How do we feed a growing population and engineer crops that are resilient to climate change? How do we increase crop yields and fight crop diseases and pests while preserving our soils and water sources? The rapid advance of gene editing and other technologies has provided a new tool kit to address these questions and more, and they have already made an impact at a global scale, just at the moment when global-scale solutions are needed most. Brian Staskawicz (UC Berkeley) and Pam Ronald (UC Davis) discuss the latest advances in using genome editing and other genetic technologies to promote sustainable agriculture at scale, both promises and potential pitfalls, and how we move from lab to field safely and equitably.

Join professor Britt Glaunsinger and postdoc Cara Brook in a Berkeley Conversation webinar on lethal viruses, pathogen transfers to humans, and more.

Ana M. Alvarez serves as the Deputy General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park District, the largest local park agency in the United States. Ana’s professional accomplishments demonstrate a strong acumen for proactive and meaningful civic engagement, community building based on public trust and sustainability planning based on science, which she believes are paramount for the vibrancy of healthy communities. 

At a time when humanity’s demands on the natural world have never been greater, Dr. M. Sanjayan’s keynote address highlights nature’s essential role in creating a livable future for people everywhere.