30 / SEEDWORLD.COM JANUARY 2019 Texas Genomics Core Alliance In October 2018, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Arlington formed the Texas Genomics Core Alliance. According to David Threadgill, PhD, director of the Texas A&M Institute for Genome Sciences and Society, the newly announced alliance was made for many practical purposes. “With the growing cost of research and the increasing importance of sequencing technologies, we are always exploring ways to reduce costs,” he says. “Sequencing is an area where cost is driven by technology and usage. “Newer technologies are cheaper and higher usage increases purchasing power and garners greatly reduced costs. It was a logical step to combine user bases to increase the usage and purchasing power that can then be passed down to individual users.” The creation of the Texas Genomics Core Alliance won’t include any facility changes or addi- tions but will allow researchers greater access to technologies from both institutions, Threadgill says, particularly automation and single-cell genom- ics and bioinformatics. Texas A&M’s Molecular Genomics Core in the Institute for Genomics Sciences and Society is home to several automated sequencing platforms that prepare and analyze samples. The University of Texas at Arlington’s contribution to the Alliance are powerful, high- throughput sequencing systems, currently in use at the North Texas Genome Center. It’s not the first time state-based institutions have banded together to combine their opera- tions — Threadgill points to the New York Genome Center — but the alliance in Texas stands out because of its more diverse user base. “What makes us unique is the others have usu- ally been based on sequencing for clinical applica- tions. Our primary users are much broader coming from fields like veterinary medicine, ecology, agriculture, evolution and also medicine that often require unique sample preparations and bioinfor- matic analysis,” he says. All of those users, including plant scientists, will benefit from the accelerated pace of research and development that will be made possible by reduced costs and shorter turn-around times for generating data, he says. Center for Agricultural Synthetic Biology at the University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture formed the Center for Agricultural Synthetic Biology (CASB) in September 2018. It’s believed to be the world’s first synthetic biology center aimed specifically at improving agriculture. According to the university, the CASB “will perform mechanical tasks for research teams such as automated produc- tion of single cells from crop plants and cultures, gene editing, rapid design- build-test cycles and direct writing of DNA into single cells … the CASB is capable of engineering and analysis of biological materials in a contained platform.” The center is already using a plant genome edit- ing robot that screens and transforms plant cells with synthetic DNA. Their goal is to design plants with improved traits including drought-resistant grasses and fresh produce that can retain their healthful qualities during long storage periods. In October, the CASB was awarded $7.5 mil- lion from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to create sentinel potato plants that can detect environmental threats. These modified specimens would be used to protect deployed troops and civilians who may encounter substances such as nerve agents and radiation. Neal Stewart, a professor of plant sciences at the UT Herbert College of Agriculture, and Scott Lenaghan, an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science who also holds an adjunct position in the Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering Department, serve as co-directors of the CASB. The creation of the CASB was a joint effort of the Departments of Plant Sciences and Food Science and received funding assistance from the University of Tennessee AgResearch. The University of Tennessee Center for Agricultural Synthetic Biology will conduct new research into the possible use of potato plants as sensory platforms to detect environmental threats. Shown from rear to front are Taylor Frazier-Douglas, a postdoctoral member of the research team, as well as Holly Brabazon, research associate, and Jessica Layton, an undergraduate in plant sciences. PHOTO COURTESY UTIA.