Upcoming:
There are currently no upcoming webinars. This page will be updated as things are planned.
Registration: Watch for individual announcements. Preregistration is required.
You can also Subscribe to our YouTube playlist to watch old webinars and be updated when a webinar is posted!
2020:
Apr 14th 2020 – A low-cost core genome marker platform that works well across the diverse Vitis genus
Doctors Qi Sun, Cheng Zou, and Avi Karn discuss the development of the core Vitis genome and its impacts on grape breeding.
Feb 20th 2020 – (Some of) the Economics of Grape Varietal Innovations
Dr. Julian Alston and Dr. Olena Sambucci discuss the historical and future economic impacts of disease resistance and various consumer preferences in wine and table grapes throughout the U.S. in this installment of the VitisGen2 webinar series.
2019:
Apr 18th 2019 – What the wild things are: Flavor challenges of breeding disease-resistant and cold-tolerant grapes using North American Vitis species
Presenter Dr. Gavin Sacks reviews the flavor chemistry challenges of native species and their hybrids, and discusses how production practices or breeding could be used to mitigate these problems.
Mar 21st 2019 – Advanced computer vision techniques: New technologies to streamline grape breeding
Presenter Dani Martinez discusses some of the ways in which computer vision is being used to streamline scientific research, using VitisGen’s application to powdery mildew resistance as a case study.
2018:
April 19th 2018, 2pm EST – Automated Evaluation of Grape Breeding Progeny to Reduce the Phenotyping Bottleneck
While genetic information is becoming inexpensive, measuring attributes of interest such as disease resistance or cluster architecture has been a laborious, manual process. VitisGen researchers are developing methods of more rapidly and objectively screening ‘mapping populations’. Their goal: to streamline the process of associating plant traits with genetic markers.
Panelists from the VitisGen2 Breeding and Local Phenotyping Team:
-Lance Cadle-Davidson, VitisGen2 Project Co-Leader and USDA Research Plant Pathologist
-Rachel Naegele, USDA Research Horticulturist
-Anna Underhill, MSc student at University of Minnesota
March 13th 2018, 2pm EST – Europe is Starting to Embrace New, Disease Resistant Varieties
European wine producers have long focused on a small group of ancient, closely-related, name-brand varieties originating in the middle ages. Whether by legislation or market forces, growers have been wedded to a small list of approved names – resisting anything classified as a ‘hybrid’. But attitudes are changing. Mounting concern about fungicide usage near villages embedded within vineyard regions is driving growers to start planting new disease resistant winegrapes … even in Bordeaux. We will discuss the debate about new varieties now taking hold in Europe, and how attitudes towards new varieties are changing.
Panelists:
– Bruce Reisch, Professor, Cornell University
– Timothy Martinson, Senior Extension Associate, Cornell University