Project Partners
University of the Philippines Los Baños
UPLB is the primary beneficiary of the project, and the project milestones align well with UPLB's needs to further advance its capabilities in omics and bioinformatics research. The PhD and MS scholars engaged in the project are either UPLB faculty and research staff, or UPLB alumni, and will return to the university once their graduate studies are completed, to conduct research in the newly constructed AGRC.
As the premiere national university for agriculture, UPLB is at the forefront of advanced research in agriculture and has been adopting advanced molecular biology, biotechnology, and omics technologies for numerous research projects. Multiple institutes from two colleges, as well as research center(s) are scientific partners in the AGRC project, including:
Institute of Biological Science - College of Arts and Science
Institute of Computer Science - College of Arts and Science
Institute of Crop Science - College of Agriculture and Food Science
IRRI
IRRI is assigned the role of Project Management Consultancy for the KOICA-UPLB-IRRI capacity building project. For this project, IRRI has established advanced agricultural science post-graduate scholarship (PhD in renowned South Korean universities and MS at UPLB) and internship programs and provides guidance on applying genomics and bioinformatics tools in breeding, while also supervising Filipino researchers from UPLB and affiliated Higher Education Institutions and research centers to conduct cutting-edge research in its facilities.
IRRI has a long history of research in omics (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) and bioinformatics, building a substantial body of work in these fields. IRRI is part of the core team of the 3,000 Rice Genomes project , providing over 2,500 rice accessions from the International Rice Genebank collection for sequencing, co-authored the main scientific paper of the project (published in Nature), and built the authoritative bioinformatics portal (SNP-Seek for Rice) that houses the genome variants data, allele mining tools, and bioinformatics applications, allowing rice researchers to access, analyse, and utilise the 3kRG dataset for their own respective studies. Aside from omics and bioinformatics, IRRI provides strengths through its extensive technical expertise and experience on agricultural research and development.
With IRRI's status as an international research organization with a wide network of Philippine research institutions and international advanced research institutions, its location within the UPLB campus, and long history of cooperation and collaboration with the university (as well as other Philippine universities and research institutions both public and private), it is in a unique position to be an effective partner in the project as the implementing agency.
Korean International Cooperation Agency - Philippines
The government of South Korea, represented by KOICA Philippines, is funding the first research and development project on agriculture with UPLB, the premiere national university for agriculture. The project promises a strengthened science and technology adaptation in agriculture in the Philippines. More information about KOICA Philippines are available from the online resources below:
KOICA Philippines Facebook page