Brachypodium distachyon (brachy) has emerged as a cornerstone for research pertaining to key energy and food crops as well as biomass processing. Work in these areas is a point of interest in no less than twelve labs at UMass Amherst. This ensemble of laboratories comprises our Brachy Consortium, where we collaborate to advance plant and microbial science.
We have several research themes and participating faculty to provide opportunities to conduct research using brachy as a model system.
Graduate students from eight UMass life sciences graduate programs presented their research at The Second Annual Life Sciences Graduate Research Symposium. The 2012 Best Talk Award went to Pubudu Handakumbura, who presented a talk titled, "BdMYB48 directly controls the accumulation of biomass in the model grass Brachypodium distachyon."
In many areas of the life sciences, genomics is a key tool used to address important questions in biology and agriculture scientists are leading the way. The annual Plant & Animal Genome Conference is the largest Ag-Genomics meeting in the world with four UMass Brachypodium Consortium investigators presenting there this winter. At the Brachypodium Genomics workshop, Dr. Elsbeth Walker will tell of progress in understanding the uptake and transport of an important nutrient, iron. Dr. Sam Hazen will present results on the study of growth and biofuel feedstock quality in Brachypodium at the Bioenergy Grass Genomics workshop. Offering incite in the exciting area of meta-genomics, Dr. Jeff Blanchard will discuss global warming and forest soil microbiomes as part of the Ecological Genomics workshop. A leading investigator of Brachypodium population genetics, Dr. Ana Caicedo, will enlighten the Weedy and Invasive Plant Genomics workshop on the evolution of weeds.
Brachypodium distachyon (brachy) has emerged as a cornerstone for research pertaining to key energy and food crops as well as biomass processing. Work in these areas is a point of interest in no less than twelve labs at UMass Amherst. This ensemble of laboratories comprises our Brachy Consortium, where we collaborate to advance plant and microbial science.
