Marcus Wallenbergpriset

Meet our speaker: Harry Wu At the 2025 MWP Symposium, Harry Wu, will give a presentation titled: Genomic Breeding in the Nordics Conifers. Key message: Genomic selection works, but more detailed studies on cross-generation and within-family selection are needed for commercial application. Bio: Quantitative Genetics and Breeding Strategy. Conifer Genomics and Genomic Breeding. 1993, Ph.D. University of Alberta, Canada. 1996-2015, Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Plant Industry, Australia.  2010-current, Faculty Professor of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, and Director of Industry Research School of Forest Biotechnology and Breeding, Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences We welcome you to participate online in the 2025 MWP Symposium. Read more and register here: https://lnkd.in/eDdQ7hFe Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) #marcuswallenbergprize #forestbasedresearch

Meet our speaker: Sanushka Naidoo At the 2025 MWP Symposium, Sanushka Naidoo, will give a presentation titled: Harnessing the power of genomics to enhance tree resistance. Bio: Professor Sanushka Naidoo is a passionate plant molecular geneticist based at the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) at the University of Pretoria. Her work explores how trees like Eucalyptus and Pine defend themselves against pests and diseases, using cutting-edge tools like genomics, precision phenotyping and functional gene testing. She leads a dynamic research team focused on building healthier, more resilient forests. Beyond the lab, she’s a dedicated mentor and a strong voice for women in science.  We welcome you to participate online in the 2025 MWP Symposium. Read more and register here: https://lnkd.in/eDdQ7hFe University of Pretoria #marcuswallenbergprize #forestbasedresearch

Meet our speaker: Chung-Jui Tsai At the 2025 MWP Symposium, Chung-Jui Tsai, will give a presentation titled: Poplar genome engineering for tomorrow’s bioeconomy. Key message: Precision genome editing in poplar can accelerate tree improvement to meet the challenges of a changing climate and support the emerging bioeconomy. Bio: Chung-Jui (CJ) Tsai is the W.N. “Hanks” Haynes Professor in Forest Biotechnology and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar at the University of Georgia. She is a Fellow of AAAS and IAWS, and a 2024 recipient of the IUFRO Scientific Award for her pioneering contributions to tree genomics and biotechnology. We welcome you to participate online in the 2025 MWP Symposium. Read more and register here: https://lnkd.in/eDdQ7hFe The University of Georgia #marcuswallenbergprize #forestbasedresearch Photo credit: news.uga.edu

Meet our speaker: Dario Grattapaglia At the 2025 MWP Symposium, Dario Grattapaglia, will give a presentation titled: Genomics and quantitative genetics converge to predict complex traits in industrial Eucalyptus breeding of future forests. Key messages: Tree growth, stem form, wood properties and drought tolerance, are quantitative traits controlled by thousands of "genes", each one with a very small contribution and strong interaction with the environment. The future of sustainable and productive forests will require an increased understanding of the complex relationship between these phenotypic traits and genomic variation. The science of genomic prediction is decoding this relationship by creating mathematical models that equally allow predicting the disease risk of a human or the genetic merit of a tree with surprising accuracy using thousands of genetic variants as input, although not explicitly revealing the role of these variants in the underlying biochemical mechanisms. Characterizing these mechanisms constitutes a formidable task which will take much longer to complete, if ever, in line with the complexity and dynamics of the evolutionary process that created them. Bio: Forest engineer, Ph.D. in Genetics and Forestry (NCSU), research scientist (EMBRAPA) and adjunct professor (University of Brasília and North Carolina State University). His interest is focused on applying genomics to industrial tree breeding and the conservation genetics of natural populations of forest trees. He pioneered the introduction and implementation of genomic selection in Eucalyptus working closely with several forest-based companies in Brazil and abroad. Led the Genolyptus network and was co-PI of the Eucalyptus Genome Sequencing Project. Published over 160 peer-reviewed articles and has advised numerous graduate students. He was elected fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences in 2012 and since 2019 has been on the Stanford/Elsevier list of the 100,000 most influential scientists. We welcome you to participate online in the 2025 MWP Symposium. Read more and register here: https://lnkd.in/eDdQ7hFe Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia North Carolina State University Universidade de Brasília #marcuswallenbergprice #forestbasedresearch Photo credit: agroemdia.com.br

Meet our speaker: Steve Strauss At the 2025 MWP Symposium, Steve Strauss, will give a presentation titled: Forest biotechnologies: Four+ decades of rapid change. Key message: Recent decades have seen extraordinary growth of gene, genome, and breeding technologies – but our capability for application of recombinant methods such as gene insertion and gene editing—and society’s ability to effectively govern them—has lagged.   Bio: Dr. Strauss is a University Distinguished Professor at Oregon State University specializing in tree biotechnology. His laboratory has worked on a wide variety of biotechnologies over his 40 year career, including phylogenetic histories of conifers, genome analysis, genetic containment, and development of genetic transformation and gene editing methods. He has run a university-industry consortium in application of transgenic biotechnologies for more than 30 years, and been active in outreach to the public and scientific communities about ecological and social concerns, and the large market obstacles, that impede field research and commercial use of forest biotechnologies. We welcome you to participate online in the 2025 MWP Symposium. Read more and register here: https://lnkd.in/eDdQ7hFe College of Forestry at Oregon State University #marcuswallenbergprize #forestbasedresearch Photo credit: https://lnkd.in/dBiC3eZG

Meet our speaker: catherine bastien At the 2025 MWP Symposium, Catherine Bastien, will give a presentation titled: Transformative changes in poplar breeding thanks to genomic information. Key message: Access to information contained in genomes, particularly forest genomes, now enables scientists from different disciplines to decipher the potential of the plant world to adapt to environmental changes and respond to the various services expected by societies. Behind the first letters and words of the poplar sequences that Gérald Tuskan has shared with the scientific community lie thousands of past and future stories of life that are currently being written. We are grateful to him. Bio: Head of INRAE Department of Ecology and Biodiversity of forest, grassland and freshwater ecosystems, INRAE French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment. Quantitative geneticist by training, with a research career devoted to the genetic improvement of several forest species including poplars. Research activities focused on the exploitation of genomic information to combine improved accuracy and accelerated selection cycles while ensuring short- and long-term genetic diversity management. After contribution and coordination of several collaborative projects at European and international levels, at the scientific direction of one of the fourteen departements of INRAE   We welcome you to participate online in the 2025 MWP Symposium. Read more and register here: https://lnkd.in/eDdQ7hFe INRA French National Institute for Agricultural Research #marcuswallenbergprize #forestbasedresearch Photo credit: academie-agriculture.fr

Marcus Wallenberg Young Researchers’ Challenge 2025 We look forward to welcoming 28 young researchers, representing 19 universities or research institutes from eight countries to Stockholm in November! The abstracts from this year’s young researchers are now available on our webpage. These abstracts offer a glimpse into the innovative work within forest-based research. We invite you to read them at https://lnkd.in/dX3MBkQy #mwp #mwpyoungresearchers #forestbasedresearch

Meet our speaker: Jessica Polfjärd At the 2025 MWP Symposium, Jessica Polfjärd will give a presentation titled: “Regulatory Context – New Genomic Techniques: Driving Innovation and Competitiveness.” Key message: Research and innovation, including new genomic techniques, are essential to drive the green transition and strengthen Europe’s competitiveness. Bio: Jessica Polfjärd is a Swedish politician from the Moderate Party, serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019 and previously a Member of the Swedish Parliament since 2006. Polfjärd is Vice Coordinator in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and has led key negotiations on climate responsibility and securing access to critical raw materials for the green transition. Currently, Polfjärd is the Parliament’s lead negotiator on “Plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed”. We welcome you to participate online in the 2025 MWP Symposium. Read more and register here: https://lnkd.in/eDdQ7hFe Jessica Polfjärd Moderaterna #marcuswallenbergprize #forestbasedresearch

Invitation to Participate in the MWP Symposium 2025 We are pleased to announce that registration for online participation in the 2025 Marcus Wallenberg Prize Symposium is now open. The theme of this year’s symposium is From Tree Genomes to Future Forest. A distinguished selection of speakers will deliver presentations on forest genomics from scientific, regulatory, and business perspectives. The 2025 MWP Laureate, Dr. Gerald Tuskan, will give a keynote presentation at the symposium. Online participation is free of charge, and all registered participants will receive access to a recording of the symposium after the event. For more information about the program and to register, please go to https://lnkd.in/eDdQ7hFe We warmly welcome your participation!

Young Researchers’ Challenge 2025 We are delighted to announce that this year’s young researchers have been selected!  We look forward to welcoming 30 young researchers, representing 15 universities or research institutes from nine countries to Stockholm in November! #mwp #mwpyoungresearchers #forestbasedresearch