NRC-PBI; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Plant Biotechnology:
pbi-ibp.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

The NRC Plant Biotechnology Institute (NRC-PBI) is dedicated to plant and crop research.

Along with its role in research and development, NRC-PBI has also served as a catalyst for economic growth and development. Through close collaborative efforts with public sector organizations and industry, NRC-PBI has contributed to the emergence of Saskatoon as one of the foremost agricultural biotechnology clusters in North America. In 2004, NRC-PBI welcomed innovative new plant science companies to its Industry Partnership Facility, an incubator for small and medium-sized plant biotechnology companies to incubate a research program in Canada.

Some of the questions we're working to answer

1. How can we improve and develop plants that produce natural health products?
2. How can we identify seeds with superior agronomic traits?

NRC-PBI is a leader in the metabolic modification of oil seeds to increase oil content and to create specialty plant oils for new markets. Investigation of metabolic pathways has also led to a significant reduction in anti-nutritional compounds in common commercial crops. In 2002, NRC-PBI embarked on a program "Crops for Enhanced Human Health". This project aims to improve and develop plants that produce natural health products as well as to produce pharmaceutical products in plants through molecular farming technologies.

NRC-PBI also pursues research in various technologies including genomics and proteomics. Our genomics programs investigate canola seed genomics.

Research on canola seed composition will help identify seeds with higher levels of valuable oils, proteins, micro-nutrients or other novel compounds and those which consist of lower levels of anti-nutritional compounds. The project will also examine genes related to seed development with the goal of identifying seeds with superior agronomic traits.

NRC-PBI is also developing new plant regeneration technologies and plant transformation technologies in support of its breeding programs.

With the aim of improving agronomic traits for Canadian growers, NRC-PBI is investigating the mechanisms of drought tolerance and disease resistance, and developing novel approaches to improving fall seeding applications.

All our research programs are supported by state-of-the-art analytical services including DNA sequencing and synthesis, mass spectrometry and NMR imaging.