OBSIDIAN

Full name:

Organic Biodiversity Solutions Driving Innovation in Agriculture and Nutrition

Appointment of the team:

2025

As food insecurity grows among humans, it is important to find solutions for making local food production systems stronger and more resilient, especially to extreme weather and climate conditions.

The OBSIDIAN project focuses on the creation and implementation of Organic Biodiversity Solutions, which are compatible with organic and regenerative agriculture, combining resilient crops with native, patent-ready bio-inoculants.

The goal of the initiative is restoration of soil functions and rebuilding biodiversity in order to provide safe and nutritious food. The team’s research begins in the lab with discovering new inoculants, and ends with field trials, testing the conditions the plants are able to grow under.

Team Leader

Katarzyna Hrynkiewicz

Bio:

Katarzyna Hrynkiewicz is a Full Professor and the Head of Department of Microbiology at the Institute of Biology at NCU. She is the author and co-author of over 300 original publications (as of June 2026), and the principal investigator and researcher on Polish and international projects. Professor Hrynkiewicz is also a member of the Biotechnology Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Her scientific interests include broadly understood issues related to interactions between microorganisms and plants. The conducted research concerns determining the taxonomic and functional biodiversity of microorganisms, isolation and identification of microorganisms, selection of microorganisms that promote plant growth (PGPR) and participate in biocontrol processes, and determination of metabolites of microbial origin important from the point of view of interactions with plants.