Gail
Taylor
Distinguished Professor and John B Orr
Endowed Professor in Environmental Plant
Sciences
Chair of the Department of Plant
Sciences
UC Davis
Dr. Taylor spoke about campus
activity with the new Agricultural
Innovation Center and HT phenotyping
greenhouse and recent hires in the
Department of Plant Sciences. She also
provided an overview of her current
research projects.
Nitin Nitin Professor,
Food Science and Technology /
Biological and Agricultural Engineering
and Rewa Rai
Project Scientist in Dr.
Nitin's lab UC Davis
Topic: Biochemical approaches for pest and
pathogen control in agriculture and food
Nitin Nitin
Rewa Rai
February 9,
2023
Heiner Lieth Professor Emeritus Plant Sciences Department UC Davis
Professor Lieth helped us understand
why the course he taught for many years,
called "Flower Power", attracts an
astonishing 1,000 students.
January 12, 2023
Eduardo
Blumwald Distinguished Professor Department of Plant Sciences, College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
UC Davis
Topic: Engineering biological
nitrogen fixation in cereals
Presentations:
4 CTRI + 2 UC Davis research
projects
Martha Mutschler-Chu
Professor Emeritus of Plant
Breeding and Genetics
Cornell University
Anna Whitfield Professor
Emerging Plant Disease and
Global Food Security
North Carolina State University
Siobhan Brady
Professor & HHMI Faculty Scholar
UC Davis
Cassandra Swett
Cooperative Extension
Specialist
UC Davis
Jiaqi Zhou &
Luca Comai Distinguished Professor
UC Davis
Dave Tseng Lab of
Diane Beckles UC Davis
•
Acylsugars: deploying trichome
exudate for control of
insects/insect transmitted
virus.
• Transgenic resistance for
effective control of emerging
tospoviruses.
• Engineering suberin levels in
the root for sustainability.
• The role of cooperative
extension in providing pathology
support to develop
cultivar-based management of
emerging tomato diseases.
• Using gene editing to dissect
and modify tomato fruit
carbohydrates.
• Haploid induction, combining
cenh3 and other systems.
Panel discussion:
Scientific, regulatory and commercial
considerations of new genetic
technologies in the processing tomato
value chain.
Moderator:
Panelists:
Nathan Pumplin CEO
Norfolk Plant Sciences
Chad Kramer
Director of Breeding,
AMPA
HM.Clause
Jeff Mills
Germplasm Development
Lead for Solanaceous
Crops, Americas
Syngenta Seeds
Darryl Bettencourt
Tomato Production
Manager
JG Boswell
Mitchell Yerxa Farm Manager
River Vista Farms
Rob DiNapoli
Owner
DiNapoli Specialty Foods
November 17, 2022
Special
online event
for
Premium Members of Seed Central
Seed Central Webinar
Series with Kent Bradford
3rd installment:
Going
big: populations in evolution,
adaptation and selection
Seed Central hosts
the
California Seed Association's
Fall Student Tour
for lunch and
a networking career fair
Hartnell College, Salinas,
California
With students from UC
Davis, Cal-Poly,
California State University
Chico / Fresno / Monterey Bay,
and Hartnell
College
"Last Year I
Was You!":
recent graduates
will speak about
about the
transition from
college to the
workforce and
their
experiences at
the first job.
With panelists:
Ella
Katz
Pipeline
Planning
Analyst
& Global
Operations Bayer
Vegetable
Seeds
Nancy
Merino
Front
Desk
Receptionist American
Takii
Jennifer
Herrera
Intern
Research
Assistant Syntech
Research
Group &
Masters
student
in Plant
Science
at
Fresno
State
University
Laura
Ruiz
Intern
Research
Assistant Syntech
Research
Group &
Senior
in Plant
Science
for
Bachelor’s
Degree
at
Fresno
State
University
Bryan
Cardona
Local
Product
Promoter Vilmorin-Mikado
Career fair
Participating companies:
October 13, 2022
Neelima
Sinha
Distinguished
Professor
UC Davis College of Biology
The Sinha Lab at the University of
California, Davis focuses on
studying fundamental mechanisms of
leaf development, using model
organisms such as tomato. In order
to understand how leaves evolved, we
are also looking at other organisms
like arabidopsis, tobacco, medicago,
carrot, cardamine, and acacia. More
recently our research has been
exploring the relationship between
leaves, photosynthesis, and fruit
sugars in tomato under normal and
stress conditions. We also study the
interaction between tomato and the
parasitic weed, Cuscuta.
Topic: A developmental
biologist's perspective on crop
improvement.
September 29, 2022
Special
online event
for
Premium Members of Seed Central
Seed Central Webinar
Series with Kent Bradford
2nd installment:
Going
deep: how populations underlie
biological mechanisms
September 8, 2022
Bárbara Blanco-Ulate Associate Professor
Dept. of Plant Sciences
UC Davis
Topic: Improving
crop quality and
reducing postharvest
losses
through fruit biology
research.
May 26, 2022
Special
online event
for
Premium Members of Seed Central
Seed Central Webinar
Series with Kent Bradford
1st installment:
Understanding populations: implications
for breeding vs. seed biology/technology
Workshop: Innovation
commercialization -
Bridging the gap between
research and commercial
solutions
Featuring:
UC Davis science & technology
showcase featuring a wide range of
UC Davis scientists and technologies,
including:
Research Core Facilities Program
(genomics, proteomics, metabolomics,
bioinformatics, TILLING, etc.)
AI Institute for Next Generation
Food Systems
Data Science and Informatics
Foundation and Corporate Engagement
Innovation Institute for Food &
Health
Institute for Innovation and
Entrepreneurship
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility
Working Lands Innovation Center
Venture Catalyst
+ student & postdoc research poster
session
+ networking social.
Panel discussion on
upcoming scientific and
technological developments
around plant breeding and food
science being increasingly
tailored towards ‘personalized’
health.
John
Palmer
Executive Director Emeritus,
California Crop Improvement Association
and UCD Foundation Seed Program
John retired at the end of 2021,
after a 40-year career in the seed
industry. He is widely known both for
his industry expertise and for his
eloquence and wit, so we asked him to
speak on a topic that will allow the
audience to experience both:
“What are the 10 most
important things you have learned during
your long and distinguished career in
the seed industry, and what are the 10
least important ones?”
February 2022
Luca Comai
Professor
Manager, TILLING Core
UC Davis Genome Center
online company visits, during which
you will be able
to learn more about
these companies and their
technologies than fits in a 3-minute
presentation, meet team members, ask
many questions, and lay
the
groundwork for future collaboration.
Location:
Online
January 2022
Kent
Bradford
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Founder Emeritus, Seed Biotechnology
Center Co-Founder, Seed Central UC
Davis
Topic:
Understanding the behavior of seed (and
cell) populations
Following up on this presentation, Kent
Bradford will present and discuss his
vision for new developments in seed
science and technology at a Seminar
Series, offered to Seed Central Premium
members.
Focus on digital & AI technologies
for agriculture
This is
how the
Digital Agriculture laboratory at UC
Davis defines 'digital agriculture':
Digital Agriculture integrates advanced
technologies to enhance agricultural
production system. It includes
cutting-edge techniques to acquire data,
convert them to practical knowledge
using validated interpretation models,
and exploit this knowledge as
decision-support tools.
The
Artificial Intelligence Institute for
Next Generation Food Systems, or
AIFS, was launched October 1, 2020 to
solve the world’s biggest challenges to
crop and food production facing our
planet: ensuring a sustainable,
nutritious, efficient and safe food
supply while mitigating the impacts of
climate change.
Yufang Jin
Professor of Remote Sensing and
Ecosystem Change & Environmental
Scientist in the AES
UC Davis
Christopher Wong
Postdoctoral Scholar representing
Troy Magney
Assistant Professor,
Plant and Environmental
Informatics Laboratory
UC Davis
Grey Monroe
Assistant Professor
of Climate Adaptation with
emphasis on Plant
Genomics
Department of Plant Sciences
UC Davis
Hamid Jafarbiglu
PhD Student
representing
Ali Pourreza
Director, Digital Agriculture
Laboratory /
Assistant CE Specialist,
Biological and Agricultural
Engineering
UC Davis
Dr.
Bhimanagouda 'Bhimu' Patil University Regents Professor Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences Department of Food Science and
Technology
Dr. Patil’s team is using a
multi-pronged approach to
improve breeding, bolster the
consumption of regionally
produced specialty melons, and
strengthen the competitiveness
and sustainability of the U.S.
melon industry.
Seeds by Design’s original
concept in 1994 was based on the
production, marketing, and
brokering of high quality, open
pollinated vegetable seed
varieties to the home garden
market. Shortly thereafter, we
discovered the seed market was
saturated with many seed
companies selling the same
products. The realization that
seed buyers were hungry for new
and unique products to grow
their own market channels,
helped create the innovation
that continues to drive Seeds by
Design to become and remain a
market leader.
Seeds by Design’s collection of
experimental niche markets,
including heirloom, hybrid, open
pollinated, and uniquely colored
vegetables, are expanding faster
than we can produce the seed.
Currently, Seeds by Design’s
product line consists largely of
proprietary and specialty
products that are only available
for purchase from us. Seeds by
Design’s knowledge and
experience creates the
foundation to produce high
quality wholesale products and
distribute both domestically and
internationally with the
diversity and service our
customers demand.
This event is part of Seed
Central's series of events
featuring women in our industry.
Previous events included:
Her Startup - Encounters
with women entrepreneurs who
launched their own companies
in ag & food, from seed to
health (April 2021)
The 'Job Panorama' in a seed
company (April 2019)
Seed & agbiotech
professionals with atypical
backgrounds (March 2018)
Women in biotech (March
2017)
The seed industry is a great
place for women to work -
and for men too (January
2016)
September 2021
Dr.
Siobhan Brady Professor Department of Plant Biology,
College of Biological Sciences Genome Center UC Davis
TOPIC:
Root Cell
Type Development, Evolution
and its Integration with the
Environment
In a February
2021 article, the magazine
The Scientist describes Dr.
Brady as “a pioneer in
teasing apart the changes in
gene expression that drive
root development”. It
states: “Her
lab recently completed a
years-long project to map
gene expression and
regulation in individual
tomato cell types that she
expects will be a valuable
resource in researchers’
efforts to breed plants that
are going to be more able to
tolerate harsh
environments.”
Focus on microbiome and microbial research relevant to the seed, ag, agbiotech
and food industry
The region’s microbiome research cluster
Presentations and panel discussion
Overview of UC Davis microbiome and
microbial science, technology and
resources of relevance for the seed,
agbiotech and food industries: short
presentations by several campus
scientists on their areas of
research;
Short presentations by companies
active in the microbiome and
microbial space;
Panel discussion + Q&A: growing the
cluster; opportunities for
public-private research
collaboration; fostering creativity
and startups; attracting new talent,
etc.
Moderator
Panelists
Jonathan Eisen Professor,
Unit Director, UC Davis
Microbiome Special Research
Program
Dept. of Evolution and Ecology
Dept. of Medical Microbiology &
Immunology
Genome Center
Center for Population Biology
Dorota Kawa
Postdoctoral Scholar
Department of Plant Biology
Genome Center
UC
Davis
Douglas Cook Professor
Department of Plant
Pathology
Director, Feed the Future Innovation Lab
on Climate Resilient Chickpea,
UC
Davis
Venkatesan Sundaresan Distinguished Professor
Department of Plant Biology
Department of Plant Sciences
UC
Davis
Joanne Emerson
Assistant Professor
Department of Plant Pathology
UC Davis
Chris
Simmons Associate Professor
Dept. of
Food Science and Technology, UC Davis
Understanding interactions between soil,
crops and process rinse water for
industrial tomato processing
>
Presentation slides in PDF format
Christian Nansen Associate Professor
Insect Ecology, IPM and Remote Sensing, UC
Davis
Non-destructive, rapid, accurate, and
automated profiling of seeds -
Integration of machine vision, machine
learning, and robotics to develop
disruptive quality control and profiling
solutions for the seed industry
>
Presentation slides in PDF format
Daniel Geisseler Assistant Cooperative
Extension Specialist
Land, Air and Water
Resources, UC Davis
New company in the Seed
Central core area:
Amerland Seeds - Jim Dong, Managing
Director
Special guests:
Jennifer
Romero,Senior
Environmental Scientist,
California
Department of
Food &Agriculture
Albre Brown, Plant
Pathologist,
California
Department of
Food &Agriculture
Dr. Kirstin Bett Professor, Pulse Crop
Breeding and Genetics
University of Saskatchewan
Topic: “Adapting
lentil to new environments”
Presentation will encompass some
of Dr. Bett's work on adaptation
in the traditional sense but
also adapting to changing food
trends.
Innovators
Showcase @ UC Davis Featuring
startups and innovative companies
in
seed, ag, agbiotech, microbiome, and
food & health
PowerGut
2019 Speakers
2019
December 2019
THE FORUM Networking
event with featured speakers
Dr. Venkatesan Sundaresan Professor Department of
Plant Biology, College of
Biological Sciences
Department of Plant Sciences,
College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences UC
Davis
Dr.
Sundaresan presented his research in the
areas of plant reproduction ("Rice
plants that reproduce as clones from
seed") and the microbiome.
November
2019
Dan Flynn
Amina Harris
Frank Muller
Nitin Nitin
Les Padley
Special
event
The "seed to fork" ecosystem at
the core of Seed Central
Featuring key actors in the
region's "seed to fork" value
chain and Woodland's
The Food
Front
Lunch & speed networking
for students Students from UC Davis
and Woodland Community
College met with 9 local
companies. With the participation
of Paola Pomeroy,
alumna from Woodland
Community College and UC
Davis.
Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
scientists in Albany, California,
have found a way to streamline the
process that scientists use to
insert multiple genes into a crop
plant, developing a reliable method
that will make it easier to breed a
variety of crops with vastly
improved traits.
The technology is expected to speed
up the process for developing new
varieties of potatoes, rice, citrus
and other crops that are better
equipped to tolerate heat and
drought, produce higher yields and
resist a myriad of diseases and
pests.
April 2019
The "Job Panorama" in a seed company Seed
Central invited students to discover
the
wide range
of exciting, high tech jobs
that make up
a seed company.
We "x-rayed" HM.Clause's
workforce to understand what sort of
team it takes to go from research
through production, supply chain, operations, sales
and marketing, all the way to the
market.
We heard from a wide range of
employees about their respective
jobs.
Students had the opportunity to be
paired with each of theses seed
professionals prior to the event and to
shadown them on the job afterwards.
Presentation
of the Job Panorama
at HM-Clause
by
Oscar Garcia,
Sr. HR Director, AMPA Region
Each HM.Clause panelist was paired with
a UC Davis student before the event:
Jeremy Warren Astrona Biotechnologies
Dark Heart Industries
and
Sesan Ajina inSight Labs
March 2019
Seed Central Brainstorming Session
Topics:
The field research facilities at
UC Davis, in need of upgrade and
expansion. This session is an
opportunity for industry
stakeholders to share with campus
leaders thoughts on how they
envision using upgraded facilities
and collaborating with the
university to bring about the
expansion. Presentation by Dr. Gail Taylor,
Professor and Chair of the Plant
Sciences Dept.
The CoreLab, a co-location
lab envisioned as an extension of
the Plant Reproductive Biology
building, offering space where
industry scientists could work and
cooperate with campus scientists (see
www.seedcentral.org/corelab.htm).
The Woodland Research and Technology Park, planned off
Highway 113, as a potential location for companies
whose products & services are of
value to the region's seed and agbiotech
companies. See
www.woodlandresearchpark.org Presented by John Hodgson,
The Hodgson Company, and Lon Hatamiya,
The Hatamiya Group.
Seed Central FORUM Networking
event with featured speakers
Featured
speaker:
Dr. Richard
Michelmore
Director, Genome Center Novozymes
Endowed Chair in Genomics
Distinguished Professor
Department of Molecular and Cellular
Biology Department of Medical
Microbiology and Immunology, School
of Medicine Department of Plant
Sciences, College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences
UC Davis
Topic:
So many genomes, so many genes, so
little time
February 2019
Dr.
Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra Professor, Department of Plant
Sciences
UC Davis
Topic:
Adaptation in plant genomes: bigger is
different
The Networking Tech Showcase
for seed,
ag and food companies:
startups, early stage and beyond
Exhibitors:
Christian
Nansen &
Mohammad Imtiaz
Consulting
Classification &
sorting
of tomato seed
2018 Speakers
December 2018
Special
event brought to you by
Processing Tomato Conference @ UC Davis
The full-day conference brought
together Northern California’s main actors in
the processing tomato value chain: breeders,
seed dealers, transplanters, growers,
processors, and equipment manufacturers. It
facilitated brainstorming around some of the
industry’s key issues to help bring about a
joint approach towards solutions in the
pre-competitive area.
Chris Simmons Associate Professor, Dept. of
Food Science and Technology, UC
Davis Water/energy efficiency and waste
management
The
quest for fruit quality
Nitin Nitin Professor, Dept. of Food Science
and Technology, UC Davis Processing and Quality:
Innovations in fruit washing and
sanitation; Next generation of
non-thermal processing technologies
/ New opportunities to assess fruit
quality before and after processing
Ami Patel Director of Product Strategy,
Ripe.io Technology for a transparent food
quality network: Applying
blockchain technology to the tomato
industry
Evening
feature:
The
Job Landscape in the processing
tomato value chain. We heard from
7 industry
professionals,
their career paths and
their current jobs:
Robbie Johnson General
Manager, California Transplants
Chad Kramer Plant Breeder,
Bayer Vegetable Seeds
John Marchese Senior Manager
Global Agriculture,
KraftHeinz
Valerie Pantone,
Sales/Marketing Coordinator,
TS&L
Seed Company
Julian Patino
International Operations, Dried
Fruits /
Engineering & Technical
Services,
The Morning
Star Company
Kyle Quinn Salesman,
AgSeeds Unlimited
Chris Ward Director of
Operations,
Pacific Coast Producers
November 2018
Special Seed Central networking event
in connection with
the Cucurbitaceae 2018
Conference
Panel
discussion:
Breeding for culinary qualities
and chefs' expectations
Panelists:
Dr. Ali Bouzari Culinary
Scientist
Co-Founder, CSO
Pilot R+D
Vince Caguin
Director of Nutrition Services &
Warehousing
Natomas Unified
School District
Paige Schoening
Farm to Table Program Manager,
Guckenheimer at
Google
October 2018
Special Seed Central event: "ASTA meets
UC Berkeley and UC Davis"
A large
group of researchers and executives from
Seed Central member companies and
American Seed Trade Association member
companies met over two days with
leadership, scientists and students from
UC Berkelely and UC Davis.
September 2018
Dr.
Gail Taylor
Department Chair and Professor,
Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis
Dr. Taylor's research priorities include
the molecular basis of plant adaptation
to a high CO2 world, improving the
postharvest shelf life of lettuce
through preharvest physiology and
genetics, and producing the first
genomic information on watercress — the
most nutrient dense of the leafy crops
with significant links to health
outcomes.
Topic:
From tree leaf growth to leafy greens-
Plant Science for a sustainable future
May 2018
Dr. Howard-Yana Shapiro
-
Chief Agricultural Officer, Mars, Inc.
- Senior Fellow,
Plant Sciences, College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences, UC Davis
- Distinguished Fellow, World Agroforestry
Centre, Nairobi, Kenya
- Science Advisor, MIT Media Lab
Special
Seed Central
networking event in cooperation with the
California Seed Association
For students from Chico State,
Woodland Community College, UC
Davis, Fresno State, Cal-Poly,
CSU Monterey Bay, Hartnell
College
Encounters with industry
professionals + career fair:
Lisa Branco
Sales Manager
Radicle Seed Company & Headstart
Nursery
Robert de la Pena
President & CEO
United Genetics Seeds
Company
Gerard Denny
Integrated Product
Research Manager
Incotec
Tamara Holst
Patent
Science Lead
Monsanto Vegetable Seeds
Erika Lee
R&D
Specialist I
Bayer
CropScience Vegetable
Seeds
Matt Linder
Senior
Area Sales Manager
(Salinas Valley,
Hollister, Gilroy) /
Senior Western Product
Development Manager /
Broccoli/Cauliflower
Product Manager
Sakata Seed America
Arturo Manzo
Assistant Lettuce
Breeder
Desert Southwest, 3 Star
Lettuce
Velia Nuñez
Laboratory Supervisor
AgBiotech Inc.
Steve Wiley
General
Manager
& COO
American Takii
April 2018
Science session on Produce Quality &
Safety
Moderated by:
with:
Chris Zanobini
President/CEO
Ag Association Management
Services Inc.
Dr. Elizabeth Mitcham
Cooperative Extension Specialist
and Pomologist, UC Davis.
Director, Horticulture
Innovation Lab
Dr. Trevor Suslow
Cooperative
Extension Specialist, UC Davis.
Director, Postharvest Technology
Center
Michael Schutt
Produce Category Manager
Raley's Inc.
Dr. Carolyn Slupsky
Professor, Kinsella Endowed
Chair in Food, Nutrition and
Health,
UC Davis
Sam Bush
Country Sales Manager, USA /
Crop Sales Manager Melon, NAFTA
& Central America
Bayer CropScience
Vegetable Seeds
Panel discussion on regional food
partnerships
Moderated by:
with:
Dr. Kent Bradford
Interim
Director
World Food Center
UC Davis
Michael Teel
Owner & CEO
Raley's, Inc.
Barry Broome
President & CEO
Greater Sacramento Economic
Council
Chris Zanobini
President/CEO
Ag Association Management
Services Inc.
Dr. Christine Bruhn
Retired, Director, Center for Consumer Research
Specialist in Cooperative Extension Emerita, Food Science & Technology, UC Davis
Dr. Irwin R. Donis-Gonzalez
Assistant Postharvest
Engineering Specialist in
Cooperative Extension
Biological and Ag. Engineering
UC Davis
March 2018
Nothing destined them to work in the
seed and agbiotech industry, yet they
are today, and loving it.
Their major was not their destiny, and
neither was their background.
This special event illustrated how
many varied pathways and
circuitous
routes can lead to a satisfying and
successful career in the seed and agbiotech industy.
Each
industry panelist was paired paired with
a students several months prior to the
event:
Lisa Branco
&
Cintia
Sagawa
Aimée Burger
&
Mark
Taylor
Marc Clark
&
Kay
Watt
Scott Harris
&
Jordan
Chaffin
Monica Ivey
&
Paul
Kasemsap
Adrian Jaggi
&
Laudan
Yavari
Carl Jones
&
Priscilla
Glenn
Chow-Ming Lee
&
Felipe
Pinilla
Mary Beth Miranda
&
Shiyu
Chen
Brian Love
&
Nicole
Soltis
Eben Ogundiwin
&
Marwa
Zafarullah
Jonny Pham
&
Michelle
Tang
Jyoti Rout
&
Karen
Zhu
Rebeca Schauland
&
Chenjiao
Deng
Douglas Sherman
&
Josue
Vega
Elly Soeryapranata
&
Yaxin
Wang
Kelly Stanton
&
Kimberley
Gibson
Industry panelists
(each paired with a student)
Student panelists
Lisa Branco Sales Manager
Radicle Seed Company & Headstart
Nursery
Cintia Sagawa
PhD candidate in Plant Biology
Aimée Burger
Associate Plant Manager
HM.Clause
Mark
Taylor PhD student in the Plant
Biology Graduate Group
Marc Clark
Research Station Manager USA
Enza Zaden
Kay Watt
PhD candidate in Plant Sciences,
Member of the Integrated Genetics
and Genomics graduate group
Scott Harris
Global Supply
Chain Analyst
HM.Clause
Jordan Chaffin MBA candidate
Monica Ivey
Corporate
Relations Lead
Monsanto Company
Paul Kasemsap
PhD student in Horticulture and
Agronomy
Adrian Jaggi
Portfolio
Planning Lead
Syngenta Seeds
Laudan Yavari
MBA candidate
Carl Jones
Accelerated
Breeding Technologies Lead
Monsanto
Company
Priscilla Glenn
PhD student in Horticulture and
Agronomy
Chow-Ming Lee
Consumer
Sensory Lead
Monsanto Company
Felipe Pinilla
Graduate student in Agricultural and
Resource Economics + MBA candidate
Mary Beth Miranda
Senior
Manager, Technology Sourcing and
External R&D
Novozymes
Shiyu Chen
Postdoc on genome assembly and
genetic variant mining in a
vegetable breeding group
Brian Love
Corn Silage
Breeder
Forage Genetics
International
Nicole Soltis
PhD candidate in Plant Biology
Eben Ogundiwin
Site Leader, Bayer CropScience Vegetable Seeds
West Sacramento Head of Marker Assisted
Breeding, Americas
Technology Integrator, Americas
Marwa Zafarullah
Graduate student in Integrated
Genetics and Genomics
Jonathan (Jonny) Pham
Scientist I
Novozymes
Michelle Tang
PhD student studying plant
metabolism and systems biology
Jyoti Rout
Plant Transformation &
Cell Biology Lead
Intrexon
Karen Zhu
Junior undergraduate
Rebeca Schauland
Research
Associate in Discovery Genetics
Monsanto Company
Chenjiao Deng PhD student in Horticulture &
Agronomy
Douglas Sherman
Scientific
Programmer
Forage
Genetics International
Josue Vega
Recent UCD Graduate with BS in
Genetics and genomics. Plans to
continue a master’s program in
genomics
Kelly Stanton
Onion Breeding Coordinator
Enza Zaden
Kimberley Gibson
PhD student in Horticulture and
Agronomy
February 2018
Katherine Murphy
Rita Mumm
Conversation in 3D :
Katherine "Katie" Murphy
UC DavisPhD Student in conversation with
Dr. Rita Mumm Director, African
Plant Breeding Academy;
Assoc. Prof. Quantitative Genetics and
Plant Breeding, Emerita, University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;
Member of the Board of Trustees of
CIMMYT;
Principal of GeneMax Services.
David Slaughter, Professor,
College of Biological & Agricultural
Engineering and College of
Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, UC
Davis
Ken
Giles, Professor,
College of Biological & Agricultural
Engineering, UC
Davis
Topic:
The SmartFarm project
SmartFarm will take an integrated
systems approach to develop superior
plants, smart machines, more
efficient farming methods for crops
and animals alike, and a highly
trained workforce that together will
provide a path toward food security
in the year 2050 and beyond. To
achieve progress that is meaningful
to farmers, ranchers and the public
at large, plant and animal science
research must be conducted at a
sufficient scale and under actual
farming conditions in addition to
the laboratory. SmartFarm will work
to develop technological,
knowledge-based solutions that allow
an intimate understanding of plants
and animals at the individual level
in order to create novel highly
intensive food production systems
for urban environments and optimize
on-farm management and resource
utilization, and maximize
productivity in harmony with our
diverse, natural environment.
Special
Seed Central & Food Central event
in connection with the Triennial
Conference of the International
Society for Seed Science
Field trips
Networking lunch
Speed Networking for 90
students from UC Davis,
Woodland Community College,
California State University
Fresno, Hartnell College,
Cal-Poly Pomona, etc.
Featured companies:
Special session at the USDA/ARS station in Salinas
Tours of the research station
Plant breeding: lettuce,
spinach, melon, and sugar beet
Virology
Soil borne diseases
Downy mildew of spinach
Postharvest, methyl bromide
alternatives & APHIS
April 2017
Joint
Seed Central & Food Central FORUM
Dr. Douglas Cook, UC
Davis Professor,
Department of Plant
Pathology Director, Feed the Future Innovation Lab
on Climate Resilient Chickpea
Principal Investigator of a National
Science Foundation Plant Genome
Research Program project to
investigate the impact of
domestication on nitrogen fixation
in chickpeas.
Topic:
"Back the wilds: tapping diversity in
wild crop progenitors for agricultural
innovation"
Dr. Bruce German Professor,
Department of Food Science & Technology
Director,
Foods for Health Institute,
UC Davis
Dr. Thomas Tomich WK Kellogg Endowed Chair in
Sustainable Food Systems
Director, Agricultural
Sustainability Institute at UC Davis
Topic: Food system informatics: a
new knowledge-based food strategy
integrating human health and nutrition
across the food system, agriculture, and
sustainability.
January 2017
Seed Central Brainstorming Session
Topic: The talent pipeline in the
seed and agbiotech industry The various branches of the industry
will present their QUALITATIVE
medium and long-term human resources
needs:
categories and types of jobs that will
need to be filled in the next 5-10
years, majors and major combinations
that will be most in demand, and skills
that will be expected (incl. the
important soft skills).
Industry will engage in discussion and
brainstorming with educators and
students.
Participants:
Managers and human resources
specialists from the seed and agbiotech
industry: Agribusiness Associates,
Alforex Seeds, Dow AgroSciences, East-West
Seed, Enza Zaden, HM-Clause,
KraftHeinz, Monsanto,
Morrison & Foerster LLP,
Novozymes, Rijk Zwaan,
Semillas Fito, Sakata, Syngenta, Syntech Research,
and American Takii.
Deans, professors, career counselors
and students from UC Davis, California
State University-Monterey Bay,
Hartnell College, Sacramento City
College, and Woodland Community
College.
Special
NETWORKING EVENT & TECH SHOWCASE
Fifteen “My company in
120 seconds” presentations, followed
by networking & trade
show
Presenting
companies:
Acela Biotek Developing microbial
cocktails for plant growth.
Amaryllis
Nucleics Empowering
researchers and accelerating
important discoveries in
genomics.
Amphasys AG
Amphasys provides
a powerful tool to test pollen
viability, thereby helping to
increase the yield of high quality
seed and to reduce the cost of
production.
AstRoNa Biotechnologies Engineering
a simple to use detector that
can be deployed on-site at every
phase of food production from
field to table.
Circularis
Biotechnologies Our mission is to
revolutionize gene expression
and enable wide-scale production
of biologically derived
products.
CSP
Labs High quality pathological and
genetic testing to the vegetable
seed, fruit tree, grapevine, and
strawberry industries by
approved or in-house improved
methods.
gThrive A hardware and software field
monitoring solution measuring 5
key parameters and delivering
that information wirelessly to
your smartphone or laptop.
Logos4n High-resolution genetics,
genome, DNA surveillance
technologies, to be applied to
precision diagnostics and
prognostics.
Lumigrow Software and hardware
spectral control platform
enabling large scale greenhouse
researchers and growers to
manage
efficiency, yield and plant
characteristics. (Video
of the presentation)
Miraculex The sugar-free revolution
you've been waiting for is
finally here.
Pilot R&D A
food innovation and development
company.
Dr. John Sorenson, CEO,
Vestaron Corporation, in
conversation with Julia Wasielewski,
MBA Candidate, UC Davis Graduate School
of Management, Class of 2017.
Vestaron
Corporation leads the biopesticide
industry with a technology platform for
developing novel, environmentally benign
insecticides. These products are derived
from naturally occurring peptides, a
patented technology licensed exclusively
to Vestaron and protected by an
extensive intellectual property estate.
November 2016
Conversation in
3D
Mike Lassner
Richard Michelmore
Dr. Mike Lassner in conversation
with
Dr. Richard Michelmore.
Dr.
Lassner is a Biotechnology
Consultant and Advisor focusing on value
creation through technology advancement
and specializing in
agricultural biotechnology: traits,
enabling technologies, investment, and
business strategy.
He had a distinguished career in "big
ag", most recently as Vice President,
Trait Discovery at Pioneer Hi-Bred
International.
Dr. Michelmore is Director of the UC
Davis Genome Center and Professor, UC
Davis Department of Plant Sciences,
Department of Molecular and Cellular
Biology, and Department of Microbiology
and Immunology.
October 2016
Special Seed Central & Food Central
networking event at Hartnell College in
Salinas
We
invited:
USDA ARS researchers based in
Salinas,
UC Cooperative Extension specialists
and Farm Advisors based in Salinas,
UC Davis scientists based in Salinas,
members of the Grower-Shipper
Association of Central California,
Hartnell College professors,
administrators and students, and
California State
University Monterey Bay professors,
administrators and students
UC Davis CA&ES Aggie
Ambassadors
UC Santa Cruz
scientists
to get to know each other better and to
meet the Seed Central members and all
others who attend our networking events.
October 2016
Gia Fazio
Sarah Dohle
Conversation in
3D
Featured guest
Gia Fazio, Director of
Project Planning,
Arcadia Biosciences, in conversation
with Sarah Dohle, Plant Biology
Graduate Student (PhD) at UC Davis.
Arcadia Biosciences
develops and commercializes agricultural
traits and products that bring value to
growers, processors and consumers while
benefitting the environment and
enhancing human health. Using a variety
of advanced screening, breeding and
biotechnology techniques, Arcadia has
created a diverse portfolio of
late-stage traits across multiple crops.
September 2016
Daniel Morash
Ed
Lewis
Conversation in
3D
Featured guest
Daniel Morash, Founder,
California Safe Soil LLC, in
conversation with Dr. Ed Lewis, Associate Dean,
College of Agricultural
& Environmental
Sciences / Professor, Department of
Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis.
California Safe Soil
is a fresh food recycler that increases
the productivity of your farm at a low
cost, while helping to improve the
environment. We make the best use of
food that supermarkets cannot sell or
donate and turn it into our Harvest to
Harvest (H2H) fertilizer which returns
the nutrients to the soil and promotes
sustainable agriculture. Increase your
plant vigor and crop yields with
California Safe Soil's H2H Fertilizer.
May 2016
x
Michael
Siminovitch
Clark
Lagarias
Heiner Lieth
Melanie Yelton
SPECIAL SESSION focused on
light and lighting technology
Dr. Heiner Lieth,
Professor / Extension Specialist, Plant
Sciences, UC Davis
Presentation:
Development of new soilless crop production
technologies
Dr. Melanie Yelton,
Director of Research,
LumiGrow
Inc.
Moderator:
Dr. Michael Siminovitch, Director of the
California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC),
Professor of Design, and Associate Director of
the Energy Efficiency Center, UC Davis
Joint
Seed Central & Food Central FORUM
Dr. Diane Barrett
Fruit and Vegetable Products Specialist
Food Science & Technology
UC Davis
Topic:
20+ Years of Processing Tomato Research
in the Barrett Lab: The Condensed
Version
April 2016
Dr. Steven J. Knapp Professor
and Director of the Strawberry Breeding
Program, UC Davis
Our laboratory investigates how breeding
has shaped and continues to reshape
strawberry (Fragaria ananassa), both as
a garden plant and as a horticultural
commodity grown in diverse production
systems supplying high-quality fruit
year round. We take a multidisciplinary
approach towards innovation in breeding
and cultivar development, and towards
understanding genetic mechanisms
underlying economically important
phenotypes from yield to disease
resistance to flavor. Our primary focus
is to deliver genetically superior
cultivars to organic and non-organic
farmers in California and around the
world. We operate short-day and
day-neutral breeding and cultivar
testing programs in coastal California
production environments stretching from
Irvine to Ventura to Santa Cruz—the
‘Strawberry Belt’. We work in close
partnership with the University of
California, Davis Foundation Plant
Services to deliver high-quality
planting stock for the nursery industry
and with Innovation Access and
commercial partners to advance and
deploy UC-developed cultivars in diverse
national and international markets.
Topic: The UC-Davis Strawberry
Breeding Program: Reformation and
Expansion
April 2016
Michael
Gumina Global CEO
RiceTec Inc.
Formed with the assets from Farms of
Texas Company, RiceTec has been
developing hybrid rice since 1988. With
diverse experience and strong
affiliations throughout the world,
RiceTec combines unique skills in rice
farming, plant breeding and consumer
marketing. The history of RiceTec began
with Farms of Texas Company (formed in
1984) - a 50,000-acre rice-farming
partnership.
CPPSI is a science based, vegetable
seed industry initiative developed to
standardize the identification of plant
pathogen strains and races based on sets
of host differentials and reference
pathogen strains.
Topic: The Collaboration for
Plant Pathogen Strain Identification
(CPPSI)
February 2016
SPECIAL SESSION featuring cutting edge
technologies
Dr. Ian Korf, Associate
Professor, Molecular & Cellular Biology,
UC Davis
Topic: From bench to keyboard and back:
integrating experimental molecular
biology and bioinformatics to understand
intron-mediated enhancement
October 2015
Dr. Carl Winter, CE Food
Toxicologist, Food Science and
Technology, UC Davis Topic:
- Mythbusters: Pesticide Residue Edition
October 2015
David Clifford, Lead Quantitative
Researcher,
The Climate Corporation Topic:
Joining the dots from data science to
agronomic insight
Student research poster presentation
during the networking event
September 2015
Jose Kawashima, CEO of
MiCafeto Coffee Company Topic:
What makes the quality of coffee?
Coffee tasting arranged by Jay Ruskey,
Good Land Organics, with assistance
from Dr. Juan Medrano
Dr. Joseph DiTomaso,
CE Weed
Specialist. Department of Plant Sciences,
UC Davis
Topic:
The interaction of seed biology in weed
and invasive plant management
March 2015
Dr.
Neal Gutterson, Vice President of
Agricultural Biotechnology, DuPont
Pioneer
Topic:
DuPont Pioneer Ag Biotech R&D: strategy
and future directions
February 2015
SPECIAL SESSION on plant pathology
Dr. Dario Cantu, Assistant
Professor, Department of Viticulture and
Enology, UC Davis Topic: Integrative genomics
approaches to improve grapevine disease
resistance
Dr. Deborah Golino, Director
Foundation Plant Services Plant Pathology
Department, UC Davis Topic: Specialty crop clean plant
centers - Managing plant health through
pathogen screening and distribution of plant
materials
Tera Pitman,
MS, Prof. Bryce Falk’s Group, Plant
Pathology Department, UC Davis Topic: Cucumber green mottle mosaic
virus
Inmaculada
Ferriol Safont, Post-doctoral Fellow,
Prof. Bryce Falk’s Group, Plant Pathology
Department, UC Davis Topic: Torradoviruses
Dr. Alex Cochran, Global Director
Research and Development, DuPont Seed
Treatment Enterprise
Topic:
Application and regulation of cutting edge
genome editing technologies in agriculture and
other areas
Speakers:
David Segal,
PhD, Associate Director of Genomics,
UC
Davis Genome Center
"Genome engineering: at the dawn of the
Golden Age"
William (BJ)
Haun, PhD, Director of Business
Development,
Cellectis
Plant Sciences
"Precise
engineering of plant genomes with TALENs:
next generation trait development in crop
plants"
Andy May,
PhD, Chief Scientific Officer,
Caribou BioSciences "Genome engineering and RNA transcript
tagging for multiple applications"
Alison Van
Eenennaam,
PhD, Cooperative Extension Specialist,
Animal Genomics and Biotechnology, UC Davis
"The governance of precise breeding
techniques: can science win one for a chang
Dr. Charles Bamforth
Anheuser-Busch
Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing
Sciences, UC Davis
Bountiful
barley
April 2014
Dr. Eric
Mussen, Cooperative Extension
Apiculturist
Department of Entomology, University of
California, Davis
Honey bees and seed crop production
March 2014
Ali Bouzari, Chef and PhD Student in
the lab of
Dr. Diane Barrett, Fruit and
Vegetable Products Specialist, Department of Food Science &Technology, University of California Davis
Dr. David Mills, Peter J. Shields
Endowed Chair in Dairy Food Science -
Department of Food Science and
Technology / Department of Viticulture
and Enology, University of California
Moderator: Mary Zischke, CEO,
California Leafy Greens
Water quality & water
scarcity
Panelists:
Marc Los Huertos, Associate
Professor of Science and Environmental
Policy, CSU Monterey Bay
Abby Taylor-Silva, Vice
President Policy and Communications,
Grower Shipper Assn. of the Central
Coast
Dale Huss, General Manager, Sea
Mist Farms
May 2013
Dan Flynn Executive Director, UC Davis Olive
Center
Doing for
olives what UC Davis did for wine
Brainstorming
session
Dr. Phyllis Himmel, Vice President of
Research, Marrone BioInnovation
The
Initiative to Standardize Identification
of Plant Pathogen Strains and Races
using Differential Hosts - An ASTA CPPSI
project (formerly APS/ISF project) John
Miziko, Managing Director, Eurofins STA
Laboratories Services offered by GEVES/MATREF and
Naktuinbouw (with comparative table
Netherlands/France/USA)
Thomas
Williams, PhD Candidate, UC Davis Food
Science and Technology, Maria Marco Lab
Phyllosphere microbiota diversity and
effects on food safety
Dr.
Theresa A. Hill, Senior Research
Associate, Van Deynze Lab,
UC Davis
Whole genome analyses in pepper
reveals diversifying selection among pepper
types
April 2013
Dr. Ian Puddephat
Senior Director of
Agro Sciences
PepsiCo
Breeding new plant varieties for flavor
and consumer traits - Sharing industry
and university perspectives
February 2013
Dr.
Henk Hilhorst,Professor, Wageningen
University
Systems biology of seed quality
Brainstorming
session
Practical
ways in which a close linkage between UC
Davis/Seed Central/Food Central and
Wageningen UR/Seed Valley/Food Valley
can benefit the seed and food industry.
View
presentation
Dr. Lindsey
du Toit, Washington State University
Seed borne diseases
Dr. Hiro
Nonogaki, Oregon State University
Gene switches and miRNA to control seed
development
January 2013
Dr. Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra, Associate
Professor, Plant Science Department, UC
Davis
Genomic signals of ancestry and
selection in maize breeding.
Dr. Alan Bennett Professor, Plant
Sciences
UC Davis
Linking
plant genomes to food quality – making a
better tomato
Brainstorming
session
Dr. Cecilia Chi-Ham, Dr. Luca Comai
The Plant and Seed Sciences Corporate
Affiliate Partnership Program (CAPP) -
Research consortia opportunities
View the webinar
Glenda Humiston, State Director, California
Rural Development, U.S. Department of
Agriculture Tim
Johnson, President, California Rice
Commission David Shabazian, Senior Planner, Sacramento
Area Council of Governments (SACOG)
A fresh
perspective on changes to our local food
systems. The retailer’s perspective on GMOs,
community-assisted agriculture, and the
rising new trend of urban hothouses.
September 2012
Dr. Carl Keen
Professor of
Nutrition & Internal Medicine
UC Davis
Flavanol-rich foods; an approach to
helping maintain good vascular health?
June 2012
(Salinas)
Dr. Barry Eisenberg
Vice President, Food Safety Services
United Fresh Produce Association
New food
safety demands and challenges for our
industry
May 2012
Dr. Luca Comai
Professor
UC Davis
Genome Center
Department of Plant Biology, College of
Biological Sciences
Multiple
tools for crop improvement through DNA
sequencing
April 2012
Dr. Roberta Cook
Key trends in the fresh produce
industry: opportunities and challenges
Dr. Marita Cantwell
Post-harvest quality and handling of
fresh market vegetables
Dr. Trevor Suslow
Food safety issues in pre and
post-harvest of vegetables
March 2012
Dr. Roger Chételat
The
relationship between self- and
interspecific incompatibility in tomato,
and potential applications in the use of
wild germplasm resources
February 2012
Dr. Pamela Ronald
Engineering plants for tolerance to
stress and resistance to disease
Dr. Robert Gilbertson
A glimpse in the
future?
Direct versus marker-assisted selection for
breeding for resistance to common bacterial
blight of bean
Dr. Gitta Coaker
Bacterial
Infection in tomato: investigating
Pseudomonas virulence and identification
of resistant genotypes
January 2012
Dr. Eduardo Blumwald
Engineering environmental stress
resistance in crop plants
Gail
Taylor
Imtiyaz Khanday
In collaboration with the
Special
online event
Seed Central hosts
Bárbara Blanco-Ulate
John
Palmer
Dr.
Bhimanagouda 'Bhimu' Patil
Patty
Buskirk
Dr. Philipp Zerbe
and
Dr. Savithramma Dinesh-Kumar
Presentation
Featured
speaker:
Dr.
Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra
Dr. Howard-Yana Shapiro 
Joint
Seed Central & Food Central FORUM
We
invited:
Joint
Seed Central & Food Central FORUM
Dr. Steven J. Knapp
Michael
Gumina
Dr. Phyllis Himmel
Joint Seed
Central & Food Central FORUM
