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​​​Detection of Genome Edited Products - Is It CRISPR​?

​​Broadcast Date: Wednesday, November 3rd, 2021 ​| 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm Central​

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​Webinar Summary

Interest in genome (gene) editing in plants has been stimulated by the relative ease of making edits, and to some extent by expectations around their regulatory status. Products of genome editing are being developed and planted. Due to a globally fragmented regulatory environment, as well as some marketing concepts, there is a lot of interest in whether such products can be detected in grain and foods. This webinar will examine the issues around detection methods as applied to genome edited grain and food and explain the technical limitations of applying such methods to bulk samples, and to food.


Why is this Important?

Implementation of genome (gene) editing in plants is increasing rapidly. There have been several publications of detection of purported genome edits, as well as publications from regulatory agencies. It is important to examine the science of detection methods and what they can and cannot reveal about grain and food products


About the Presenter

Dr. Ray Shillito
Senior Expert, BASF

Dr. Ray Shillito is a Senior Expert at BASF in North Carolina, USA. He has more than 40 years of experience in many areas of Agricultural Biotechnology including detection methods and sampling and has over 60 publications. He studied Plant Tissue Culture in England and as a PostDoc in the Netherlands and Switzerland did some of the first pioneering work on transgenic plants. He then moved in 1986 to the USA to work on transformation of Zea mays.

Ray has provided expertise on sampling and detection issues for 20 years. He chairs the Molecular Biomarkers technical committee of the Cereals and Grains Association and received the Edith A. Christensen award for "Outstanding Contributions in Analytical Methodology" in 2018. He represents BASF in his technical capacity at many other industry and scientific fora.

Ray has participated in and led development of standards and technical specifications for 20 years and is chair of ISO's TC34/SC16 committee on biomarkers.

Ray has a great deal of international experience. He helped organize and participated in international workshops on detection methods and sampling in collaboration with governments​, scientific organizations and NGOs, as well as having been invited to present at numerous international symposia and workshops on these topics.

Ray recently co-edited a book for the Cereals & Grains Association on detection methods for plant biotechnology including a chapter on detection of genome edits in plants and has recently published a review of detection of gene edits in plants.