Sequencing the Amazon

A research team from Denmark and Brazil has a mission: Tapping into the scientific, biotechnological, and medical potential of the plant biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest plants and to discover, preserve and utilise their biological value before it’s too late.
By combining state-of-the-art tools within Omics, Big Data and AI, the goal is to preserve the genetic information of the plants in the Amazon Rainforest without threatening this unique biome.

Take advantage, don't exploit

From a single leaf they can now produce compounds that you would otherwise only be able to obtain from many kilos of red listed plants. Sequencing and discovering the biosynthetic pathways avoid ruining the biodiversity of the rainforest, but still enables us to profit from the high value compounds present in the rainforest. The point is to take advantage and not exploit the rainforest.

Watch video from the Amazonas explaining the project in more detail here: https://youtu.be/A51cYyBtwMw

The researchers: Local partners, local knowledge

DTU Professor Thomas Sicheritz-Ponten
DTU Associate Professor Bent Petersen
DTU Head of High-Performance Computing Peter Løngreen
ITV Brazil Senior researcher Guilherme Oliveira
KU Professor Birger Lindberg Møller

Link to project page: http://www.amazonia.life/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ARGOproject