Principal Investigator Daniel Voytas (Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development; Director, Center for Genome Engineering) is part of a research team that was recognized by MIT Technology Review as one of the ten Breakthrough Technologies of 2015. The group, a consortium of researchers from 12 laboratories in eight countries, has made the first step in creating a new species of rice that will have a greater yield while not requiring any additional water. Experts expect that, without intervention, the global rice yield will fall far short of required amounts by the year 2050.
Professor Voytas uses MSI resources to monitor mutagenesis by surveying genome sequences for alterations.
This research was written up in the OVPR’s Inquiry blog. You can also read more on the MIT Technology Review.