Fostering English-taught higher education programs in a Spanish university: the "TechEnglish" innovative project

In recent years, coinciding with adjustments to the Bologna process, many European universities have attempted to improve their international profile by increasing course offerings in English. According to the Institute of International Education (IIE), Spain has notably increased its English-taught higher education programs, ranking fifth in the list of European countries by number of English-taught Master's programs in 2013. This article presents the goals and preliminary results of an on-going innovative education project (TechEnglish) that aims to promote course offerings in English at the Technical University of Madrid (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM). The UPM is the oldest and largest of all Technical Universities in Spain. It offers graduate and postgraduate programs that cover all the engineering disciplines as well as architecture. Currently, the UPM has no specific bilingual/multilingual program to promote teaching in English, although there is an Educational Model Whitepaper (with a focus on undergraduate degrees) that promotes the development of activities like an International Semester or a unique shared curriculum. The TechEnglish project is an attempt to foster courses taught in English at 7 UPM Technical Schools, including students and 80 faculty members. Four tasks were identified: (1) to design a university wide framework to increase course offerings, (2) to identify administrative difficulties, (3) to increase visibility of courses offered, and (4) to disseminate the results of the project. First, to design a program we analyzed existing programs at other Spanish universities, and other projects and efforts already under way at the UPM. A total of 13 plans were analyzed and classified according to their relation with students (learning), professors (teaching), administration, course offerings, other actors/institutions within the university (e.g., language departments), funds and projects, dissemination activities, mobility plans and quality control. Second, to begin to identify administrative and organizational difficulties in the implementation of teaching in English, we first estimated the current and potential course offerings at the undergraduate level at the UPM using a survey (student, teacher and administrative demand, level of English and willingness to work in English). Third, to make the course offerings more attractive for both Spanish and international students we examined the way the most prestigious universities in Spain and in Europe try to improve the visibility of their academic offerings in English. Finally, to disseminate the results of the project we created a web page and a workspace on the Moodle education platform and prepared conferences and workshops within the UPM. Preliminary results show that increasing course offerings in English is an important step to promote the internationalization of the University. The main difficulties identified at the UPM were related to how to acknowledge/certify the departments, teachers or students involved in English courses, how students should register for the courses, how departments should split and schedule the courses (Spanish and English), and the lack of qualified personnel. A concerted effort could be made to increase the visibility of English-taught programs offered on-line

PlantResponse Biotech: from the lab to the farmers and beyond

PlantResponse Biotech SL (www.plantresponse.com) is a spin-off of the Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas (CBGP, UPM-INIA), a mixture centre of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA). PlantResponse was founded in 2008 by a group CBGP researchers (see authors) from the UPM that identified an opportunity and urgent need to speed up the transfer of their knowledge and technologies from the lab to the agricultural market. This initial idea was transformed in a business plan thanks to the support of the excellent entrepreneurship program Actua-UPM, that awarded PlantResponse project in its 7th edition. Since then the company has focused on developing highly innovative products by taking advantage of the know-how and techniques that the company has acquired through the experience in the agricultural domain. The company innovation model is based on the explotation of public-private partnerships and collaborations with the best international research groups from the academia. This open innovation model has allowed to the company to speed up the transfer of novel technologies from the lab to the market, and to the academia research groups to transfer technologies and to develop products. PlantResponse has attracted more than 13,8 millions of € in Seed Capital and international/national Venture Capitals (series A and B of investment). These investments have allowed the company to expand its Agrobiological products portfolio and to opening a commercial office at the Research Triangle Park (North Carolina, USA). Remarkably, PlantResponse is invested by major agriculture industrial companies, like Bayer (previously Monsanto Growth Venture), Yara or Novozymes, indicating that the company sustainable solutions are of interest for the market. PlantResponse has been the first Spanish biotech company to be awarded as “Innovative Biotech Company” by EuropaBio and the first European company to get the Green Biotech Innovation award from EuropaBio. Moreover, PlantResponse has been recognized by Spanish Association of Biotech Enterprise (ASEBIO) as one of the success histories of the Spanish biotech market of the last 10 years. Recently, PlantResponse has been include in the list of 2019 THRIVE Top 50, an annual ranking of 50 leading global AgTech companies exemplifying the best in agriculture and food-focused innovation. PlantResponse has been considered as provider of «critical assets to the industry in areas like plant health & nutrition and environmental sustainability”. This is a clear indication that PlantResponse is in the vanguard of discovering and developing innovative and sustainable solutions for crop management. The conclusions of the exciting and risky journey are that founding a leader biotech company in Spain is possible and that the model of public-private partnerships used for the company clearly contributes to close the gap between the excellent research in academia and the technological needs in the agriculture industries

PlantResponse Biotech: from the lab to the farmers and beyond

PlantResponse Biotech SL (www.plantresponse.com) is a spin-off of the Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas (CBGP, UPM-INIA), a mixture centre of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA). PlantResponse was founded in 2008 by a group CBGP researchers (see authors) from the UPM that identified an opportunity and urgent need to speed up the transfer of their knowledge and technologies from the lab to the agricultural market. This initial idea was transformed in a business plan thanks to the support of the excellent entrepreneurship program Actua-UPM, that awarded PlantResponse project in its 7th edition. Since then the company has focused on developing highly innovative products by taking advantage of the know-how and techniques that the company has acquired through the experience in the agricultural domain. The company innovation model is based on the explotation of public-private partnerships and collaborations with the best international research groups from the academia. This open innovation model has allowed to the company to speed up the transfer of novel technologies from the lab to the market, and to the academia research groups to transfer technologies and to develop products. PlantResponse has attracted more than 13,8 millions of € in Seed Capital and international/national Venture Capitals (series A and B of investment). These investments have allowed the company to expand its Agrobiological products portfolio and to opening a commercial office at the Research Triangle Park (North Carolina, USA). Remarkably, PlantResponse is invested by major agriculture industrial companies, like Bayer (previously Monsanto Growth Venture), Yara or Novozymes, indicating that the company sustainable solutions are of interest for the market. PlantResponse has been the first Spanish biotech company to be awarded as “Innovative Biotech Company” by EuropaBio and the first European company to get the Green Biotech Innovation award from EuropaBio. Moreover, PlantResponse has been recognized by Spanish Association of Biotech Enterprise (ASEBIO) as one of the success histories of the Spanish biotech market of the last 10 years. Recently, PlantResponse has been include in the list of 2019 THRIVE Top 50, an annual ranking of 50 leading global AgTech companies exemplifying the best in agriculture and food-focused innovation. PlantResponse has been considered as provider of «critical assets to the industry in areas like plant health & nutrition and environmental sustainability”. This is a clear indication that PlantResponse is in the vanguard of discovering and developing innovative and sustainable solutions for crop management. The conclusions of the exciting and risky journey are that founding a leader biotech company in Spain is possible and that the model of public-private partnerships used for the company clearly contributes to close the gap between the excellent research in academia and the technological needs in the agriculture industries

Mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 1 (MKP1) negatively regulates Microbe-Associated Molecular Pattern-triggered immunity in Arabidopsis

In the search for early signalling components of Microbe-Associated Molecular Pattern (MAMP)-triggered immunity we identified a null allele of the mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 1 gene (MKP1). MKP1 functions as a negative regulator of broad MAMP-triggering immunity responses since mkp1 mutant is more resistant to the necrotrophic fungus Plectosphaerella cucumerina BMM (PcBMM), the hemibiotrophic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 and the biotrophic oomycete Hyaloperonospora arbidopsidis. MKP1 regulates ROS production by modulating the NADPH oxidase RBOHD, since mkp1 plants constitutively overexpressing RbohD (35S::RbohD mkp1) display elevated ROS levels upon MAMP treatment. In addition, a metabolomic analysis revealsa significant reprograming of the metabolic profile in mkp1, with more than 200 metabolites showing differential accumulation compared to wild-type plants. Antimicrobial compounds of the glucosinolate pathway or camalexin as well as defense-associated metabolites, like salicylic acid, are among the compounds that mkp1 plants accumulate at high levels. To characterize the elements responsible for this broad enhanced resistance, we crossed mkp1 mutant to lines compromised in the production of tryptophan derived metabolites and salicylic acid. Patho-tests performed in the combinatory mutants reveal that different defensive elements are required for the mkp1 enhanced resistance to P. cucumerinaBMM and P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000, suggesting that MKP1 down-regulates distinct defensive pathways in response to different pathogens

Mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 1 (MKP1) negatively regulates Microbe-Associated Molecular Pattern-triggered immunity in Arabidopsis

In the search for early signalling components of Microbe-Associated Molecular Pattern (MAMP)-triggered immunity we identified a null allele of the mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 1 gene (MKP1). MKP1 functions as a negative regulator of broad MAMP-triggering immunity responses since mkp1 mutant is more resistant to the necrotrophic fungus Plectosphaerella cucumerina BMM (PcBMM), the hemibiotrophic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 and the biotrophic oomycete Hyaloperonospora arbidopsidis. MKP1 regulates ROS production by modulating the NADPH oxidase RBOHD, since mkp1 plants constitutively overexpressing RbohD (35S::RbohD mkp1) display elevated ROS levels upon MAMP treatment. In addition, a metabolomic analysis revealsa significant reprograming of the metabolic profile in mkp1, with more than 200 metabolites showing differential accumulation compared to wild-type plants. Antimicrobial compounds of the glucosinolate pathway or camalexin as well as defense-associated metabolites, like salicylic acid, are among the compounds that mkp1 plants accumulate at high levels. To characterize the elements responsible for this broad enhanced resistance, we crossed mkp1 mutant to lines compromised in the production of tryptophan derived metabolites and salicylic acid. Patho-tests performed in the combinatory mutants reveal that different defensive elements are required for the mkp1 enhanced resistance to P. cucumerinaBMM and P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000, suggesting that MKP1 down-regulates distinct defensive pathways in response to different pathogens

Cell wall-derived mixed-linked β-1,3/1,4-glucans trigger immune responses and disease resistance in plants

Pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) is activated in plants upon recognition by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) of damage- and microbe-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs and MAMPs) derived from plants or microorganisms, respectively. To understand better the plant mechanisms involved in the perception of carbohydrate-based structures recognized as DAMPs/MAMPs, we have studied the ability of mixed-linked β-1,3/1,4-glucans (MLGs), present in some plant and microbial cell walls, to trigger immune responses and disease resistance in plants. A range of MLG structures were tested for their capacity to induce PTI hallmarks, such as cytoplasmic Ca2+ elevations, reactive oxygen species production, phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases and gene transcriptional reprogramming. These analyses revealed that MLG oligosaccharides are perceived by Arabidopsis thaliana and identified a trisaccharide, β-d-cellobiosyl-(1,3)-β-d-glucose (MLG43), as the smallest MLG structure triggering strong PTI responses. These MLG43-mediated PTI responses are partially dependent on LysM PRRs CERK1, LYK4 and LYK5, as they were weaker in cerk1 and lyk4 lyk5 mutants than in wild-type plants. Cross-elicitation experiments between MLG43 and the carbohydrate MAMP chitohexaose [β-1,4-d-(GlcNAc)6 ], which is also perceived by these LysM PRRs, indicated that the mechanism of MLG43 recognition could differ from that of chitohexaose, which is fully impaired in cerk1 and lyk4 lyk5 plants. MLG43 treatment confers enhanced disease resistance in A. thaliana to the oomycete Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis and in tomato and pepper to different bacterial and fungal pathogens. Our data support the classification of MLGs as a group of carbohydrate-based molecular patterns that are perceived by plants and trigger immune responses and disease resistance