News & EventsNews
30/01/2023: HARNESSTOM Carotenoid and apocarotenoid research at the Gordon Conference in Ventura CA
The prestigious Gordon Conference on Carotenoids took place from January 8 to January 13 2023 at is traditional location in Ventura and was an excellent opportunity for HARNESSTOM researchers to present and discuss the latest advances in carotenoid and apocarotenoid research with other researchers reaching out to those from different fields including nutritionist and health specialists.
23/01/2023: HARNESSTOM and BREEDING VALUE: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN THEIR FAVORITE BERRY SPECIES
On 29-30 November 2022 Dr. Carlo Rosati, from ENEA (Italian Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), Trisaia Res. Center, visited Prof. Bruno Mezzetti’s lab at Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona.
Bruno Mezzetti is the Coordinator of UE Project BREEDINGVALUE, whose main goal is to develop new breeding strategies for resilient and high-quality berries. Carlo Rosati participates in HARNESSTOM, a sister UE project (same Horizon 2020 framework) aimed at improving tomato by means of different prebreeding programs. HARNESSTOM WP7 aims to develop pre-breeding lines with improved flavor and health-related compounds, while maintaining optimal agronomic performance.
14/12/2022: Tomato Farmers meet HARNESSTOM scientists in search for solution for the rugose virus
The Rugose Virus (short for the tomato brown rugose fruit virus, ToBRFV) is spreading quickly worldwide and is already causing large losses to tomato farmers in many countries including European countries. To be prepared for this emerging situation Joan Casals (FMA/UPC) leading scientist in participative breeding and citizen science activities in the HARNESSTOM and Antonio Granell coordinator of the project met with technical staff from Conca de la Tordera cooperative to discuss the current stage of research on the ToBRFV and the possible development of tomato varieties that are resistant to this virus, and possibilities for interaction.
02/12/2022: The Farmers association “Granada La Palma’s” approach to highly quality tomatoes
Granada la Palma will present their company “ideal tomato” at the upcoming HARNESSTOM Training Course. More info about the course can be found below. Presentations will be Youtube short clips, with English subtitles. Non-English speakers can take advantage of Youtube’s automated subtitle translation. Participants will be able to ask questions. Simultaneous translation of answers will be available in several languages.
02/12/2022: Alicia Foundation provides chefs’ vision for the ideal tomato in the upcoming HARNESSTOM training workshop
Alicia will participate in the upcoming HARNESSTOM training workshop on “find your ideal tomato” by providing the view of the chefs and highlighting those characteristics they expect find in a tomato that will be different depending on the particular elaboration in mind.
01/12/2022: Impact of Community Plant Variety Rights in the EU. EUIPO report data April 2022
A study carried out by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has analysed the impact of the Community Plant Variety Rights system on the European Union's economy and environment.
On 24 October 2022, the Council of the European Union reported on the approval of the terms of reference for the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), as well as the Cartagena Protocol and the Nagoya Protocol to be held from 7 to 19 December 2022 in Montreal.
02/11/2022: HARNESSTOM at the Gordon Conference on Carotenoids
The prestigious Gordon Conferences opens in January 2023 a new venue for presenting and discussing the latest advances in carotenoid and apocarotenoid, research and scientists from HARNESSTOM have been invited to participate and present their results. The meeting will take place in Ventura, CA from January 8th to 13th and will gather the leading scientists in the field including senior and young scientist in a relax atmosphere to invite interaction and open discussion on carotenoid new and unpublished research.
28/10/2022: HARNESSTOM meets the MEDFORUM community in Chania
The 4th Mediterranean Forum (Medforum) “Mediterranean Agriculture and Food Systems in a Time of Climate Change and Agrofood Crisis” for PhD students and young researchers is organized by CIHEAM Chania, under the aegis of the CIHEAM headquarters in Paris, and will be held on December 4th – 7th 2022 in Chania, Crete, Greece.
26/10/2022: HARNESSTHARNESSTOM at the International Solanaceae Genomics Meeting SOL 2022OM 2nd ANNUAL MEETING
A large representation of the HARNESSTOM partnership will participate in the upcoming Solanaceae Genomics SOL2022 meeting that is organized in Thessaloniki, Greece, from the 1st to the 5th of November 2022.
24/10/2022: HARNESSTOM 2nd ANNUAL MEETING
The Second Annual Meeting of the HARNESSTOM project “Harnessing the value of tomato genetic resources for now and the future” will take place from the 31st of October until 1st of November in Thessaloniki, Greece.
21/10/2022: GenRes Networking Meeting strengthens the links between EU-Funded GenRes projects – 27th October 2022
A new GenRes Networking e-meeting took place on the 27th of October 2022 with the participation of most of the EU-funded projects working on this topic.
Harnesstom coordinator has participated in the elaboration of a report aimed to review the regulatory framework for Genomic Editing Techniques. This report was commissioned by COSCE, the Spanish Confederation for Scientific Societies (https://cosce.org/informe-cosce-para-la-revision-del-marco-regulador-de-las-tecnicas-de-edicion-genomica/) and it is intended to be used in informing politicians and members of the EU parliament about the NPBT.
23/08/2022: HARNESSTOM liaison with the Mexican tomato community
HARNESSTOM coordinator Antonio Granell has been invited to participate in the Native and Ancestral Tomato Fair that will take place in Zimatlan, Oaxaca, Mexico on September 3 and 4, 2022.
04/07/2022: HARNESSTOM members meet in Brussels for the 1st project review meeting
HARNESSTOM scientists, including the coordinator and workpackage leaders and IPs got together at the CSIC offices in Brussels on the 29th and 30th of June 2022. They included a pre-review meeting followed by the formal Review Meeting with the participation of two external reviewers: Prof. Francisco Pérez Alfocea from Center of Edaphology and Applied Biology of the Segura, Murcia, and Prof. Diego Rubiales from the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture of Cordoba Spain and the project officer from REA: Ms. Tatiana Tallarico.
Scientists of the HARNESSTOM project met after the EUCARIA tomato meeting in Valencia, to update the members of the HARNESSTOM Scientific Advisory Board Roger Chetelat (TGRC, UC Davis, CA, USA) and Lukas Mueller (BTI, Ithaca, NY, USA). The meeting counted with the participation of over 25 HARNESSTOM partners and included all the workpackage leaders and the coordinator.
25/05/2022: HARNESSTOM and VIRTIGATION two EU Funded project with common interests agree to join forces
HARNESSTOM continues to enlarge its network of interactions, this time with a related EU-funded project called VIRTIGATION (https://www.virtigation.eu/) “Emerging viral disease in tomatoes and cucurbits: implementation of mitigation strategies for durable disease management”.
04/05/2022: HARNESSTOM Networking activities with other EU funded projects on Genetic Resources
The Coordinators and managers of four EU Funded sister projects on plant genetic resources (HARNESSTOM, AGENT, BREEDINGVALUE and GEN4OLIVE) met on line April 28 for discussing specific actions to take in the following months in order to foster communication, interaction and collaboration among them. All parties agree that a new series of joint presentations like the one we had at Divseek will be good to provide updates on the progress made in during the first 2-3 years of the projects (Neils Stein from IPK –Gatersleben, Germany, will get it organized).
28/04/2022: HARNESSTOM at the World Tomato Congress and Tomato Fair
The first day of the World Tomato Congress and Tomato fair took place in Nijar HARNESSTOM coordinator Antonio Granell was invited to participate and presented the HARENSSTOM project. Granell highlighted the importance of genetic resources not just for identifying sources of resistance agains ToBRFV but also to guarantee the sustainability of tomato production for now and for the future. The one hour presentations and discussion sessions were followed by a general Q & A roundtable session were the three speakers answered the questions collected from the audience which were mainly technicians and engineers from the farmers’ associations and breeding companies well established in the region.
https://worldvegetablecongress.com/programa-world-tomato-congress-2022/
14/03/2022: Exploitation in H2020 and in HARNESSTOM workshop
The first HARNESSTOM exploitation workshop took place this Monday 14 March via webex with the participation of seed companies: ENZA Zaden, Vilmorin Co, Gautier Semences, Semiorto Semence, and academia groups in HARNESSTOM. The main objective of the workshop was to introduce and discuss the increasing importance of Exploitation activities in H2020 and how HARNESSTOM addresses this issue.
18/02/2022: CITIZEN SCIENCE EXPERIMENT 2022
Do you want to participate in a plant breeding program? In 2022, the Harnesstom project launches a Citizen Science experiment in Spain, Italy and Bulgaria, to select, using a participatory approach, the tastier tomato varieties. The participants will receive at home seeds of different pre-selected tomato varieties and will be invited to grow and study them in their fields or balconies. If you are interested in participating, register here!
(the participation is free of charge)
This article has been published on the "BMC Series Blog" website on July 22, 2021. It’s the result of the joint work of some experts who are part of the HARNESSTOM project team, under the support of the European Commission H2020 Research and Innovation Programme through the TomGEM project and HARNESSTOM.
19/06/2021:Getting ahead of the future through the past
Dr. Antonio Granell, HARNESSTOM coordinator, gives an interview to the Mexican magazine JITOMATE, where he explains the project and its objectives, as well as the research in genetics and technological innovation that they are carrying out, in order to optimize the adaptability tomato varieties, in the face of the challenges to come challenges to come: high temperatures, water scarcity and excess salt in the water.
The symposium "Genomic Editing of Crops: Beyond Science" took place on May 12 and brought together more than 400 virtual participants, among them prominent scientists, experts in Law and representatives of the Spanish agri-food sector, to review the status of genomic editing and its application to agriculture.
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07/05/2021: Crosspollination activities between HARNESSTOM members and legal and economic experts
On Friday 7 May several HARNESSTOM members took part on the International Meeting “CHALLENGES IN THE AGROFOOD SECTOR: COMPETENCE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY", organized by Felipe Palau (UPV) the HARNESSTOM expert in legal and IP issues. The meeting was a great success and gathered the attention of local government members including Mrs. Mireia Mollà Herrera, Council for Agriculture. Rural Development, Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition of the Valencian Government who welcomed the participants and emphasized the relevance of the topic for Local, National and European economy.
25/02/2021: Coordinators of Horizon 2020 Genetic Resources Projects Agree on a Roadmap for Joint Activities.
The coordinators of five recently funded EU-projects, gather around a team’s virtual meeting platform to discuss possibilities for collaborations. The idea: to find opportunities for joint actions, collaborations and common ground. For over 90 min HARNESSTOM coordinator Antonio Granell and four other projects agreed on the roadmap for joint activities.
20/01/2021: HARNESSTOM at the BreedingValue Kickoff meeting.
Right after the start of the project HARNESSTOM coordinator Antonio Granell initiated contacts with the coordinators of other projects granted by the EU under the same topic/call H2020 SFS28-2020 “Genetic Resources and Pre-breeding communities”. Coordinators of several EU projects participated at the meeting and in the discussion from their own perspectives and crops (wheat and barley; olive; legumes and berries). A plan for future interactions will be discussed over email and in following virtual meetings soon.
23/09/2020: Harnesstom tomatoes "better quality, more flavorful and more resistant to new viruses and emerging diseases
25/09/2020: The Harnesstom project aims to develop better quality, more resistant and tastier tomatoes.
It is a project coordinated by Antonio Granell, CSIC research professor at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants, and has a total budget of 8.07 million euros. It brings together 22 collaborating institutions from seven countries, including small and medium-sized enterprises, technology companies, crop companies, NGOs and farmers' associations, as well as various academic institutions. More information in the CSIC press release and on the project website (http://harnesstom.eu).
The Institute of Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Polytechnic University of Valencia, has launched the European research project Harnesstom, an initiative that aims to achieve better quality tomato varieties with greater resistance to emerging diseases and climate change.
Harnessing the value of tomato genetic resources for now and the future.
Objectif: Tomato is a paradigm of crop domestication: a widely cultivated and consumed vegetable but with reduced genetic diversity and therefore highly vulnerable to emerging diseases and climate change. Fortunately, tomato is rich in genetic resources and information to overcome those difficulties and a coalition of scientists and breeding experts which have generated a large amount of this information have been organized under an effective management structure and a series of objectives to overcome those threats....
