The Department of Agricultural Biotechnology is a leading national research and development institution to develop agricultural biotechnology with state-of-the-art facilities for modern biotechnology. Our national mission is to establish a national R&D infrastructure for agricultural biotechnology and biotechnology research in order to create a new growth engine for future agriculture in the era of bio-economics. Department focuses on cutting-edge research to improve the productivity and value of agriculture by overcoming technological limitations. The department consists of three divisions: Digital Breeding Convergence Division, Biosafety Division, and Supercomputing Center

(1) Digital Breeding Convergence Division

Function

• Analysis of crop genome structure and function, and development of technologies for large-scale gene discovery and utilization
• Development of genes to enhance tolerance to environmental stress and pest and disease defense in response to climate change
• Research on the production, accumulation, analysis, standard reference development, and utilization of genomic and phenomic data
• Development, provision, and utilization of big data and artificial intelligence-based digital breeding technologies
• Establishment of crop transgenic systems and development of plantlets
• Development of breeding and utilization technologies for biotechnological crop materials

Major Achievements

• Established the reference genome of ‘Keumkang’, a representative Korean wheat cultivar
  - Contributed to Korean wheat genomics by providing a standard reference for variant analysis, GWAS, gene discovery, and digital breeding research
• Development and dissemination of digital phenotype image analysis technologies and establishment of a system for field application
  - Resolving difficulties by supplying existing technologies and jointly developing and disseminating new technologies based on demand from the agricultural field
• Development of a high-throughput rice genotype analysis system (KASP marker set, Target Capture Sequencing)
  - Overcoming the shortage of molecular markers in rice breeding and genetic researches → Shortening breeding period (7 years → 4 years), discovery of useful QTLs (20 traits)
• Map-based cloning of rice bakanae disease resistance genes and development of selection Markers
  - Identification of two bakanae disease resistance QTL genes and development of selection markers → Utilization in breeding resistant varieties (Sindongjin1, National Crop Research Institute)
• Development of Allergy-Reducing Wheat Breeding Materials for the Global Market
  - Development of wheat breeding materials for reducing WDEIA and Celiac disease, representative wheat-related diseases → Aiming for entry into the global market
• Big Data-based Development of qualitative and quantitative analysis methods for soybean proteins for the selection of breeding materials
  - World's first development of source technology for analyzing 11S and 7S proteins for the breeding of functional soybeans
• Operation of a transgenic hub service to promote gene-editing breeding
  - Laying the foundation for the agricultural application of new breeding technologies through crop transgenic technology services
• Establishment of a rice mutant population using CRISPR/Cas9 technology
  - Current status: (’22) 315 varieties → (’23) 400 → (’24) 450 → (’25) 520 ⤏ (’26) 600 ⤏ (’30) 1,300
  - Discovery of breeding materials: Selection of rice bacterial leaf blight resistance (NAC30) and rice blast resistance/susceptibility (NAC59/101)
• (Establishment of overseas expansion bases) Dissemination of biotechnology research results and strengthening of global capabilities
  - Strengthening global R&D through the opening of a collaborative research laboratory in Uruguay and the hosting of a symposium
  ⇒ Establishing a bridgehead for entering the global market by promoting international cooperation projects in Uruguay

• Establishment of the first reference genome of the ‘Geumgang’ wheat cultivar in Korea
• Production of phenomic data and development of a standard reference
• Discovery of rice pre-harvest sprouting resistance QTL by target capture sequencing genotyping system

• The effect of FfR9 gene in enhancing resistance to bakanae disease
• Development of wheat varities with reduced immunogenic potential
• Compositional analysis of soybean 11S and 7S proteins using RP-UPLC

• Opening of Plant Transformation Center (‘25.5.)
• Construction of rice edited populations and selection of disease resistance line
• Opening of Korea-Uruguay Cooperation Research Center (‘24.10.)

(2) Biosafety Division

Function

• Risk management for research handling GMOs
• Environmental risk & food safety assessment of GM crops
• Development of technology for GMO monitoring and traceability
• Risk assessment for new breeding technology (e.g. genome editing)

Major Achievements

• Establishment & operation of the Institutional Biosafety Committee
  - Management of experiments in confined research facilities (labs, green houses) & biologically isolated fields
• Development of guidelines for environmental risk assessment of GM crops
  - Drought-tolerant rice, nutrient-improved rice, insect-resistant rice, herbicide-tolerant grass, etc.
  - Molecular characterization, evaluation of agronomic traits, and impacts on target & non-target organisms
• Development of guidelines for food safety assessment of GM crops
  - Compositional analysis, toxicity, allergic potential, metabolic profiling, etc.
• Development of detection techniques for GMO monitoring and traceability
  - PCR method (qualitative & quantitative), spectroscopy (near-infrared), etc.

• Institutional Biosafety Committee
• Green house
• Biologically isolated fields

• Environment risk assessment
• Food safety assessment
• GMO detection

(3) Supercomputing Center

Function

• Collection and Management of Agricultural Big Data
• Integration, Analysis, and Use of Agricultural Big Data
• Supercomputing Support for Agricultural Data Analysis
• Supercomputing Operations and Shared Services for Agricultural Research

Major Achievements

• Building Computing Capacity for Large-Scale Agricultural Research
  - The Center has established Korea’s first agricultural supercomputing facility, with 2.9 PFLOPS of computing power and 5.8 PB of storage.
  - It reduced genomic analysis for 10,382 accessions across 16 crops from five years to four weeks.
  - It also shortened pesticide screening and climate-data analysis from years or months to several days or weeks.
• Establishing a National System for Agricultural Omics Data
  - NABIC(National Agricultural Biotechnology Information Center) has collected, standardized, preserved, and shared agricultural omics data.
  - By mid-2026, it had managed 81.5 TB of data as a national research resource.
  - The system supports secure storage and wider reuse of data by researchers and companies.
• Providing Shared Resources and Training for Agricultural Research
  - The Center has provided computing resources, data, and analytical support to universities, companies, and research institutes.
  - Its tiered training programs has strengthened researchers’ practical skills from basic data analysis to advanced bioinformatics.
  - It also links NABIC data with K-BDS to support data sharing across government agencies.

• Agri-Bio Supercomputing Center
• NABIS 2 Supercomputer

• NABIC
• Supercomputer User Training