UPSC Berzelii Centre for Forest Biotechnology
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet - Institutionen för skoglig genetik och växtfysiologi |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 30 000 000 |
| Project duration | January 2012 - December 2015 |
| Status | Completed |
Purpose and goal
Our goal is to develop the research environment at Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) into the worlds most innovative milieu where top-class basic research in plant science is translated into innovations with commercial potential. Our mission is to assist the Swedish forest industries in identifying new opportunities through the use of biotechnology and help them to develop these opportunities. During phase three research productivity has increased, new industry personnell has been trained and new innovations are approaching market introduction.
Results and expected effects
More than 300 scientific articles have been published with more than one third in journals of high scientific impact (impact factor >5). An industrial graduate student research school with 8 students employed by the industrial partners has has started and these students are now acting as ´bridges´ to the industrial partners. The most significant scientific breakthrough was the publication of the Spruce genome sequence in the journal Nature. This will provide new opportunities for research on Spruce and will allow the development of new tools for efficient tree breeding.
Approach and implementation
The Centre has developed several different strategies in order to achieve its goals. These include cross-disciplinary collaboration projects, support to technical platforms, new strategic recruitments, support to junior scientists, collaboration projects with industry, an industrial graduate student research school, increased interactions with the Swedish operational tree breeding program and the development of Spruce as a new model system for research. All these strategies have been succesful and have strengthend the research environmnent and the innovation system.