Sponsor Highlight

Since 2018, the IWGSC and Daicel Arbor Biosciences have had a fruitful partnership that led to the release of several tools for crop breeding and genomics based on the Chinese Spring wheat genome reference sequence generated by the IWGSC (IWGSC RefSeq) – including the myBaits® Expert Wheat Exome and a capture panel for promoters and other regulatory elements. Daicel Arbor Biosciences has been a sponsor of the IWGSC since 2020. We are very grateful for their continuous support and are pleased to count this innovative company as our sponsor.

INRAE, the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment, has been supporting the IWGSC since its inception. In particular, teams from INRAE’s Plant Biology and Breeding (PBB) division have played an active role in all IWGSC projects over the past decades. The IWGSC is extremely grateful for INRAE continuous support and for the leadership and expertise of members of the PBB division.

RAGT has supported the IWGSC since 2009. We are very grateful for their continuous support and are pleased to count this farmer-founded, innovative seed company as our sponsor. RAGT has been a strong voice for breeders within the IWGSC and for ensuring that the genomic resources we develop are immediately translatable to wheat breeding programs. It has been very important for the IWGSC to have companies, such as RAGT, involved in designing our goals, objectives, and strategies.

BASF has been supporting the IWGSC since 2019 and we are proud to count this innovative company as our sponsor. The IWGSC has been working with the BASF (and predecessor company) team in Ghent, Belgium, since 2011. They have played a critical role as leaders and collaborators in all the consortium’s activities which culminated in the publication of the high-quality, reference genome sequence of bread wheat in Science in 2018. Since then, the BASF team has been involved, as part of the Coordinating Committee, in shaping and helping move forward with the IWGSC Phase II activities.

Syngenta, a leader in plant breeding and seed production, has been supporting the IWGSC since 2011. We are very grateful for their continuous support and are proud to count this innovative plant breeding company as our sponsor. Since we first began partnering with Syngenta, their scientists have provided critical advice and suggestions for ensuring that the genomic tools the IWGSC develops will be those which industry needs to accelerate crop improvement. Because of their strong support, we were able to stand firm in our quest to provide a high quality reference sequence of bread wheat. This partnership has also meant that Syngenta is better prepared to take advantage of the tools and resources that we develop. The public-private partnership and collaboration has been the foundation for the success of the Consortium.

The Kansas Wheat Commission is a founding member of the IWGSC and has been a continuous supporter of the consortium since the beginning. Back in November 2004, Kellye Eversole was hired by the Kansas Wheat Commission and Kansas State University to set up a consortium to generate genomics tools for wheat research, which led to the creation of the IWGSC in January 2005. Since then, the IWGSC has been fortunate to always receive support from the Kansas Wheat Commission. This continuous support over the years has been a reminder to funding agencies and the scientific community that the goal of wheat genomics is to enable wheat improvement for growers and consumers.

Florimond Desprez, a family-owned plant breeding company founded in 1830 and located in northern France has been supporting the IWGSC since 2011. The IWGSC is extremely grateful for its continuous support.