This course is conceived to explore some recent examples of the appplication of plant biotechnology in the field of environmental stress.
A first introductory part of the course will be dedicated to the description of the main drivers and effects of climate change.
The main part of the course will be dedicated to case studies describing the application of plant biotechnology to the improvement of primary productivity, epigenetic regulation of flowering time, resistance to flooding and drougth stress.
A group project will be assigned to students, to stimulate the critical analysis of biotechnological problems and to boost their team-work and communication skills. Students will be asked to choose a topic and a series of articles for the recording of a group-organized series of podcast episodes that will be evaluated at the end of course.