The Genetics Hub combines expertise’s within quantitative genetics and genomics, holegenomics, molecular breeding and gene editing techniques - to ensure a better understanding of genetic properties of organisms and their interaction with the environment in the agrofood system.
What are we interested in?
At the heart of the Genetics Hub is an interest in bettering a core element of the green transition: genetic adaptation of current and new agricultural species for future sustainable agrifood systems. To do so, we seek to create a synergy between actors, technologies and disciplines, taking a special interest in genomic speed breeding, meeting new breeding goals, maintaining genetic diversity, and molecular breeding techniques, such as CRISPR.
What are the main challenges?
Human activities are imposing severe pressures on Earth. As a result, we have crossed several planetary sustainability boundaries such as climate change, land-system change, biodiversity and disturbed biogeochemical flows. This has led to several global-scale environmental crisis, which call for urgent actions. As a response, the European Green Deal reflects our long-term ambition towards a green, biobased EU, which requires a transformative, systemic transition in our society and agricultural production systems.
Key characteristics of the Hub
The Genetics Hub is concerned with the following themes:
Food systems 2050, Novel food and feed, Connecting sea and land, and Circular resource sufficiency, valorization.
This is explored by genetically adapting current and new agricultural species to the future agrifood systems by:
- Characterizing species and varieties, which fit new niches, in circular bioeconomy, market segments, and climate or disease pressures.
- Exploit the historical diversity in gene banks and conservatories and elite gene pool as well as new domestications
And digital tools could play a central role in providing new phenotypes.
Who are we?
The Genetics Hub combines expertise’s within quantitative genetics and genomics, holegenomics, molecular breeding and gene editing techniques. The expertises combine quantitative approaches taking all gene effects into account, targeted qualitative approaches for targeted gene editing, and hologenomics approaches, allowing us to understand the role of the environment including the role of microorganisms in or around the host organism and hence the resilience and adaptive potential of the species. This ensures a more comprehensive understanding of genetic properties of organisms and their interaction with the environment in the agro food system.
Academic coordinators
Mogens Sandø Lund
Centre Director Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics
Aarhus University
Phone: +45 20 75 12 22
E-mail:
Kåre Lehmann Nielsen
Department of Chemistry and Bioscience
Aalborg University
Phone: +45 27 87 98 30
E-mail:
Tom Gilbert
Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics
University of Copenhagen
Phone: +45 23 71 25 19
E-mail:
Torben Asp
Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics
Aarhus University
E-mail:
Administrative coordinators
Kristine Engel Arendt
Special Consultant
University of Copenhagen
Phone:
+45 35 33 28 00
Email: kea@science.ku.dk
