The Institute for Genomic Diversity
Targeting Cornell’s New Life Sciences Initiative for the Needs of the World’s Poor
The Institute for Genomic Diversity’s (IGD) mission is to develop, transfer, and provide technologies and educational resources to solve problems affecting the conservation of biodiversity towards global food security. The IGD integrates advances in research from Cornell’s New Life Sciences Initiative by addressing real-world problems that affect a significant number of people in the developing world. The IGD serves as a catalyst for linking Cornell faculty and students with international scientists working on the "front lines" of agricultural and conservation genetics and crop improvement.
From Africa to South America to Asia, the IGD extends Cornell’s land-grant mission around the world, helping to address complex agriculture, crop improvement, and conservation issues. Cornell scientists working hand-in-hand with farmers and scientists from host countries are studying and implementing a variety of techniques, focusing on cutting-edge plant breeding strategies integrated with comparative plant genomics.
The potential implications of this work are far reaching, not only in creating a sustainable environment and great self-sufficiency but also in ensuring a secure food supply, greater nutritional levels for young and old, and broader economic independence.
Training Scientists from Developing Nations
A primary objective of the IGD has been scientist training, particularly scientists from developing nations. Since its inception in 1998, the IGD has hosted over 100 investigators and students from more than 20 countries. These visits have ranged from informational tours to training visits of a couple of months to full graduate degree programs. Many of the scientists who have trained at the Institute now run active research programs in their home country and many continue to collaborate with the IGD and send new students to be trained.
Outreach Programs and the "Next Generation"
The IGD has recently begun supplementing this in-house training with an outreach approach, collaborating with the International Plant Genetics Resource Institute (IPGRI) to develop laboratory training modules. These modules include practical information about the various molecular biology techniques, costs, advantages and disadvantages, protocols, and photographs of the protocols being carried out in the laboratory. These modules will be freely available online this year, and will be the basis of hands-on workshops next year.
Equally as important as training our current scientists is training the younger students who will be our next generation of scientists. To keep pace with the needs of an ever-increasing populace faced with an unsustainable environment and food supply, we need to ensure that an adequate number of well-trained, highly motivated pool of young people are interested in becoming our scientists of the future.
In the past year, the IGD has formed new relationships with middle and high school age students and their teachers. Middle- and high-school students have come to the laboratory to learn techniques such as DNA extractions and learn about career opportunities genomics and related fields. Meeting the diverse array of scientists at the IGD (which always include both men and women, and people of various nationalities) shows these students that truly anyone can be a scientist, no matter gender, nationality or ethnic background. Learning scientific techniques in a hands-on inquiry manner teaches students more about the nature of scientific research than traditional lectures, and also how fun and interesting science can be! As the curriculum requirements for teachers continue to increase, the IGD has received requests for help in teaching laboratory skills.