Gene Editing: From Concept to Product in Underutilized Crops

  • Specific gene editing projects in banana (TR4 disease resistance), cowpea, cassava and other crops
  • Technical strategy/challenges/solutions (e.g. value of protoplasts, new focus on regeneration, potential, and value of targeted DNA insertion, plant cell-based assays for design-build-test acceleration)
  • Product concepts and startup execution approaches that make commercial sense (e.g. you need high-quality germplasm, you need a crop/trait target with real economic value, CRO/platform route is questionable, etc.)