Plan for growth: advances in cannabis genetics

Dates: 2022 – 2025

Funding: £289k. KTP with Blossom Genetics.

Plants have been a traditional source of many materials to humans encompassing food, fibre, fuel and medicines. The pharmaceutical industry was traditionally based on plant extracts and to this day a significant proportion of our existing medicines are either still nature-based or modelled on natural chemical structure.  Cannabis has a long history of use and more recently, aided by in depth biomedical and clinical studies, its use and its chemically diverse route to the treatment of many conditions is being explored and established. Of course, this means the demand for cannabis plants with the correct chemical combination are needed to translate this to an industrial economic pharmaceutical solution.

This is where the collaboration between the APGC and Blossom Genetics comes in. Blossom Genetics is a global organisation that provides cannabis services, genetics and products, and they are one of the largest medical cannabis growers globally. However, they recognise that cannabis breeding is still in its infancy and would benefit from modern breeding approaches which the APGC is delivering, with its work on characterising a diverse range of germplasm, developing genetic linkage maps for agronomic and quality (pharma) traits and developing growing protocols to maximise crop productivity.

Beyond this the establishment of a scientific evidence-based cannabis breeding programme should revolutionise the cannabis pharmaceutical industry with multiple new treatment solutions delivered as a result.

Expected outcomes:

The establishment of a scientific evidence-based cannabis breeding programme which should revolutionise the cannabis pharmaceutical industry.