Delfina Barabaschi is a researcher at the Research Centre for Genomics and Bioinformatics (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics – CREA), in Fiorenzuola d’Arda, Italy

Delfina’s research focuses on the exploitation of biodiversity in cereals through genetic and genomic analysis, coupled with detailed phenotyping, to identify useful genes for wheat breeding.

Delfina is a member of the Coordinating Committee and has been involved with the IWGSC since 2008 when she worked on the physical mapping of chromosome 5A.

Read her interview here .

27 April 2021 - IWGSC RefSeq v2.1 Assembly and Annotation now freely available at URGI

Version 2.1 of the reference sequence of bread wheat, IWGSC RefSeq v2.1, and IWGSC Annotation v2.1 are now available at the IWGSC data repository hosted by URGI-INRAE

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Syngenta , a world-leading plant science company committed to promoting sustainable agriculture through innovation research and technology, has been supporting the IWGSC since 2011.

We 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.

Read the interview with Jan Gielen , Syngenta representative in the IWGSC Coordinating Committee.

27 May 2021 - The intersection of genomics and wheat breeding for developing superior cultivars and hybrids

Presented by Stephen Baenziger (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA)

17 June 2021 - Identification of the long sought-after Ph2 gene, a step towards the control of homoeologous recombination in wheat

Presented by Heïdi Serra, CNRS, France

In January 2020, at the Plant and Animal Genome Conference in San Diego (United States), the IWGSC presented an Outstanding Leadership Award to Vijay Tiwari

Harriet Benbow, postdoctoral research scientist at University College Dublin (Ireland), was awarded an IWGSC Early Career Award and a travel stipend to allowed her to travel to the Plant and Animal Genome Conference conference 2020 and present a talk during the IWGSC main workshop .

Read her profile and interview here

07 April 2021 - Illumina joins the IWGSC

The IWGSC is pleased to announce that Illumina has joined the organization as a sponsoring partner.

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On 17 August 2018, the IWGSC published in the international journal Science a detailed description and an analysis of the reference sequence of the bread wheat genome, the world’s most widely cultivated crop.

This work will pave the way for the production of wheat varieties better adapted to climate challenges, with higher yields, enhanced nutritional quality and improved sustainability.

The research article – authored by more than 200 scientists from 73 research institutions in 20 countries – presents the DNA sequence of the bread wheat variety Chinese Spring ordered along the 21 wheat chromosomes. It is the highest quality genome sequence produced to date for wheat.

Read the IWGSC press release and the information package about the publication (Q&A, quotes, media kit, and more).

Watch this explainer video and this interview video to learn more about the IWGSC reference sequence of bread wheat.