Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) Areas of research: Agrigenomics, plant and farm animal biology, genetics and genomics. Location: Barcelona. Website: www.cragenomica.es; Contact: human.resources@cragenomica.es
The Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) is an independent research institution devoted to leading-edge research in plant and farm animal biology, genetics and genomics, with an emphasis in the molecular basis of genetic characters of interest in plants and farm animals and in the applications of molecular approaches for breeding of species important for agriculture and food production. CRAG brings together basic research groups in plant development, physiology, metabolism and genetics; groups in bioinformatics and genomics working on plants and animals; and applied projects developed together with Agbio, Biotech, and Breeding companies. Currently, CRAG hosts 23 research groups, approximately 60 PhD candidates and 30 postdocs coming from more than 20 different countries. CRAG research groups are organized into four scientifically-defined research programmes: • Plant Development and Signal Transduction • Plant Responses to Stress • Plant Metabolism and Metabolic Engineering • Plant and Animal Genomics CRAG facilities, inaugurated in 2011 at the campus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), comprise an ample and well-equipped building designed for modern plant biology and genomics research. CRAG hosts several core units or platforms that are tailored to the needs of its different Research Programmes and scientific goals. The facilities include Genomics and NGS, Genotyping, Confocal Microscopy and Bioinformatics. CRAG is also equipped with greenhouses and controlled environmental chambers for the production and growth of transgenic plants and in vitro plant cell cultures. Facilities are operated by highly-trained technical staff and are available to all personnel at CRAG as well as to the Industry and other stakeholders. CRAG develops leading-edge research in its areas of expertise that is regularly published in premier research journals. Some of these publications include articles in high-profile general and biology journals (Science, Cell, PNAS, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Cell Reports…) and in the best plant-specific journals (Plant Cell, Plant
24 I. Life Sciences
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Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG)
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