# Collaborative Research: TR-Tech-PGR / PlantSynBio: Intragenic genome engineering for the next generation of improved plants

> **NSF 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT** · University of South Carolina at Columbia (SC) · $451,139

## Abstract

For many years, new crop varieties with improved traits like grain yield and disease resistance were developed through conventional plant breeding programs. In recent years, successful transgenic efforts were adopted to add beneficial DNA from other species into plants for research and/or crop improvement, leading to increased agricultural productivity in the United States. For example, most row crops, such as soybean and corn, possess beneficial transgenic DNA that makes them resistant to insect pests and/or herbicide spray, thereby vastly improving the crop yield for food and feedstock security. Developing and releasing transgenic crops requires a large amount of time, effort, and costs, in addition to going through safety trials and deregulation processes. This causes an almost decade-long lag between scoping the challenge to improve a crop trait and making it ready for adoption by farmers. Therefore, to accelerate crop improvement by conventional plant breeding-based approaches and avoid regulatory and social/global-level reluctance to adopt transgenic crops due to the presence of foreign DNA in a genetically modified crop plant, the team proposes an intragenic approach by adjusting, combining and transferring the desired DNA element sourced from the same plant species for improving crop traits. This intragenic approach faces significantly less regulatory burden, avoids consumer reluctance and will deliver faster technology transfer from the laboratory to the field. The r

## Key facts

- **NSF award ID:** 2525682
- **Awardee organization:** University of South Carolina at Columbia (SC)
- **SAM.gov UEI:** J22LNTMEDP73
- **PI:** Charles N Hancock
- **Primary program:** 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
- **All programs:** Biotechnology, PLANT GENOME RESEARCH PROJECT, EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES, PLANT GENOME RESEARCH RESOURCE
- **Estimated total:** $451,139
- **Funds obligated:** $451,139
- **Transaction type:** Standard Grant
- **Period:** 07/01/2025 → 06/30/2028

## Primary source

NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2525682

## Citation

> US National Science Foundation, Award 2525682, Collaborative Research: TR-Tech-PGR / PlantSynBio: Intragenic genome engineering for the next generation of improved plants. Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-06 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nsf/2525682. Licensed CC0.

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