Because everyone is working on the same platform it is easy to stay on top of things: sharing background information, protocols, and samples.

Kathwarina Hanika, PhD student, Plant breeding & Phytopathology

Plant Breeding

At Plant Breeding (Wageningen University), they work with a variety of plants/crops on a wide spectrum of different topics. More precisely, the project (and topic of this case study) focuses on the interaction between a tomato and a pathogenic fungus. In the scope of resistance breeding, Plant Breeding aims to identify factors that make a plant susceptible in order to make it resistant.

Project description

Worldwide, vascular wilt disease caused by the fungus Verticillium dahliae affects a wide range of economically important crops. As this disease is difficult to control, disease management is highly dependent on plant resistance. The latter can be achieved by impairing those plant genes which are "abused" by the fungus for its own benefits. Impairing these genes may lead to resistance. Unfortunately, little is known about these genes for V. dahliae, therefore this study aims at identifying and understanding these genes in order to facilitate breeding efforts in tomato and other crops to obtain resistance to vascular wilt disease.

Goal

Map and isolate new resistance genes (Rgenes) in tomato against race 2 strains by using germplasm that has previously shown to display resistance against this race at Wageningen UR (WUR).

Challenge

Share data placed in different locations by diverse people

As a PhD student, Hanika manages a whole project from planning experiments to execution, analysis to publishing. If students and technicians also contribute to this work, it can get extremely difficult to keep an overview.

Solution

All data is centralized and with a structured overview

eLabNext has helped to arrange work in an organized manner. Because everyone is working on the same platform it is easy to stay on top of things: sharing background information, protocols, and samples.

Result

Improved workflow and communication with colleagues

Working with eLabNext's ELN capabilities has significantly improved data management at Plant Breeding. Digital sample storage has become indispensable in everyday work. Their research has benefited from the easy collaboration with colleagues to share protocols, samples and data.

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