Lack of genetic diversity in U.S. soybean stock is a pressing issue as plant pathogens pose new threats to our second most important crop. Soybean accessions collected in Korea show large genetic diversity. These accessions offer unexplored potential for improving agronomic traits such as yield, seed traits, new alleles for resistance to disease and pests, or for mining useful genes through genomic research. Dr. Gary Stacey of the University of Missouri Columbia, together with Dr. Suk-ha Lee of Seoul National University, will organize a three-day workshop between U.S. and Korea researchers in Seoul to build on activities initiated through the International Consortium for Soybean Genomic Research and to strengthen information exchange and collaboration between U.S. and Korean scientists. The workshop will address key topics in soybean functional genomics and soybean genetics and breeding. NSF funds, from the Office of International Science& Engineering and the Plant Genome Venture Fund, will enable eight U.S. researchers from seven universities to travel to Korea to participate in this workshop. This group includes three females, one of whom is a senior Ph.D. student. The Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) will provide support for Korean participants.
