Welcome to PInK-net: The Plant In Vitro Culture Network

Founding of PInK-net

Research groups spe­cial­iz­ing in in vit­ro cul­ture and clon­al prop­a­ga­tion of trees are rare in Ger­many. To address this gap, sci­en­tists from six research groups across four renowned Ger­man insti­tu­tions joined forces: Hum­boldt-Uni­ver­sität zu Berlin, Johann Hein­rich von Thü­nen Insti­tute, Julius-Kühn Insti­tut and Nord­west­deutsche Forstliche Ver­such­sanstalt. The found­ing of the net­work took place on August 30, 2023, at the Späth Arbore­tum in Berlin. It quick­ly became clear that col­lab­o­ra­tion would bring sig­nif­i­cant advan­tages, lead­ing to the offi­cial estab­lish­ment of PInK-net (“Net­zw­erk für Pflan­zliche In-vit­ro-Kul­tur”) as Germany’s asso­ci­a­tion of research insti­tu­tions for plant in vit­ro cul­tures, with a spe­cial focus on woody plants.

Our Members

Hum­boldt-Uni­ver­sität zu Berlin

    • Depart­ment of Plant Evo­lu­tion and Biodiversity
    • Depart­ment of Urban Plant Ecophysiology

Johann Hein­rich von Thü­nen Institute

    • Group of Prove­nance & Breed­ing Research and Pathogen Resis­tance Research, Waldsieversdorf
    • Group of Genet­ic Tech­nolo­gies, Großhansdorf

Julius-Kühn Insti­tut, Dres­den / Pillnitz 

    • Insti­tute for Breed­ing Research on Fruit Crops

Nord­west­deutsche Forstliche Ver­such­sanstalt, Hann. Münden

    • For­est Genet­ic Resources

By bring­ing togeth­er experts from diverse back­grounds and dis­ci­plines, PInK-net enables inno­v­a­tive and inter­dis­ci­pli­nary approach­es to the mul­ti­pli­ca­tion and mod­i­fi­ca­tion of trees in in vit­ro culture.

Our Mission and Activities

PInK-net oper­ates as a col­le­gial sup­port group, facilitating:

    • Exchange of plant mate­r­i­al, meth­ods and expertise
    • Joint trou­bleshoot­ing and assis­tance at spe­cif­ic steps of the in vit­ro cul­ture process
    • Col­lab­o­ra­tion in sam­ple prepa­ra­tion and ana­lyt­i­cal procedures
    • Shared approach­es to admin­is­tra­tive and project acqui­si­tion challenges

Togeth­er, we aim to devel­op new tis­sue cul­ture pro­to­cols, improve prop­a­ga­tion tech­niques, and intro­duce cut­ting-edge genet­ic tech­nolo­gies for tree breed­ing and conservation.

Engaging with the Public

Beyond research, PInK-net is com­mit­ted to pub­lic out­reach — rais­ing aware­ness of the impor­tance of in vit­ro cul­ture, address­ing chal­lenges in forestry, and pro­mot­ing the advan­tages of clon­al repro­duc­tion for sci­ence, forestry, and society’s cur­rent and future needs.

PInk-net