GM Crops & Food

Genome editing (GE) is a technology that has been adopted by plant researchers, innovators and breeders across the world in the past decade. Among new genomic techniques (NGTs), GE has the greatest potential for contributing to the ambitious goals of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy. Nevertheless, threats and benefits must be fully comprehended to ensure that innovations with GE are designed in a reliable and transparent way. Public perception is one of the critical parameters influencing the development and commercialization of NGTs.

Economic development, growing world population and changes in dietary habits have resulted in increasing and shifting demands for food. NGTs are required to minimize the impact of climate change as the traditional crop breeding methods are time consuming, resource intensive and imprecise. The European Commission (EC) has introduced many initiatives to make the economy sustainable; however, in the current global terms many of them are unreachable. And while in the European discussion more attention is paid to NGTs, these techniques have not yet reached their full potential in Europe. The EC has adopted on 5 July 2023, a proposal for a new regulation on plants produced by certain NGTs.

The aim of this Collection is to identify and publish research findings relating to the current state and potential of NGTs in bioeconomy development worldwide, especially the perspective of the development of this technology in the European Union countries. In particular, the Collection seeks papers exploring the following:

1. Technological advances (products obtained by NGTs on the market, patents and intellectual property rights related to NGTs).
2. Applications of GE (improving resistance to abiotic and biotic stress/factors, nutritional improvement and characterisation).
3. Potential of GE for a sustainable bioeconomy (transition to a more sustainable agriculture and food system, benefits for farmers, consumers and citizens).
4. GE perception (public perception/opinion, knowledge, education, understanding benefits and risks focus on bio-based innovations; GMO vs. GE - understanding the differences).
5. Regulation of GE technology (analysis of current legislations and future prospects, contribution of the new legislation of NGTs to the goals of the EU Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy).

Ewa Woźniak-Gientka has a Ph.D. in earth sciences (2019). Her Ph.D. thesis was related to bioeconomy development. She works as an assistant professor (adiunkt) at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences (IBCH PAS). She has been the head of the Bioeconomy and Sustainable Development Team at IBCH PAS in Poznan since 2021. She conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection between biology, biotechnology and bioeconomy. She is interested in the circular economy, biotechnology, new genomic techniques, agribiotechnology, economic and social aspects of the development of bioeconomy, public perception of bioeconomy, and popularisation of science. She was involved in two international projects. In 2017-2020, she was a contractor in the international project entitled ‘Innovative processing technology of rapeseed products for poultry nutrition’ (ProRapeseed; ERANET- CORNET #22/87/2017). She implemented the tasks in WP3 ‘Commercial potential of new products in a competitive market’. Since 2019, she has been a member of the PlantEd COST action (CA18111, 2019-2023), a vice leader of WG4, and a Management Committee Substitute in this project. Since 2015, she has been the author and co-author of eighteen publications. She is a project manager of NCN grant ‘Conditions for the development of bioeconomy from a regional perspective’ (NCN – MINIATURA 2023/07/X/HS4/00406).

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisor for this collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member). Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is April 15, 2024.

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article