The Danish and global plant production is facing major challenges. Plant production is central in the on-going green transition made necessary by climate changes, because it can deliver solutions to it, but also because crop productivity is highly affected by climate changes. In addition, rapid population growth requires new solutions to secure sufficient amounts of food and, in particular, plant-based food. There are also strong political goals that future plant production can take place with minimal applications of pesticides and fertilizers. In effect, plant production is developing into a far more dynamic and demanding scenario in the food-, feed-, non-food-, and bioenergy area.  Plant biotechnology plays a major role in meeting the demands created by this scenario through knowledge on plant genomes, advanced molecular breeding, genome editing and development of genetic modified organisms (GMO).

The course intends to provide the students with experience in advanced molecular techniques used in modern plant science and biotechnology through an intensive two-week course.

Objectives of the course:

The course will cover state of the art techniques and methods within plant biotechnology research, including the genetic basis of several important plant properties and the use of molecular genetics. The focus will be on how candidate genes for crop improvements can be identified, analyzed, and utilized. 

Through the course, the student will gain an understanding of the practical use of and theory behind the newest techniques within the field of plant science and will be able to employ that knowledge to solve problems within agricultural plant production through biotechnological approaches.

The course will be relevant for students who wish a practical introduction to the newest techniques and theory within plant science and biotechnology, and who wish to understand the potentials of these techniques in plant production.