Vol. 8. Num.4 - July 2008

Marcy Main (left), Rose Schick, Tina Paque (greenhouse manager), Bronwyn Frame, Dan Fredrickson (student assistant), Diane Luth (unavailable for photo). Main, Schick and Frame provide maize and rice services. Luth provides soybean service.

The Plant Transformation Facility at Iowa State is a resource valued and patronized by academic and industry researchers around the world. Research laboratories from Europe, North and South America, and Australia send DNA to Ames to be delivered into plant genomes. It is heavily used by teams working out scientific challenges that range from basic molecular details to crop trait improvements.

Many Iowa State scientists have moved up the "-omics" ladder from the genome, through the transcriptome, to the proteome.

The W. M. Keck Metabolomics Research Laboratory at Iowa State serves as the base for development of a major initiative to broaden our presence and take leadership in the emerging science of systems biology (a discipline that integrates vast sums of information about the action of genes, proteins and metabolites).

Genomic technologies have created a revolution in plant sciences. Iowa State scientists have been leaders in that revolution due, in part, to the availability of cutting-edge instrumentation to carry out their research.

The goal of the Institute's research initiatives is to enhance the value of Iowa crops. During the past two years, the value of Iowa crops has been greatly enhanced. The price of corn has more than doubled and price of beans are "in the teens."

Dr. William D. Beavis, Interim Director, Plant Sciences Institute
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