Monsanto expands sponsorship for Peking-Yale Joint Agrobiotechnol...( New Haven Conn. A joint Yale-Peking...)

New Haven, Conn. A joint Yale-Peking University center that aims to improve crop production by furthering understanding of plant biology will receive five years of continued and expanded support from the Monsanto Company, a leading provider of agricultural technology.

The company will fund student exchanges and a series of plant biology-related programs at the Peking-Yale Joint Center (PYC) for Plant Molecular Genetics and Agrobiotechnology, a multidisciplinary research program that serves as a model of global scientific partnerships. The past and future support totals more than $1 million (US).

Established at Peking University in 2001, the center is a place where independent research groups work within a common facility, sharing resources and expertise. Research at the center is concentrated in the field of basic biology in model plant systems and on the application of this research to crop improvement an area of great interest and importance both to China and to the United States.

Monsanto's support for the center began in 2002. It includes the Monsanto Fellowship Award and the Monsanto Exchange Program, as well as sponsorship of an annual scientific meeting and attendance at technology workshops.

Over the past five years, 11 Ph.D. students associated with the center at Peking University location have been named as Monsanto Fellows and participated in this exchange, said Xing-Wang Deng, the Daniel C. Eaton Professor of Plant Biology at Yale and the director of the Peking-Yale Center. We are most grateful for Monsanto's ongoing commitment to and support for the center. This renewed support will allow the PYC to continue its ongoing graduate student exchanging program.

The Monsanto Fellowship Award program provides financial support for selected Ph.D. students associated with the center to attend Yal
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