Pennsylvania Ag Connection - Trace Genomics Joins International Phytobiomes Alliance

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Trace Genomics Joins International Phytobiomes Alliance
Pennsylvania Ag Connection - 06/30/2022

The International Alliance for Phytobiomes Research announced that Trace Genomics has joined the organization as a sponsoring partner. The Phytobiomes Alliance is an international, nonprofit consortium of academic institutions, private companies, and government agencies. The Alliance facilitates and coordinates international efforts toward expanding phytobiomes research (i.e., the complex system of a plant in a specific biome and the geophysical and biological components interacting with that biome) to accelerate the sustainable production of food, feed, and fiber for food security.

"Trace Genomics has the most comprehensive and complete soil engine in the world to advance sustainable farming. The Trace Environmental Soil System Engine (TESSTM) digitizes and decodes the living soil at scale-speed-cost-accuracy using metagenomics, advanced science, and machine learning. We look forward to collaborating with the Phytobiomes Alliance community to further soil health, advance product discovery & development, and inform optimal product placement," said Poornima Parameswaran, Trace Genomics co-founder and president.

Prasanna Kankanala, soil sciences manager at Trace Genomics, will be joining the Alliance Coordinating Committee. This Committee identifies research, resource and technology gaps, establishes priorities, and develops strategic plans to achieve Alliance goals.

"The vision of the Phytobiomes Alliance is to empower growers with the knowledge to determine the best management practices for their farms, pastures, grasslands, and forests," said Kellye Eversole, the Alliance Executive Director. "We are very excited about having the involvement of Trace Genomics in the Phytobiomes Alliance as they are leading the way in helping growers know which biologicals are right for them. Their vision in diagnostics, metagenomics, and biological product placement aligns directly with ours and we welcome their support and engagement."

Over the next decades, understanding entire systems of phytobiomes will be critical to ensuring sustainable global food security in the context of population growth, climate change, the necessity to preserve biodiversity and natural resources, and maintain or enhance grower and farmer profitability. The Phytobiomes Alliance is working on addressing these challenges by establishing a foundation of knowledge on how phytobiome components interact and affect each other.

Later this year, worldwide scientists from the public and private sector and agricultural stakeholders will gather in Denver, Colo., from Sept. 13 to 15 for the International Phytobiomes Conference -- an event organized by the Phytobiomes Alliance -- to present their research, discuss, and share their expertise to collectively advance knowledge in the field of phytobiome science. Prasanna Kankanala will be presenting a talk titled "Introducing TESS -- A metagenomics solution for sustainable agriculture".

The Phytobiomes Alliance is an international, nonprofit alliance of industry, academic, and governmental partners created in 2016. The goal of the Alliance is to understand, predict and control emergent phenotypes for sustainable production of food, feed and fiber on any given farm. The Phytobiomes Alliance is sponsored by Eversole Associates, INRAE, Valent BioSciences, Biovante, Colorado State University, IRD, Joyn Bio, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NewLeaf Symbiotics, Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, Pivot Bio, Trace Genomics, the Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research,

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