← LeaderboardsInvestigatorsiAttributed = a PI's even-split share of each grant — a $1M grant with 2 PIs counts $500K each.
Hawaii Agriculture Research Center
Waipahu, HI
$1,824,515
Total funding
2
Grants
Funding mix
By agency
NSF$1,534,515 · 1
USDA$290,000 · 1
By mechanism
—$1,824,515 · 2
Investigators at Hawaii Agriculture Research Center
InvestigatorsiAttributed = a PI's even-split share of each grant — a $1M grant with 2 PIs counts $500K each.
Exposure= the full size of every grant they're on ($1M each).
Rising Stars
First grant in the last 5 yrs
Not enough data
Emerging Leaders
6–10 yrs in
Not enough data
All-Time
Most funded here, all years
Not enough data
Largest grants
Comparative Genomics of Papaya Chromosomes$1,534,515
· FY2004 · BIO
THE USAGE OF CRISPR-CAS HAS MADE TREMENDOUS ADVANCEMENTS IN CROP IMPROVEMENT. THE REASON BEHIND ITS SUCCESS IS DUE TO FLEXIBILITY AND EASY-TO-USE APPLICATION. FURTHERMORE, CRISPR-CAS CAN BE DELIVERED INTO PLANT CELLS WITHOUT TRANSGENE INTRODUCTION, ALLEVIATING A PUBLIC CONCERN. THIS TRANSGENE-FREE STRATEGY IS ACHIEVED BY ADDING ITS COMPONENTS THROUGH PARTICLE BOMBARDMENT AND TISSUE CULTURE PROTOCOLS FOR A CROP OF INTEREST. HOWEVER, MOST PROMISING CUTTING-EDGE LABORATORIES LACK THE TISSUE CULTURE EXPERTISE NECESSARY TO GENERATE GENE-EDITED TROPICAL CROPS DUE TO THEIR COMPLEXITY.THE HAWAI'I AGRICULTURE RESEARCH CENTER (HARC), A NON-PROFIT AGRICULTURE RESEARCH CENTER IN HAWAI'I, HAS VAST EXPERIENCE IN TROPICAL CROP TISSUE CULTURE AND GENETIC ENGINEERING PROTOCOL DEVELOPMENT. TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE EASINESS OF DELIVERING THE CRISPR-CAS MODULE INTO PLANT CELLS AND HARC'S EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN TROPICAL CROP TISSUE CULTURE,WE WILL DEVELOP A TRANSGENE-FREE GENE-EDITING PLATFORMFOR TROPICAL CROPS.WE WILL IMPLEMENT OUR PLATFORM ON SUGARCANE AND PAPAYA BECAUSE (1) BOTH CROPS HAVE THEIR GENOMES PUBLICLY AVAILABLE, (2) HARC HAS A RICH HISTORY WITH BOTH CROPS IN PLANT BREEDING AND GENETIC ENGINEERING, RESPECTIVELY, AND (3) HARC HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN REGENERATING SUGARCANE AND PAPAYA FROM TISSUE CULTURE - A CRITICAL COMPONENT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF TRANSGENE-FREE GENE-EDITED PLANTS. WE WILL TARGET THEPHYTOENE DESATURASE (PDS)GENE IN BOTH CROPS AS A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT TO VALIDATE OUR PLATFORM. THE DISRUPTION OF THIS GENE WILL LEAD TO WHITE PLANTS, MAKING IT EASY TO DETERMINE GENE-EDITED PLANTS VISUALLY. THIS APPROACH WILL FURTHER OPTIMIZE THE PROTOCOL LEADING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADDED-VALUE TRAITS IN TROPICAL CROPS.WE WILL USE INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO DEVELOP THE TRANSGENE-FREE GENE-EDITING PROTOCOL, SUCH AS GENOME SEQUENCE ANALYSIS, MOLECULAR BIOLOGY ASSAYS, AND ESTABLISHED TISSUE CULTURE PROTOCOLS. OUR PROPOSED RESEARCH LEVERAGES HARC'S EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN TROPICAL CROP TISSUE CULTURE AND AN ON-SITE RESEARCH FARM AND GROWTH CHAMBERS FOR FURTHER CROP EVALUATION. OUR STRATEGY FOCUSES ON DEVELOPING TRANSFORMATION METHODS THAT DO NOT REQUIRE THE USE OF PLANT PEST SEQUENCES IN PLANTS OR THE DEVELOPMENT OF GENE-EDITING TECHNOLOGIES THAT DO NOT REQUIRE TRANSFORMATION, THUS FULFILLING AN AFRI CROSSCUTTING PROGRAM PRIORITY.AT THE END OF THIS PROJECT, WE WILL:DETERMINE A STRATEGY TO EDIT A GENETICALLY COMPLEX CROP (SUGARCANE),IDENTIFY WHICH TRANSGENE-FREE DELIVERY STRATEGY IS MOST EFFICIENT IN DEVELOPING GENE-EDITED PLANTLETS, ANDPROVIDE AN EFFICIENT MOLECULAR SCREENING PROTOCOL TO IDENTIFY GENE-EDITED PLANTS WITHOUT SELECTING MARKERS IN TISSUE CULTURE.COMPLETING THE PROJECT WILL SET THE FOUNDATION FOR NEW GENE-EDITING AND TISSUE CULTURE PROTOCOLS FOR OTHER AGRONOMICAL CRITICAL TROPICAL CROPS. IN THELONG TERM, OUR WORK EXPECTS TO PRESENT A STRATEGY TO PRECISELY MANIPULATE TROPICAL CROP GENOMES WITHOUT TRANSGENES. THIS PROJECT WILL ALLOW FACILITATING CROP IMPROVEMENT WHILE ADDRESSING PUBLIC CONCERNS.$290,000
· FY2021 · National Institute of Food and Agriculture