Danforth Center Receives $2.5M Grant to Improve Food Security in Africa
Cassava enhancement research and development at the Danforth Center continues to gain prominence, with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarding the Center a 5 year, $2.5 million grant. The funding will support the development of virus resistant cassava, a food staple that remains a primary source of calories for more than 250 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa. Cassava is an ideal plant for the harsh conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, as it can tolerate periods of drought and can grow in low- nutrient soils. However, diseases associated with the cassava plant have continued to cause problems for these farmers. Each year cassava farmers lose at least 30 percent of their crop to cassava mosaic disease (CMD) alone. Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) can be responsible for a complete loss of the harvest. Virus Resistance Cassava for Africa (VIRCA) is an ongoing collaboration between the Danforth Center and partners in Kenya and Uganda. The team is working to develop farmer-preferred cassava varieties with enhanced resistance to CMD and CBSD and deliver them to African smallholder farmers. Once ready, the new crops and technologies developed by VIRCA will be freely transferred to African partners, so that they will be able to repeat the work if they so wish. No royalties or licensing fees will be paid to the research team or institutions that provide the improved varieties.
A plant suffering from cassava mosaic disease in Uganda.
Danforth STARS Shine in Science Symposiums
The Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) program, sponsored by the University of Missouri – St. Louis, enables exemplary students and educators the unique opportunity to work in a laboratory research setting. The Danforth Center, as part of its mission to make St. Louis a world center for plant science, is one of the institutions to open its doors to those who may well become the next generation of scientists. Andrew Williams (Parkway South), Randall S. Ray II (Wentzville Holt) and Bridget Waller (Cor Jesu Academy), all 2008 STARS participants, received awards in 2009 based on the work they undertook while at the Center. The students won awards at places such
10
as the Greater St. Louis Science Fair: Honor’s Division, and the Missouri Regional Junior Science, Engineering, and Humanities Symposium. Both Waller and Ray were awarded an all expenses paid trip to the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Colorado, where Waller placed second in the Life Sciences Division, receiving a $6,000
Bridget Waller and Randy Ray
scholarship. Waller spoke positively about her experience the Danforth Center: “The researchers in the Wang laboratory taught me volumes
about careers in science. Next November, I plan to complete the online application for the Undergraduate Summer Intern Program and hope to continue learning at the Danforth Plant Science Center.”
2009 Annual Report
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40