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Creating Plants to Feed a Climate-Changing World Produced in partnership with
80 scientists at Cibus are fortifying the world’s most prominent food crops, using the plant’s own cell biology — a triumph in sustainability By Robert Yehling
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When Dr. Noel Sauer decided to forego a career in academic research to jump into the front lines of plant biology, she had no idea she’d be literally helping to feed the world amidst a rapidly changing world. Yet, the Vice President of Research at Cibus finds herself in exactly that position. Produced in partnership with
“I was divided between doing academic research and getting into biotech, but I chose biotech because you can take the science you learned and quickly apply it to make everything better — people, the environment,” she said. “It became my passion to try to make things better. Different experiences along the way helped navigate me in the right direction. I didn’t box myself in, but followed my heart to what excited me. Which is what I’m doing today.”
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What Dr. Sauer is doing today is leading a team of 80 scientists to strengthen the natural cell biologies of the most important food crops in the world — canola, rice, corn, flax, soybeans, wheat and potatoes. By using an innovative process she calls “making DNA spelling changes,” she and the Cibus team are working with the plants’ stem cells to create stronger, hardier and more adaptable varieties to feed a growing population (estimated by the UN to be 10 billion by 2050) in an increasingly harsh environment. Best of all? This nontransgenic process does not introduce GMOs or other foreign substances into the native DNA.
to shifting weather patterns. Cibus wants to be part of that solution by developing plants that can thrive and provide higher yields despite these changes.
bringing into crops enable the plants to
“Climate change is a defining issue of our time,” Dr. Sauer said. “For agriculture, that means understanding how plants can adapt
“With climate change, the key issue is drought tolerance, as things get hotter and drier. The traits we’re developing and
plants that are both disease resistant and
SUSTAINABILITY TODAY | SPRING 2020
grow in drier conditions, and are also more adaptable in non-familiar regions, with greater water use efficiencies. We want drought tolerant, so we put in traits the plant needs to flourish in that changing
