Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta

  Tweet   Sickle cell disease is an inherited condition that predominantly affects people of African descent. The disease results in chronic pain and early death, and is caused by a misfolding of oxygen-toting hemoglobin, a central protein in red blood cells.  Vertex Pharmaceuticals and the CRISPR Therapeutics companies have combined to test a potential therapy.  A patients stem cells are gene edi...

Products move from producer to consumer through complicated networks called supply chains.  These routes of custody involve many people and organizations, and oftentimes cross international borders.  All of these product touch-points are opportunity for contamination or willful adulteration of the product.  High value products like authentic high-end wine, honey or olive oil can be diluted with le...

What is the current state of the devastating citrus greening disease, Huanglongbing (HLB).  Dr. Jude Grosser from the University of Florida Citrus Research and Education Center discusses the current state of the disease, the current therapies and the future possibilities of leveraging genetics and nutrition to help keep citrus in production. # COLABRA Talking Biotech is brought to you by Colabra –...

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the causal agent of the spectrum of disorders known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).  For decades, those infected have found relief from anti-retroviral therapies that suppress viral numbers.  However, the treatments are difficult, require strict compliance and are not 100% efficacious.  New therapies have been developed that target the virus...

Bangladesh is a population dense country with relatively little farmland.  Subsistence farmers make a living by growing, harvesting and selling brinjal, or the fruit westerners know as the eggplant.  The biggest threat to production is the fruit and shoot borer, an insect larvae that digs into the fruit, leaving its waste, and inviting pathogens and decay.  To combat this, farmers traditionally us...

The African continent is emerging in many ways, yet still is developing economically.  Technology is a huge part of the African transformation, yet farmers there are often forbidden to use crop technologies that were developed for Africa, by African scientists and governments.  The resistance is rooted in a vigorous disinformation campaign by European NGOs that spread fear, uncertainty and doubt a...

Bacteria  surround us and have specialized functions in adaptation and metabolism.  Could they be helpful as micro machines that catalyze key reactions?  Could teams of collaborating bacteria be combined to perform important industrial processes?  Dr. Sarah Richardson from MicroByre asks that question. She is in the business of bacterial discovery and domestication, bringing wild bacteria that per...

Pork production worldwide is limited by a series of viral pig diseases that slow growth, cause illness and restrict reproduction.  One of these is known as PRRS, Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome.  PRRS has a massive cost to producers, as they either have to manage the disease or spend significant resources in vaccination and biosecurity.  Dr. Christine Burkard of the Roslin Institute...

While Indian farmers have realized benefits from GE cotton, food crops have been forbidden from this growing country.  Their neighbor to the west, Bangladesh, has realized great gains from the “Bt” Brinjal (eggplant).  Farmers there used to spray 80-100 times a season to protect their crop. In 2014 the Agriculture Minister approved the “Bt” Brinjal, a variety that protects itself from the pest usi...

The war against agricultural biotechnology shifted in the last several years.  Carefully constructed steps by those opposed to technology have managed to malign a relatively innocuous compound– the herbicide glyphosate.  The compound is used in many applications, from GE crops to drying down some grains prior to harvest.  Armed with analytical chemistry, activist groups claim to detect glyphosate...

The visions of Jurassic Park are an extrapolation of actual research being performed all over the world.  Research has shown that avian dinosaurs (birds) possess latent genes that can be re-activated to restore forelimbs, hands and teeth. Dr. Jack Horner is a world-renowned paleontologist that has been involved in the efforts to adjust modern avian traits to demonstrate morphological f Brain Bar i...

Technology is exploding in all areas of life, but sadly has been slow to reach agriculture.  We are stuck in the rhythms of old unsustainable practices.  But things are changing quickly thanks to data, robotics, revival of old practices, new technologies and better genetics.  This episode is Kevin Folta speaking to Brain Bar in Budapest, Hungary, May 30, 2019. # COLABRA Talking Biotech is brought...

There is sad irony that the African continent has the most potential benefit from crop biotechnology, yet has the least access to the technology.  The bottlenecks are political, not scientific, as excellent technology is being developed and procured by African agricultural technology groups. Much of the anti-biotech sentiment is shaped by U.S. and E.U. non-governmental organizations, particularly...

Blackberries are a popular, healthy fruit with increasing availability to the consumer.  Over the last century significant progress has been made in its genetic improvement.  In this episode the history, breeding efforts and future of blackberry are discussed by Dr. Chad Finn, USDA-ARS Plant Geneticist and Small Fruit Breeder. # COLABRA Talking Biotech is brought to you by Colabra – an R&D pla...

Huanglongbing, or HLB, is the Chinese term for the Yellow Dragon Disease– usually referred to as Citrus Greening.  The disease first appeared in the USA in the Miami area in 2005, and since has spread to every grove.  The disease is a terminal infection of the tree, culminating in its decline and death. Currently there is no cure. The Florida industry is crashing, the disease is found across citru...

Dr. Linda Bartoshuk has been recognized as an expert on interactions between the smell, taste, psychology and the brain for many decades.  While so important to our experiences, smell and taste are poorly understood by the general public.  Dr. Bartoshuk explains some of these important nuances of how we sense the world around us, and how that integrates with perception and liking. In the second pa...

I was very excited to be participating in the Southern Seed School here in Gainesville, FL.  I had talks prepared on three cool topics– the history of the University of Florida plant breeding programs, plant breeding and genetic improvement, and new crops for Florida.  I was not being compensated for my time on a Sunday, which is perfect. The group was a a paying audience of plant enthusiasts and...

Cowpea is a critical crop in Western Africa.  It is consumed by millions daily, but also feeds livestock, all the while providing important nitrogen fixation for the farm.  Cowpea cultivation is threatened by Maruca vitrata, a butterfly who’s caterpillar stage feasts on the beans within the cowpea pod. Scientists in Nigeria have implemented a strategy using the Bt protein to fight against this pes...

One of the limiting factors in photosynthesis is the plant’s ability to take up carbon dioxide to assimilate into carbohydrates. At least part of the problem is the size of the small pores, or stomata, that are used for gas exchange between the inside of the leaf and the outside environment. Pore size is dictated by guard cells, two sausage-shaped cells that swell and deflate to open the pore.  Th...

Sleep remains a mystery to science, as it is a state where an organism is vulnerable to potentially deadly forces.  It therefore must be important to physiology and survival.  Prof. Lior Appelbaum and his team have examined the effect of sleep on brain activity using zebrafish embryos.  Chromosomes were colored for visualization, and dynamic movements are imaged for analysis. The results show that...

Soybeans are legumes that produce abundant oil.   The oils have been popular for consumers and in food service, but they could have improved performance in cooking applications and also did not have the heart-healthy profiles of other plant-derived oils.  With a simple genetic tweak scientists were able to radically change the oil content of soybean oil to high oleic content.  This type of oil has...

The transgenic, fast-growing salmon was first developed in 1989.  The goal was simple, use fish genes to remove seasonal growth effects, with the hopes of creating a fish that could grow faster.  Faster growth means fewer resources to produce an equivalent amount or finished food product. This results in greater availability of a sustainable, consistent, high quality source of salmon, a great prot...

Anthony Warner is known as The Angry Chef, achieving notoriety as a food-fad/social critic.  He has roots in biochemistry and trained as a chef, with years of experience in a variety of cooking venues. He is recognized for his books, columns and blogs, where he provides scientifically consistent critical analysis of current food trends and historical food foibles. His new book is entitled The Trut...

Today’s graduate students understand that participation in science communication can significantly enhance a scientific career.  While there are challenges, the idea of being willing to share science with the public can have tremendous benefits, yet there are few universities that stress the mechanics and psychology of public engagement.  The Cornell Alliance for Science held a science communicati...

Military preparedness means testing ammunition and ordinates in controlled field trials, as well as decommissioning of obsolete weaponry.  The result is a significant environmental deposit of residues of TNT and RDX, two explosives used in the production of military hardware. These compounds are environmentally persistent and leach into groundwater. They represent significant environmental toxins...