Since its foundation 24 years ago the University of Potsdam has excelled in research and teaching and is well positioned both at national and international scales. The Department of Molecular Biology, headed by Prof. Dr. Bernd Mueller-Roeber, focuses on the functional analysis of plant transcription factors and the gene regulatory networks they control, employing a combination of molecular, genomics and systems biology approaches. The focus is on regulators that control leaf growth and senescence, and the response to abiotic stress. The group also uses synthetic biology approaches to construct artificial regulatory networks with the aim of building synthetic bio-systems.

BioAtlantis Ltd. is a biotechnology company, specialising in the development and production of bioactives for the plant, animal, and human markets.

At the forefront of the company’s growth and rapid expansion into worldwide markets, is the pursuit of scientific excellence. As such, we work with several of the leading universities across the world isolating key functional molecules from natural resources and validating their functionality and effectiveness for use in solving problems facing modern agriculture.

As part of CropStrengthen, BioAtlantis Ltd. will develop biostimulant-based technologies to enhance crop growth and stress tolerance.

 

Enza Zaden is an international breeding company that develops innovative vegetable varieties. We grow and sell the seeds of those varieties worldwide. Our breeding efforts focus on more than twenty vegetable varieties, the most important of which are tomato, sweet pepper, lettuce, cucumber, onion and melon. Our vegetables are bought and consumed all over the world. And they are greatly appreciated by growers, traders and consumers alike. We are an independent family company.

As an independent company we focus on continuity in the long term and healthy growth. Those two factors are essential for enabling us to focus on our greatest strengths: developing and supplying high-quality vegetable varieties and vegetable seeds. Many years of experience and of investments in people, breeding and innovation have laid the basis for a strong, healthy company.

Massey University began in 1927 as a small agricultural college in Palmerston North, and now has approximately 35,000 students, making it New Zealand's second largest university. The Institute of Fundamental Sciences is based at Massey University’s Palmerston North, Manawatū campus.

The research focus of Paul Dijkwel is programmed cell death in plants, induced by stress or by development. Both the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and commercially important species are being used in the research. The lab is mainly interested in the regulatory aspects that induce programmed cell death, rather than the process itself. The experimental approach is mainly molecular genetic, but the lab embraces modern technology, like proteomics and genomics combined with bio-informatics.

Prof. Dijkwel is hosting and training ESRs in the areas of physiological responses to stress and bio-informatics and data analysis during secondments.