Zebra Biotech is a private company formed and owned by Darrell Lizamore with a focus on taking technologies developed in this programme and providing commercial genotyping services to a wide range of biological industries. The main focus of the company at this point in time is the provision of molecular genotyping of varietals (using SSR markers and SSAP ), and grapevine clones using the transposon based genotyping tool developed within the programme.
Plant & Food Research is a New Zealand-based science company providing research and development that adds value to fruit, vegetable, crop and food products.
With over 900 people based at sites across New Zealand, as well as in the USA and Australia, at the heart of Plant & Food Research is a goal to underpin the growth of plant and marine-based industry through the successful application and commercialisation of research-based innovation.
The team at Plant & Food Research, led by Dr. Ross Bicknell, have supported the ongoing development of the vine population and the development of the genotyping bioinformatic pipelines and assembly of the grape genomes.
Plant & Food Research have also been the primary funder of this work through the Strategic Science Investment Fund and the grape and wine research area they are responsible for.
New Zealand Winegrowers is the national organisation for the country's grape and wine sector, with around 850 grower members and 700 winery members. Established in March 2002, we are the only unified national winegrowers industry body in the world. Our mission: To create value for our members
New Zealand Winegrowers conduct a wide range of tasks to support our our members including:
- advocacy at regional, national and international levels
- providing a global marketing platform for New Zealand wine
- facilitating world-class research on industry priorities
- giving the industry timely and strategic information
- leading the development of sustainable production practices
- organising sector-wide events such as the Bragato Conference and Awards, Grape Days and the Air New Zealand Wine Awards.
NZ Winegrowers has been a very supportive partner for this project and has funded a number of small projects within the wider portfolio of work we have currently running.
In partnership with NZ winegrowers, Plant and Food Research and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories we have recently put together and submitted a large research programme to the MBIE Endeavour Fund. This project, if funded, will be administered by the newly formed NZ Winegrowers Research Centre, with the research capability being supplied by our team at Lincoln University (led by Dr. Chris WInefield), Plant & Food Research (led by Dr. Ross Bicknell) and Cold Spring Harbour (led by Prof. Rob Martienssen).
Freestyle Farms is a premier grower of hops located in Upper Moutere near Nelson. They are focused on providing the best brewers in the world with direct and transparent input into growing flavourful hops in the Upper Moutere terroir. Freestyle Farms pursues avenues of novel research that may lead to producing exceptional flavours and aromas in hops. Freestyle Farms is a supporting partner for the hops related portion of the project and will lend their considerable commercial production expertise and facilities to the efforts.