In this episode Markus Stetter, group leader at the Institute for Plant Sciences at the University of Cologne and member of CEPLAS (Cluster of Excellence on Plant Science) takes us into the exciting history of Amaranth. Markus combines molecular and computational biology approaches to study the domestication of wild plants. Learn how wild plants became crops and how these crops spread around the globe. Furthermore get insights into CEPLAS, its research mission, focus area and education program. Since 2019, Markus Stetter is a group leader at the Institu ..read more

In this episode Diego Risso, Executive Director of URUPOV (Uruguayan Plant Breeders Association) and Secretary General of the SAA (Seed Association of the Americas), gives insights into the activities of both organizations. What are the major assets, what are the goals and challenges? Diego talks about the UPOV91 framework, intellectual property rights, plant breeders rights and much more. Which role does technology play for the seed industry? Which technology will be relevant in 2023 for agriculture and the seed industry and has the most impact? Get a recap of the SAA Congress 2022, a short o ..read more

Hannah Senior is CEO of PBS International, President of NAPB (National Association of Plant Breeders) and a podcast creator. In this episode you will get a glimpse into Hannah’s broad experience. Learn about the process of developing new solutions within PBS International for plant breeding. On top of that, Hannah shares her story on how she became the first president of the NAPB from outside North America. During her period as president of the NAPB Hannah is focusing on 3 themes: Putting more structure into the organization, fostering exchange with other international plant breeding organizat ..read more

In this episode, Patrizia Ricca from Computomics gives us comprehensive insights into xSeedScore – a breeders’ tool to develop new crop varieties adjusted to future climates. Learn about how to work with xSeedScore, about the benefits of using machine learning, and how it differs from conventional methods. What data is needed to apply xSeedScore? What role does the interaction between genetics and temperature play for future varieties? Patrizia Ricca joined Computomics 4 years ago as Bioinformatics Analyst. She studied Plant Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics at the University of Tübingen, g ..read more

In this episode Thomas Lübberstedt a professor of agronomy from Iowa State University shares his research goals focusing on doubled haploid technology in maize breeding. What are the challenges, what did they achieve already and what are the further research plans? How can doubled haploid speed up the process of getting homozygous lines? A second focus area is on the organic farming industry. Within 2 organic projects, Thomas is working with a sweet corn breeder and a popcorn breeder on different research goals ranging from the use of natural traits instead of GMO to inbred performance under w ..read more

In this episode Prof. Dr. Dominik Grimm from TUM Campus Straubing and Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences gives us insights into CropML, a BMBF funded project. The project evaluates new machine learning techniques for more accurate plant breeding by integrating heterogeneous external factors.  Different phenotype prediction models, including basic genomic selection methods to more advanced deep learning-based techniques have been compared. Learn why advanced models are the future and where the challenges are. Dominik is heading the Bioinformatics department at TUM Campu ..read more

The October episode is a special one as we are celebrating 10 years of Computomics! We give a retrospect of Computomics through plants. Get to know 10 different plants Computomics has worked on. The plants range from rather well known ones like rice, soy, corn and banana up to rather unusual ones like the mamala tree which is native to various tropical islands. You will hear some fun facts about the plants before receiving some insights on the challenges and questions Computomics addressed. In the last 10 years Computomics performed genome assemblies, genome annotations, methylation patterns ..read more

In this episode, listen to Anne Buchwalder, an experienced plant breeder for different crops ranging from pea, cantaloupe, sweet and hot pepper to cocoa. Anne shares her view on sustainable agricultural production, what it implies for the consumer but also the impact on the producing country. Learn about the value chain from farmer to customer. The second part of this episode covers the role technology plays for plant breeding and how it can help plant breeders breed forward. Technology has improved over the last 25 years and plant breeders have much more tools in their [nbsp]toolbox available ..read more

To shorten the summer break we take a quick look back what we covered in the last season and give a preview of what to expect in season 4. We already have a great line-up for the next season, stay tuned and don't miss any episode! If there is anyone out there you would like to listen to with interesting stories in agriculture and technology, let us know. Just send us a short message to podcast@computomics.com ..read more

In this episode, Karsten Borgwardt gives insights into his current research projects. In two examples, Karsten explains how machine learning algorithms are being developed specifically in the medical sector. Learn about the importance of massive amounts of data, and how this data is used to train a machine learning model to predict the probability of a sepsis of individual patients. Understand the various challenges, the importance of big datasets, the importance of validation, and why it’s a huge undertaking to make machine learning in medicine work. Apart from the Sepsis Study hear how Karst ..read more