The San
Diego Center for Molecular Agriculture (SDCMA) is an alliance of scientists
from three public institutions, UCSD, the Salk Institute and the Scripps
Research Institute. The SDCMA has two major goals. The first one is
to increase the level of intellectual activity in plant molecular biology
and other disciplines that relate to molecular agriculture in the San
Diego region. This we do by organizing monthly research meetings for
young scientists, holding symposia and inviting seminar speakers. The
idea is to get scientists from different institutions to talk to one
another to share ideas and technology.
The second
goal is to organize outreach activities for non-scientists in San Diego
and to raise people's awareness of the contributions that basic scientists
in San Diego are making molecular agriculture. These outreach activities
take the form of workshops, furnishing speakers for small meetings and
the publication of brochures that help lay people understand the science
that underlies agriculture.