Biotechnology Research Roadmap - Science and Innovation

National Centre for Advanced
Bio-protection Technologies
New Zealand's unique island ecology and dependence on agriculture and horticulture
means protecting our environment from destructive foreign pest organisms is vital.
This means the National Centre for Advanced Bio-Protection Technologies, which is
at the forefront of biosecurity research, plays an important role in New Zealand's
future.
The Centre, hosted by Lincoln University and partnered by Massey University, Crop
& Food Research and AgResearch, is one of seven Centres of Research Excellence
(CoREs) that were established in 2002 to encourage the development of world-class
research in New Zealand, in this case agricultural biotechnology and bio-protection.
The Bio-Protection Centre also undertakes applied research and has formed a number
of partnerships with government agencies and industry.
The Centre performs a range of research projects, from molecular biology to conservation
biocontrol, computer modelling and field trials, to assist New Zealand's plant-based
industries and natural ecosystems. This includes developing sensor and DNA-based
(side box)
diagnostic technologies to detect unwanted pests at the border, and bioprotection
techniques Case Study: which National are acceptable Centre for to Advanced Maori growers Bio- by incorporating Maori perspectives
and Protection tikanga Technologies
(customs and traditions) into effective modern bio-protection strategies.
The Centre has also had commercial successes. Four biocontrol products have been
commercialised by Centre researchers in association with partners Agrimm Technologies
Ltd. The latest of these, Sentinel ® , is used to control the fungus Botrytis in wine grapes
and tomatoes. It has been developed from a new strain of Trichoderma, a fungus that
prevents harmful fungi from infecting crops.
A key resource of the Centre is the New Zealand Biotron, a climate simulator in an
enclosed two-storey building where researchers can study interactions between plants,
pests and the environment. With independent manipulation of above-ground and
below-ground conditions, the impacts of extreme weather, like frosts or hot sunlight,
can be studied in experiments that closely mimic field conditions. The facility will allow
study of hosts, pests or pathogens that cannot be released into the open. This will be
increasingly important for the study of potential biocontrol agents or pests that pose
biosecurity risks.
For more information about the National Centre for Advanced Bio-Protection
Technologies visit www.bioprotection.org.nz
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