The first G2P-SOL progress meeting was held in Turin from June 6-8, 2017.

The 3-days event was hosted by Sergio Lanteri and Ezio Portis’ team from the Università degli Studi di Torino. The historic institution is one of the oldest universities in Europe and counts prominent figures like Erasmus of Rotterdam and previous Italian presidents among its former students.

After a warm welcome by Elisabetta Barberis, the prorector of the university, G2P-SOL coordinator Giovanni Giuliano opened the meeting by stressing the importance of Solanaceous crops and the complexity of their genomes.

All partners were keen to update each other on the work of the past months and to streamline future activities. More specifically, the consortium discussed pre-breeding materials to be used in the frame of the project, how to improve the G2P-SOL gateway and further dissemination and communication activities. As an example, the organisation of a training school for young breeders is planned for spring 2018 and the preparations already started.

The G2P-SOL consortium was particularly grateful for the contributions by members of the Scientific Advisory Board. Roger Chetelat (C. M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center), Gert-Jan de Boer (Enza Zaden) and Susan McCouch (Cornell University) shared their expertise and recommendations on genotyping, data interoperability and core collections.

On the final day of the meeting, partners attended a phenotyping workshop organised by Véronique Lefebvre (INRA) and Ilan Paran (ARO), followed by a joint session with sister European projects TomRes and TRADITOM  (Read more).

Partners appreciated the friendly and productive atmosphere of the meeting and the way it was organised.

“I mostly appreciate the involvement of all G2P-SOL partners to discussion on work packages activities and deliverables. There was a good "questions and reply environment" and I feel it was a proactive scientific context as this kind of meetings should be”. Laura Bassolino, CREA