Latest News

Davis PBA Class VIII completed their first session (week 1 of 6) in Davis on February 7-12, and the class proved to be filled with bright, eager plant breeders, ready to learn more. They are looking forward to week 2 in June.

After two sessions taking place online due to the pandemic, the European Plant Breeding Academy students and instructors were excited to meet in person in Angers, France Academy instructors included SBC Director of Education Jovan Djordjevic, SBC Director, Allen Van Deynze and Alexandra Tomerius.

SBC is very happy to announce that we now have a new Director of Research at the SBC, Dr. Imtiyaz Khanday who continue working on seeds as a propagule. Imtiyaz is an assistant professor of plant reproductive biology in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis and an assistant agronomist for the Agricultural Experiment Station. Imtiyaz grew up among the highest mountains in the world in Kashmir valley and received his master’s in biotechnology from University of Kashmir.

We are excited to welcome Dr. Jovan Djordjevic to our team as SBC’s executive director! Jovan has spent over 25 cumulative years with Monsanto, Limagrain and BASF Vegetable Seeds, where he most recently directed research and breeding teams and developed crop strategy (vegetable seeds) as BASF Vegetable’s Global R&D Team Lead for breeding. An accomplished and experienced plant breeder, he brings a broad-based expertise in plant breeding research and development.

Industrial hemp has many uses, including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food, and fuel. With the increased focus on breeding for industrial hemp and cannabis, European Seed spoke with Rale (Radiša) Gjuric, Director of the UC Davis Plant Breeding Academy, to get his take on the ins and outs of this new course and the risen interest in the crop.
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On March 1, 2020 (pre-COVID) and on behalf of the American Seed Trade Association, SBC director Allen Van Deynze, Jeff Zischke (Senior Director Research and Development, Sakata Seed America) and Andy LaVigne (President and CEO, American Seed Trade Association) discussed the importance of plant breeding innovation such a gene editing with the American Frozen Food Institute.

Along with Bernice Waweru (BecA/ILRI), SBC Director Allen Van Deynze will be a plenary speaker at the 2020 Oxford Nanopore London Calling event, being held on June 18-19. Over 2500 people have already registered for this exciting event. Presentation Title: The African Orphan Crops Consortium, Alleviating Stunting due to Malnutrition One Crop at a Time. London Calling is a conference dedicated to scientific research using nanopore DNA/RNA sequencing.

UC Davis coffee researchers Juan Medrano and Allen Van Deynze (SBC Director) are the first geneticists to create a reference genome for a coffee bean, Coffea arabica.
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Pamela Ronald and Allen Van Deynze (both UC Davis) participated in a Facebook live video discussion as part of an e-conference held earlier this Fall and hosted by the Institute of Science and Global Policy
TOPIC: Introduction to Food Innovation

SBC's Education Director and Haplotech founder Dr. Rale Gjuric talks to Issues Ink's Marc Zienkiewicz about the groundbreaking work the company is doing in hemp, which will help advance breeding programs and help usher in a new era for the long-neglected crop. Listen Now

Kent Bradford (SBC director emeritus) talks to a local news station about the mysterious seeds sent from China to Californians and others across the country, with a guest appearance by SBC researcher Pedro Bello! View video

In 2019, the SBC celebrated its 20th anniversary. Read about our festive celebration event last September as well as our numerous outreach, research and educational activities throughout 2019. It was a busy and productive year!

A team of researchers including SBC Director of Research, Dr. Allen Van Deynze and Cristobal Heitmann, discover an indigenous variety of corn that can “fix nitrogen” from the atmosphere, instead of requiring synthetic fertilizers. Cristobal Heitman, “Cris”, was a beloved member of the UC Davis Plant Sciences Department. Cris’s energy and enthusiasm were a major catalyst in this research.