Focuses on the development of novel plant tissue culture technologies for rapid mass propagation and production of useful plant-based products with desired compounds that are mostly secondary metabolites and not normally required by plants for growth and development but are of great utility to man. Examples are pharmaceuticals, flavors, fragrances, colors, and agrichemicals. One of the laboratory’s products in the pipeline is WiltCure, a new biofungicide derived from the co-culture of a callus and a microbe and can be used for the control of Fusarium wilt in solanaceous crops such as tomato and chili pepper.
For the mass propagation of valuable plant species, the laboratory conducts tissue culture of economically-important plants like coconut, banana, ginger and orchids. Developed in the laboratory is the protocol for the rapid mass propagation of Moringa oleifera and Aloe barbadensis.