• To Feed the Future we must first seed the future.
  • Professor wit Graduate Student
  • Smallholder Female Farmer
  • A Global Center of Excellence

Welcome to the ISU Seed Science Center

More than 100 Years of Excellence in Seed Testing, Research, and Outreach

The Seed Science Center at Iowa State University is a center of excellence nationally and internationally in seed research, education, technology transfer, and international seed programs. It provides a focus for teaching, research, and extension programs on seed in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and it is a global leader in introducing science into policy to benefit world seed trade.

Directed by Dr. Misra, the Seed Science Center is home to the largest public seed testing laboratory in the world. For more than 100 years, the lab has provided accurate and professional seed-testing services for members of the seed industry.

Seed Science Center faculty members are committed to providing quality research and education to produce the next generation of leaders in the seed industry. Faculty specializing in seed physiology, seed pathology, risk management, and seed conditioning conduct cutting-edge research projects in sustainable agriculture, biotechnology, crop utilization, computer technologies, microbiology, toxicology, and molecular biology.   

Working to provide access to quality seed, facilitating seed trade, and promoting the growth and development of the seed industry are important missions of the Center's Global Programs. In the past 20 years, center scientists have designed and conducted programs in more than 80 countries around the world to achieve these goals.

For more information about the Seed Science Center at Iowa State University, contact seedsci@iastate.edu.

 

News

December 15, 2022
The Graduate Program in Seed Technology and Business (STB) at Iowa State University (ISU) has had an exciting and productive 2022 and are ending the year with a big celebration! In November of 2022 the STB program celebrated its 100th graduate with Nick Wilmoth successfully defending his final creative component on developing seedling assays to determine the effectiveness of seed treatments...
November 4, 2022
AMES, Iowa – Iowa State University (ISU) Junior in agronomy and agribusiness, Christopher Meyer, is named as the 2022 David Lambert “Hunger Fighter” scholar.   Administered by the ISU Seed Science Center (SSC), the $1,000 “Hunger Fighter” scholarship is awarded to one sophomore or junior each year who exhibits a demonstrated interest in seed science, global food security, and/or...
November 3, 2022
AMES, Iowa – National Seed Health System co-director and professor of seed pathology Gary Munkvold, is part of a team awarded $150,000 by The Iowa Soybean Research Center (ISRC) in support of soybean research project at Iowa State University. Munkvold and Professor Larry Halverson will use the funding to study the effects of soybean seed treatments on the seed and soil microbiome. Munkvold, who...