Science Allies - Biotechnology, Agriculture, Ecology, Health, and Critical Thinking

Latin America is a vast region with tremendous biodiversity as well as a growing population that needs to be fed. Yet 25 years after genetic engineering was introduced, the debate continues, with some LATAM countries imposing bans and restrictions. Now scientific innovation is taking the region on a different path. In a move to help Latin America realize its potential as a world power in food production,  farmers are partnering with scientists to create new crop varieties using gene editing techniques such as CRISPR-CAS 9.  In this webinar, we will have a conversation with LATAM scientists who currently are researching these new crop varieties in their laboratories. We will also discuss how existing genome editing regulation in the region will affect how quickly these crops get into the fields.  Join this conversation to learn what genome editing is, which crops are being gene-edited, why LATAM is investing in new breeding techniques and who is doing the research.  Panelists include: Claudia Stange Klein, a professor in the Department of Biology of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Chile whose research involves the use of biotechnology to improve fruit and vegetable crops; Alejandro Hernández, a research professor in genome editing and bioinformatics at TEC University in Costa Rica and regional director of biotechnology CA&C for CropLife who previously had position in government; and Paul Chavarriaga, leader of CIAT’s Genetic Transformation and Genome Edition Platform, the first to produce genetically edited rice and cassava (and soon beans) in Latin America,  Moderator: Luis Ventura, a biologist with expertise in biosafety and 2016 Cornell Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellow representing Mexico.

In late 2020, Nigeria released five new cassava varieties in Nigeria. Their names indicate their attributes for the farmer, cook or consumer: Game-Changer, Hope, Obasanjo-2, Baba-70 and Poundable.  Join NextGen project leader Chiedozie Egesi and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture plant breeders Ismail Rabbi and Siraj Kayondo as they talk about these new varieties of cassava and their potential to improve food security and household incomes.  Tessy Madu, a research scientist at the National Root Crops Research Institute, will address the gender-specific benefits of these new varieties.

What challenges in global food systems, agriculture and the environment will the incoming Biden administration inherit? What opportunities for impact can be utilized across different sociocultural contexts and geographies? Will the richest country in the world be able to realize an inclusive development paradigm that reduces poverty for men, women and children from the Sahel through South Asia to Central America? Will small holder farmers be given the tools they need to sustainably manage their land while producing enough to make a profit?  According to the World Health Organization, global hunger was on the rise prior to the emergence of COVID-19. Almost 700 million people went hungry in 2019, and the pandemic is estimated to push an additional 130 million people into food security. Three billion people currently cannot afford a healthy diet, and in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, this is true for 57 percent of the population.  On the production side, the Food and Agriculture Organization found that the COVID-19 pandemic is substantially affecting market access for smallholder producers. Amidst these difficulties, farmers can expect to be continually challenged by climate change, depleted soils, stiff competition in markets, and emerging threats from agricultural pests and diseases. Join Colin Christensen and Arif Hossain as they discuss these compelling issues.   Colin Christensen is the global policy director of the One Acre Fund, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that provides financing and training to 1 million smallholder farmers in six countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.   Arif Hossain is the executive director of Farming Future Bangladesh, a communications and community engagement initiative that works to improve access to agricultural innovations to ensure sustainable food security. He holds a post-graduate degree in international relations from the University of Dhaka and is a 2015 Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellow.

Latino América es una región rica en biodiversidad y contrastes. Países con el más alto nivel de producción de OGMs en el mundo coexisten con países que han prohibido los cultivos genéticamente modificados a nivel Constitucional. Se parte de esta charla con cuatro científicos latinoamericanos que abordarán el pasado, el presente y el futuro de los OGMs en sus regiones. Los panelistas Lucia de Souza de Brasil, Daniel Domínguez de México, Sherly Montaguth de Colombia y Marcelo Castro de Costa Rica también hablarán sobre los desafíos que enfrentan los científicos latinoamericanos en la búsqueda de incrementar la adopción de la innovación en los campos agrícolas de la región. Luis Ventura de México y Global Leadership Fellow de la Alliance for Science, moderará la plática.

Using the tools of biotechnology, Cornell University researcher Dennis Gonsalves, now retired, bred a papaya resistant to the destructive ringspot virus. It was the first genetically modified commercial crop developed by a public sector scientist, and it saved Hawaii’s papaya farmers from ruin. In this program, Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellows discuss the GM papaya from three different perspectives. In this broadcast, Joni Kamia talks about the modified papaya's success on her family’s farm on Oahu, Luis Ventura explores its potential in Mexico and Guido Nunez-Mujica will shares its tragic tale in Venezuela.

What is it like to be a black woman scientist? Do they feel invincible, less than their colleagues or like they belong? Are they in a constant battle to prove themselves, or do they feel free to focus on the thing they love – science? How do they deal with the stereotypes associated with being female, as well as those associated with being black? Though the number of black women in STEM remains low, it has increased since the 1990s. Dr. Diana Nanyumba, a Ugandan medical doctor based in the United Kingdom, will be conversing with Esther Ngumbi, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. They’ll discuss what it means to be a black woman in a field traditionally dominated by men and a few white women.

In the fourth of our “GMO firsts” series we discuss insect-resistant (Bt) cowpea — the first genetically modified (GM) food crop unique to Africa and the first GM food crop to be commercially approved in Nigeria. This crop, which is a protein-rich staple food for millions, represents a major food security milestone for Nigeria and West Africa.  In this broadcast, Nkechi Isaac, a Nigerian journalist and Alliance for Science correspondent,  Dr. Rose Gidado, assistant director of the Agricultural Biotechnology Department at the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and Nigerian Country Coordinator for the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), and Prof. Mohammad Ishiyaku, principal investigator of the cowpea project at the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, discuss the nutritional importance of cowpea as a “poor man’s meat,” the effectiveness of Bt cowpea in reducing pesticide use and the status of getting improved seeds out to Nigeria’s farmers.

In the third of our “GMO firsts” series we discuss the AquAdvantage salmon — the world’s first and only genetically modified animal approved for food. The AquAdvantage salmon grows to market weight in about half the time of a typical salmon, improving its sustainability. Join AquaBounty CEO Sylvia Wulf and Greg Jaffe, associate director of policy and regulatory affairs for the Cornell Alliance for Science, as they discuss the development of the salmon and its long regulatory journey to earn approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration.

In the inaugural session of our “GMO Firsts” series, Tony Shelton of Cornell University and Arif Hossain of Farming Future Bangladesh takes us down memory lane to 2013, when Bangladesh commercialized Bt brinjal (eggplant), South Asia’s first GMO food crop. They share how and why the idea of a transgenic brinjal was conceived, discuss the institutions and researchers behind its creation, explain the long process that led finally to deregulation and share the excitement of the big day when Bt brinjal was planted in a farmer’s field. The broadcast wraps up with some figures on how Bt brinjal has changed farmers’ livelihoods and health. Did you know that Bt brinjal brought about a 77 percent reduction in pesticide use? Register and listen to this amazing “GMO Firsts” story.

Dr. William (Bill) Powell, director of the American Chestnut Research & Restoration Project at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and Dr. Jared Westbrook, director of science at the American Chestnut Foundation, discuss the campaign to win regulatory approval for the blight-tolerant chestnut tree as the first genetically modified tree used in environmental conservation use in the US. The talk is be moderated by Sara Fitzsimmons, director of restoration at the American Chestnut Foundation.  If you’d like to support the GM chestnut, the USDA is accepting public comments through October 19, 2020 at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/08/19/2020-18135/state-university-of-new-york-college-of-environmental-science-and-forestry-petition-for#open-comment