All researchers active within the competence centre not only worked with their own project funding but also had the possibility to apply for funding from the centre. The board and the centre leader had strategic money available that was used to support centre research. Funding was divided into three different categories: Proof of concept, new collaboration projects within the industry and strategic projects.
Proof of concept
These projects supported early ideas for commercial applications that were too early to be considered for patenting. The idea was to generate more "proof-of-concept" for a commercially interesting idea that would lead to a decision on whether to pursue.
Examples for proof-of-concept projects at the centre
- Ove Nilsson - Development of plants with increased resistance to drought
- Ewa Mellerovicz - Modification of lignin-xylan complexes & wood-specific promoter
- Ulrika Egertsdotter - Artificial seeds for spruce somatic embryos - potential for gelatinous capsules
- Edouard Pesquet- Developing mouldable wood from xylogenic cultures
- Hannele Touminen - Production of the lignocellulose feedstock with modified lignin
- Edouard Pesquet - Plant cell culture resources for the Berzelii centre
- Maria E Eriksson - Search for specific Populus promoters, useful for basic science and down-stream applications
- Catherine Bellini - Identification of marker for improving selection of better rooting poplar cuttings
- Stefan Björklund - Studies of Mediator function in stress response pathways for development of genetically modified trees and crops with increased resistance to drought and infections
- Ewa Mellerovicz - Regulation of microfibril angle in the wood
- Totte Niittylä - Increasing stem biomass and wood density of trees
New collaboration projects within the industry
These projects supported new initiatives for collaboration projects between academia and industrial partners. Typically, projects funded within this category received a 50% contribution from the industrial partner (provided either in cash or in kind).
Strategic projects
The steering committee has supported new "strategically important" Centre projects. This has stimulated the task forces to come up with novel ideas on collaborative projects, and projects that benefit several research groups at the same time.Examples for strategic projects at the centre
- Rosario Garcia-Gil - Fiber length analysis in a large Norway spruce progeny trial
- Torgeir R Hvidsten - Using systems biology models to detect lignocellulosic genes in Populus
- Nathaniel R Street - A UPSC next generation sequencing platform
- Torgny Näsholm - Growth and biomass allocation
- Björn Sundberg - A platform for studies on natural variation in aspen
- Rosario Garcia-Gil - Spruce EST sequencing and genomics
- Torgeir R Hvidsten - A systems biology approach to model regulation in wood developmen
- Björn Sundberg- A platform for studies on natural variation in spruce
- Laszlo Bako - Developing spruce and Populus xylogenic cell cultures
- Rishikesh Bhalerao - A transcription factor over-expression resource for analyses of growth and development in hybrid aspen
- Thomas Moritz - A proteomic and metabolomic approach to create a comprehensive database of the wood developing zone in Populus
- Stefan Jansson - Genome and transcriptome sequencing of aspen/hybrid aspen
- Markus Grebe - Recruitment of strategic expertise in advanced scanning electron microscoy methods for multiple Berzelii centre projects
- Ewa Mellerovicz - Development of strategic expertise in advanced scanning electron microscopy methods for determination of cllulose microfibril angle
- Gunnar Wingsle - A new bioinformatics tool to the proteomic facility - TransOmics
- Harry Wu - Strategic assembling of base population for long-term molecular and quantitative genetic study of Norway Spruce
- Catherine Bellini - Development of root system architecture in Norway spruce seedlings
- Ulrika Ganeteg - What the root "sees" – linking root N transporter gene expression to soil N availability
- Stefan Jansson - Phenotyping wood quality traits in the SwAsp population
- Nathaniel Street - Improving Genomic Resources for T89
- Rishikesh Bhalerao - Identification of expression markers associated with growth cessation and dormancy in spruce