Berkeley, California, USA
March 18, 2025
A team of eleven IGI scientists led by IGI Executive Director Brad Ringeisen travelled to New Delhi, India, in early February 2025 to hold CRISPR training workshops for Indian plant biologists. The workshop dubbed “International Training on Genome Editing in Plants — Advanced Tools and Techniques” was hosted at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), with funding support from the Gates Foundation.
Through ICAR, the government of India is investing in CRISPR-based genome editing of crops and capacity building of researchers to enhance crop climate resilience and increase crop production, ensuring food security in the country as the climate warms. Notably, India was among the countries that were early in developing guidelines for safety assessment of genome-edited plants, making provision for exemption of certain genome-edited plants, free of foreign DNA, to have a fast-track path for approval.
IGI’s Dinesh Kumar discussing the applications of CRISPR in crop plants.
IGI Investigator and 2024 Wolf Prize Winner Venkatesan Sundaresan.
54 plant biotechnology researchers participated in the IGI training workshops. One was geared for early career scientists starting genome editing projects in their labs and the other for graduate students from 22 different institutes across the country.
The workshops included a mix of classroom lectures, dry-lab practical sessions, and hands-on laboratory experiments. The course entailed both fundamental concepts of CRISPR gene editing and recent advances in the technology including base and prime editing, CRISPRi and CRISPR-Act for epigenome modification, use of AI in Cas protein design, and a panel session discussing genome editing regulation, future technologies, intellectual property rights and “freedom to operate.”
In July 2024, IGI scientists held a similar CRISPR genome editing training for scientists at the National Institute of Plant Genomics in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Indian Department of Biotechnology and Gates Foundation funding. 32 Plant Biotechnology PhD students drawn from different research institutions across India participated in the training on CRISPR genome editing in a similar mix of practical hands-on laboratory and classroom lecture sessions.
IGI’s Carlotta Ronda addressing the trainees during the valedictory session on 14th February
Ultimately, the goal is to empower scientists from across India to use CRISPR to edit locally important crops like rice, chickpea, and mustard (Brassica), a key source of cooking oil, for improved nutrition, climate resilience, and agronomics. Over the past few years, IGI researchers have also taught CRISPR training courses to plant scientists from across Africa, held a workshop on CRISPR regulatory capacity building for biosafety regulators from around the world, and met with regulators from the Philippines and Thailand to help build regulatory capacity and shepherd responsible use of CRISPR tools in agriculture. Learn more about IGI’s Public Impact work here.
The IGI team visiting to ICAR-IARI’s Plant Phenotyping Center in February 2025.
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