Research Centre for New Genomic Techniques
The impetus for the establishment of the centre is the increasing use of new genomic techniques (NGT) not only in science but also in medicine and the breeding of new plant varieties or livestock breeds. The European Parliament is currently working towards authorising the use of NGT plants for food and feed production within the European Union. This means that a much greater use of NGT in industry is to be expected in the near future.
In view of the unlimited use of such organisms in food and feed production, a much more pronounced public interest in these techniques can be expected, with a particular focus on the possible consequences of the consumption of products containing NGT on the human body.
The centre will focus its work in three main areas:
- Development of NGT tools and methods for obtaining new varieties of NGT plants with particular emphasis on cereals, including selection methods for NGT plants, molecular characterisation of NGT genotypes, and ways to distinguish between NGT and GMO plants (biological sciences);
- NGT-related public education and monitoring of public attitudes towards the benefits and risks of NGT in food and feed production, including: identifying attitudes towards the use of NGT in nutrition, public awareness campaigns on the differences between NGT and GMOs, reducing anxiety arising from the use of new techniques in food production and identifying the factors causing this anxiety, studying the effects of NGT on purchasing and eating habits (psychology);
- Legislative issues related to the possibility of conducting research, including the deliberate release into the environment of NGT plants, the authorisation of seeds of NGT plant varieties, the legal protection of new varieties of NGT plants, and the identification of NGT plants and food obtained using them, including the identification of NGT crops, the distinction of NGT plants from GMOs, control of production and marketing of NGT food and feed (law).
Director of the Centre: Marek Marzec, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor (marek.marzec@us.edu.pl)