URBANA, Ill. — The University of Illinois announced recently that Monsanto Company pledged a $250,000 grant to be put towards an initiative between the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) to help establish an Agricultural Communications Program endowed chair that will strengthen communications for agricultural and rural development.

The James F. Evans Endowed Chair in Agricultural Communications will provide leadership for the joint program between the College of ACES and the College of Media by serving current and future agricultural communicators through courses, service initiatives, research, and relationship building. Monsanto and the U of I have a long history of collaboration on efforts to advance learning and research in agriculture. Most recently, Monsanto funded eight Monsanto Fellows in Plant Breeding representing support of $500,000.

Purdue accepts grant to study epigenetics

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University scientists will use a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to develop technologies for altering the epigenetic marks in genomes that turn genes on and off, this may lead to advances in treating genetic conditions.

The team, led by Joseph Irudayaraj, a professor of agricultural and biological engineering and the project’s principal investigator, will also receive up to $750,000 from members’ respective departments and colleges, as well as Purdue’s Bindley Bioscience Center, the Purdue Center for Cancer Research and the Birck Nanotechnology Center, in the form of matching grants. The total $1.7 million funding will cover three years of work.

“This is another great example of collaborative, interdisciplinary research at Purdue that is pushing back the boundaries of an emerging area of the life sciences with potential applications in fields as diverse as medicine and agriculture,” said Jay Akridge, Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture. “Epi” means above in Greek. Irudayaraj said that epigenetics implies the study of changes - chemical modifications - on top of the genome that signal genes to turn on or off without altering the DNA sequence.

If we can alter the epigenetic modifications, we will have the ability to control the expression of these genes,” he said. “We think this is the next generation of genomics.”

For more information, visit www.wmkeck.org