The Elizabeth Creak Horticultural Technology Centre (ECHTC) at the University of Warwick is a £1.5 million facility using cutting edge techniques such as gene-editing to improve vegetable crops.
Funded by donations from the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust and the estate of Jim Brewster, ECHTC addresses issues relating to disease resistance, crop yield, adaptability to climate change and nutritional value in horticultural plants. The research will help with the key global challenges of climate change and feeding the world’s growing population.
The Centre also trains future research scientists in vegetable tissue culture and gene editing techniques, with Jim Brewster Scholarships awarded to PhD students working in the area of crop science.