Pennsylvania, USA
August 22, 2017
RAIN grants from the College of Agricultural Sciences' Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program aimed at moving solutions from lab to marketplace
Majid Foolad, center, professor of plant genetics at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, among the tomato plants used in his breeding program, with graduate students Mengyuan “Maggie” Jia, left, doctoral degree student in plant biology/plant science, and Jonathan Bonfiglio, right, master's degree student in plant science. Foolad won a $75,000 RAIN grant to commercialize new tomato varieties.
Penn State research teams working on two promising discoveries — a new, energy-efficient treatment to kill destructive insects in wood, and new tomato varieties bred for Pennsylvania conditions — each have won $75,000 Research Applications for Innovation, or RAIN, grants to bring their discoveries to market.
The College of Agricultural Sciences awards the grants through its Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program.
"We have invested a lot already in the program to develop new tomato varieties," said Majid Foolad, professor of plant genetics in the college.
Foolad has successfully bred and commercialized tomatoes with disease resistance that are rich in lycopene, which may reduce risk of cancer, heart disease and age-related disorders. He has collaborated with plant breeders at Johnny's Selected Seeds on a new, high-lycopene tomato variety to be released this fall.
Foolad developed hundreds of new tomato breeding lines that are suited to the climate in Pennsylvania and the Northeast and that resist the blight diseases that can wipe out a tomato crop in five to seven days.
"The final and most important step in a breeding program is to market the new varieties," he said. "It's a great help to get funding from the college to expand upon that and commercialize our tomato varieties."
College of Agricultural Sciences faculty with promising discoveries compete annually for RAIN grants. The RAIN program aims to spur solutions and economic development in central Pennsylvania with awards of $50,000 grants, each matched with $25,000 from the Penn State Research Foundation.
"I am excited about the opportunities that the RAIN grant program has provided to our entrepreneurial faculty," said Gary Thompson, associate dean for research and graduate education. "This is just one step in the many required to take an innovative idea originating in the laboratory to a product ready for the marketplace — but this step comes at a crucial time in the process."
For more information on RAIN grant projects and the college's Entrepreneurship and Innovation program, visit the program's website.
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