A quarterly research and development magazine.Winter 2006/2007
Volume 8, No. 4
“Seeking out new and innovative scientific tools is an important part of how we bring forward new technologies for the farmer,” said Pradip Das, director of Crop Analytics for Monsanto. “This collaboration provides Monsanto with a new opportunity to further augment our existing crop analytics program, offering our researchers another way to better understand genomic profiles for seed and trait development.” The tool will save Monsanto labor, cost, and time, Das said.
“A strategic relationship with Monsanto makes sense on many levels and will bolster our collective long-term objectives in bioenergy and biofuels,” said Terry Michalske, director of Sandia’s Biological and Energy Sciences Center. He noted that researchers at Sandia’s Combustion Research Facility in California could eventually benefit from the CRADA by gaining experience with agricultural samples that have bioenergy/biofuel applications and uses.
Ancillary research focusing on the photosynthetic properties of various plants and microbes, for instance, will add to the laboratory’s growing expertise in understanding the conversion of sunlight to sugars, relevant not only to the production of new fuels from biomass but also essential to the global carbon cycle and carbon sequestration.
Recent biotechnology endeavors at Sandia have focused on developing and applying biotechnologies to identify early signs of infectious diseases through protein interactions and biomarkers at the single cell and whole organism scale. Sandia is also planning a key role in a multilab/university effort to bring a DOE-funded bioresearch facility to the San Francisco Bay Area.
For more information on Monsanto: www.monsanto.com
Technical Contact: Grant Heffelfinger (505) 845-7801, gsheffe@sandia.gov
Media Contact: Mike Janes (925) 294-2447, mejanes@sandia.gov