Ancient rice genomics & global food security
The Carlsberg Foundation's 'Semper Ardens' Research Project
In 2003, we discovered that DNA of past plant and animal communities can be retrieved from permafrost and cave sediments spanning 400,000 years. This finding gave birth to the field of ancient environmental DNA, that has since grown to encompass many different research topics, experimental methods and computational tools. Today, we are looking to apply the ancient environmental DNA approach to uncover the genetic basis of rice resilience to environmental stressors, a key question for addressing food security challenge in a changing world.