Cassie J. Edgar to Participate in an Invitation Only Workshop Hosted by the National Science FoundationJuly 26, 2021

Cassie J. Edgar, Patent Attorney and Chair of the MVS Regulatory Practice Group, will be participating in an invitation only workshop titled “Feeding the Planet Sustainably” July 28-29, 2021 hosted by the National Science Foundation. Participants in computation and instrumentation, molecular biology, systems and physiology, plant-microbe interactions, biotechnology, genomics/genetics, synthetic biology, and predictive agriculture have been identified by the NSF and are invited based on their research and expertise. Those attending will play a critical role in designing a future of agriculture that is productive and resilient to environmental change. Commitment is rewarded by the ability to tangibly contribute to the future health, economic security, and wellbeing of our nation and our world.

Four key themes will be considered at the workshop:

1. The significant role of biotechnology applications in making progress, including synthetic biology associated with genome editing to expand the repertoire and genetic diversity of crop plants. By accessing while also preserving biodiversity, new crop systems can be endowed with new traits for a sustainable, resilient agriculture.
2. Advances in engineering as essential to future design, including new crop systems, robotics, and sensors for plants, soils and local environments. Coupled with biotechnology breakthroughs, plants can be designed to adapt to environmental change.
3. Computational approaches will leverage data-rich outcomes of biotech and engineering advances. Designing plant improvement pathways will demand sophisticated methods based on AI systems and machine learning approaches, along with modeling outcomes. Managing and integrating these data sets will be central to solving challenges of the new agriculture.
4. A sophisticated diverse workforce will be essential; breakthroughs will rely on educating and training a bioeoconomy-based workforce in new tools and technologies. Training across sectors and disciplines will broaden impact so advances in agriculture will align with societal needs.

A copy of the agenda can be found here: Feeding the Planet Sustainably