

Issue 60 – April 2013

2012-09-03T23:02:11-05:00

Issue 60 – 12th April, 2013

GCP News is back with a bang this April, springing to life with news of genius genomic discoveries, publications and events. Then a peppering of PhD prizes, public-private-partnerships, products and plant breeding truly spice up proceedings! We celebrate a birthday, and hear about the ventures of the GCP gang, with some momentous meetings along the way. We update our community on events in the offing, then get down to a reading revolution with highlighted posts from our blog. Finally, GCP Media closes this mega news event with the latest from GCP TV, radio, social media, our website, and our blog. Enjoy!

News

1. Copycat gene: a killer find for scientists working on toxic-tolerant maize
The major culprit for stunting maize production worldwide is aluminium (Al) toxicity, which renders acid soils venomous for this important food crop – especially in developing regions of the world. Working on the notorious Al toxicity case is an expert team, led by USDA & Cornell University that has recently detected a key piece of evidence which could help authorities to crack down on a gene of great agronomic importance. More

Photo: ICRISAT

2. Fortunate sequence of events leads to draft genome of chickpea
2013 started off with a bang for the GCP community as an ace team of genomics experts cracked the chickpea genome by completing its draft genome sequence. This explosive finding by the international task force unearthed a treasure chest of genomic resources, with maps leading to further valuable breeding data in expeditions to come. More

3. GCP entwined in agriculture and genomics at major international event
The Plant and Animal Genome Conference XXI took place in January 2013 in San Diego, California, USA. GCP was represented in style by members of GCP’s Management Team, Principal Investigators, and researchers, who gave updates and insights on major GCP projects at a special GCP workshop and throughout the event. More

Photo: N Palmer/CIAT

4. Fields of gold: maize and medals merit mention for prize-winning PhD
November 2012 dawned golden for one of GCP’s Genotyping Support Service (GSS) grantees, AbduRahman Beshir, who won the won the Gold Medal at a symposium in Johannesburg, South Africa. His project tackled the subject of quality protein maize: a golden crop reaping golden rewards! More

5. Public-private partnerships, products and plant breeding discussed over dinner
A couple of culinary-flavoured slices of news are on the table to introduce a duo of delicious dialogues between GCP’s Director, Jean-Marcel Ribaut, and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture.

The first course provokes the palate with a delectable debate on public-private partnerships in research for development. More

This is followed by a hearty meal mixing GCP’s real partnerships, modern breeding, and positive product delivery, which will leave you asking for more! More

6. IBP's 'baby' turns 1!
The Integrated Breeding Multi-Year Course (IB–MYC) is now one year old, having successfully delivered its comprehensive training programme since its launch in April 2012. The course is spread over three years, with two weeks of intensive face-to-face training each year, with topics and tools related to the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP). The participants, split into three groups (from West and Central Africa, East and Southern Africa, and South and South-East Asia, have experienced hands-on training in data management, molecular breeding and statistics. More in the IBP portal

GCP people
Meet our Executive Board (EB), in this photo taken with some GCP staff at the 10^th EB March 2013 meeting. More EB moments from earlier on in 2012…

7. GCP’s Executive Board & Captain at the helm
Since July 2012, the EB Chair is Andrew Bennett, who has guided GCP through some interesting international waters. Learn more about our skilful skipper and ‘star of the screen’ with a lively video and blogpost. More

Similarly, 2012 saw the arrival of two members to the Executive Board, who bring extensive experience to the governing body: Michael Morris and Markus Palenburg. Get to know them better with the full story and through their profiles. More

8. Gates of the digital revolution opened for member of GCP Management Team
In July 2012, GCP’s own Rajeev K Varshney, leader of the Comparative Genomics Theme, met with Bill Gates, external experts and associates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, USA, to discuss a digital revolution in agriculture. More

Publications
9. Read all about it! Crop genomics and bioinformatics are hot topics!

The festive season came early for the GCP community, as members of the Management Team published new articles on genomics and bioinformatics in early December. More

Events
10. GCP events abound in 2013
Dust off your diary and save the date for these upcoming GCP events!

Tropical Legumes I (TLI)/Legumes Research Initiative Meeting: 20–24 May, Kampala, Uganda.
Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) Annual Research Meeting: 18–21 June, Montpellier, France.
GCP General Research Meeting: 23–27 September, Venue TBD.

11. InterDrought-IV Conference: a shower of support for an arid area
We’d like to remind the GCP community to ‘Save the date’ for the InterDrought-IV Conference, to be held in 2013. GCP is one of the sponsors for this event, which brings together researchers from all over the world, to discuss their work tackling this driest of problems. More

In our blog

Photo: N Palmer/CIAT

12. Beans means news at the GCP Media House!
Check out the latest updates from the magical world of beans, beanstalks and battles with drought, disease and other demons in a starry array of media! From blogposts to videos to research information, go batty over beans with us in this bountiful tale. More

Photo: IRRI

13. Special rice news feast: PSTOL1 party!
If rice research is your cup of tea, then we recommend this round-up of rice-related reasons to read!

First up is a riveting report on the PSTOL1 project and the research team’s major achievement in discovering a root-boosting gene that enables phosphorous uptake in rice. More

Secondly, we have a whole trio of bubbling blogposts revealing the secrets of the three r’s of rice, direct from the gurus and godfathers of rice research. More

Finally, we are granted an audience with the original ‘Godfather of rice’ to dig even deeper into complex crop-growing soils. More

Photo: N Palmer/CIAT

14. Blogpost boasts banana bonanza…
Upbeat banana genetics is the tune being sung in a post which hosts a medley of recent research, with links to an arresting article and a perky picture story. Enjoy! More

GCP Media
15. GCP Media channels the spirit of crop breeding research!
If you haven’t already tuned in, we highly recommend checking out GCP’s main media channels!

GCP TV has a sumptuous selection of videos – and why not begin at the beginning by tracing GCP’s timeline from its foundation to the present day? More

Similarly, Radio GCP is coming loud and clear over the airwaves, with podcast productions promising to be music to your ears! More

16. Social media universe expanding
GCP continues to grow in online social media, and thanks once more to those of you who have ‘liked’ us and ‘followed’ us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Further heavenly bodies in this starry array include:

SlideShare – view & download our presentations in slides
YouTube – the home of GCP TV’s videos
Podomatic – GCP’s podcasts station
Flickr – share in GCP’s images and videos in this online community
Delicious – GCP’s social bookmarks

17. GCP shows its true colours through vibrant website redesign
Since midsummer 2012, GCP’s online space has shown a kaleidoscopic face to the world, with a novel ‘look and feel’ much in keeping with GCP’s spritely spirit. We hope that both navigation and appearance have been agreeable to our public, and thank you once more for your patience whilst content in all areas is updated. Our home address remains www.generationcp.org

18. A little brag about our blog...
Graduating from the Web Academy at the same time as our redesigned website, the GCP Blog is another fairly new yet enthusiastic member of the GCP media team. If you have not yet done so, we invite you to visit our slice of blogosphere, where you can learn even more about the GCP world.

GCP warmly invites your feedback and comments at GenerationCP-News@cgiar.org

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