Cell and Tissue Culture Laboratory

The research is focused on cell & tissue biology especially in relation to plant cell and tissue culture. It is centered upon two areas:

1) Conservation of threatened plant species through:

development of in vitro propagation methods, especially for endemic plant species from oceanic islands,
in vitro propagation of living collections in the CPH Botanic Garden that are classed with an IUCN Category of Threat, and diffidult to propagate by conventional means,
Replanting in situ of threatened plant species,
Establishment of in vitro gene banks (ex situ conservation).

2) Establishment of biotechnological methods for use in the breeding of forest trees through:

development of in vitro propagation methods. Focus in aimed on a process called somatic embryogenesis (artificial embryo formation). This method has the benefit that you can long-term conserve the early embryo stages in liquid nitrogen (cryopreservation),
development of robotics and visualization technologies for automatic plant production,
gene technolgoical methods such as gene-regulation and re-programming of cells,
protoplast techniques and in vitro hybridization,
establishment of gene banks in liquid nitrogen

Cell and Tissue Culture Laboratory – University of Copenhagen