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School of Biosciences, Division of
Plant and Crop Sciences
   
   
  

Centres and Institutes

University of Nottingham in Malaysia
 

School of Biosciences in Malaysia

Academic staff in the Plant and Crop Sciences Division work closely with colleagues in the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham's campus in Malaysia, who have a variety of research interests centred around  tropical crops, such as oil palm.  Other research projects centre on tropical fruits, plant pathology and post-harvest physiology and genetic improvement of tropical crops.  

 

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Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre (NASC)

The Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre (NASC) is one of two world stock centres which provides seeds and genomic and information resources of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to the International Arabidopsis Genome Programme and the wider research community.

It was established in April 1991 as part of the Plant Molecular Biology initiative of the Agricultural and Food Research Council. It is based in the Plant Sciences Division in the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington campus. The centre is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the EU and the University of Nottingham.

The Stock Centre is managed by Sean May and the Centre's activities are coordinated with those of the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Centre (ABRC) based at Ohio State university, USA and managed by Randy Scholl. This facilitates a unified and efficient service for the research community.

The Stock Centres have a distribution agreement in that NASC distributes to Europe and ABRC distributes to North America. Laboratories in other areas may establish their primary affiliation to either centre.

 

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Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant Biotechnology R&D Center

Plant scientists at Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University (SJTU) and the University of Nottingham have established a special plant biotechnology center - Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant Biotechnology R&D Center - to facilitate closer collaboration and progress in plant biotechnology.

The aims of the Center are:

Research basic issues of plant and plant-related science that are too long-term, multidisciplinary, and high risk to be funded by a single investigator grant.
Develop innovative education and outreach programmes for groups currently underrepresented in science.
Establish an interactive network with private industry and public institutions worldwide to facilitate rapid commercialization of new products and technologies.

The goals of the Center are: 

Molecular cloning of functional genes from wild plant resources. To fully explore wild plant resources in China and to combine Fudan, SJTU and Nottingham's experience in gene cloning. This work will result in the patenting of functional genes and their products.
To use plants as bioreactors to produce pharmaceutical products or functional foods with enhanced health benefits.
Molecular farming for Chinese traditional medicine. To use plant biotechnology techniques to preserve precious and endangered Chinese medicinal plant species. To use cellular and molecular techniques such as multiploidisation and engineering secondary metabolic pathways to improve the yield and quality of Chinese medicine.
Engineering crops for improved quality and quantity such as enhanced insect and disease resistance and improving nutritional quality.
Biosafety and field assessment of GMO.
Fundamental research in plant breeding, genetics and biotechnology.
To promote joint application for international funds such as EU funds.
Mutual training and exchanges for research students and staff.

Composition Of The Center

Director: Prof. Kexuan Tang, Fudan University
Vice Director: Prof. Run Cai, SJTU
Vice Director: appointee of Vice Chancellor, Nottingham University
The Secretary: Ms. Xiaofen Sun, Fudan University

Three sub-centers will be set up:
Fudan Sub-center, coordinator Professor Kexuan Tang
SJTU Sub-center, coordinator Professor Run Cai
Nottingham Sub-center, coordinator Professor Sir Colin Campbell

 

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Centre for Plant Integrative Biology

Several members of the Plant and Crop Sciences Divsion are closely connected with the Centre for Plant Integrative Biolgy (CPIB) at the University of Nottingham, which brings together biologists, engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists to address plant science questions. Using a systems biology approach, experimentalists and modellers work together to produce mathematical and computational models, and generate biological data to validate and refine those models.

 

Division of Plant and Crop Sciences

University of Nottingham
Sutton Bonington Campus
Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 5RD

telephone: +44 (0) 115 951 6327
email: plantandcrop-enquiries@nottingham.ac.uk