February 13, 2020
The Arequipa Nexus Institute welcomes Prof. Sandro Condori to Purdue, a visiting scholar from the Universidad Nacional of Saint Augustin de Arequipa (UNSA) in Peru! Condori is collaborating with Purdue Agronomy and Horticulture faculty and Nexus affiliated, Drs. Cankui Zhang, Mohsen Mohammadi and Jian-Kang Zhu from the “Nexus Crops CRISPR and Phenomics: Individual and Institutional Capacity Building for Crop Science at Universidad Nacional de San Agustin (UNSA)” project.
The CRISPR project seeks to improve crops using CRISPR genetic engineering as a part of the 21 research initiatives from the Arequipa-Nexus Institute in collaboration with investigators from UNSA. The team developed protocols to apply CRISPR in wheat, quinoa, and garlic crops. This technology uses a CRISPR sequence of DNA and its associated protein to edit the base pairs of a gene, genetically enhancing the crop to allow for traits that are more favourable for consumers, the environment, and growers in Peru.
Additionally, the team uses phenomics, or the study of phenotypes, to better understand local crop responses to environmental stresses.
Lori Hoagland
Professor, Purdue University
Horticulture And Landscape Architecture
Nexus Institute Co-Director
E-mail: c4e-nexus@purdue.edu
Walter Daniel Leon-Salas
Associate Professor, Purdue University
Purdue Polytechnic Institute
Nexus Institute Co-Director
E-mail: c4e-nexus@purdue.edu
Dennis Macedo
Associate Professor, UNSA
Agronomy
Nexus Institute Co-Director
E-mail: dmacedov@unsa.edu.pe