Biotech Updates

Royal Society Supports Research on the 'Hidden Half' of Plants

September 4, 2013

Director of The University of Nottingham's Centre for Plant Integrative Biology (CPIB) Malcolm Bennett received the Royal Society's prestigious Wolfson Research Merit Award to recognize and support his research in studying the regulation of plant root growth and development, also referred to as 'hidden half of plants'. The award aims to design new crop varieties that may transform many aspects of agriculture over the next 10-20 years.

Professor Bennett and his collaborators have identified many of the genes and signals that regulate key root traits such as angle, depth and branching density using Arabidopsis thaliana. He is also a part of the worldwide effort to develop new varieties of crops, and aims to translate his knowledge of key root genes to re-engineer important traits and optimize yields in crops relevant to Europe (wheat), Asia (rice) and Africa (pearl millet) with international collaborators.

Professor Bennett said "This award provides recognition for the ground-breaking work of our team to re-engineer root systems and create new, improved and more sustainable varieties of crops."

For more details on this research project, read the news release at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2013/august/royal-society-recognises-research-into-plants.aspx.