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Asked by anon-241335 to Ross, Natalia, Martin, Gabriela, Ellie, Chukwuka on 13 Mar 2020.
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Eleanor Spence answered on 13 Mar 2020:
My current research is focused on control of the glasshouse whitefly. They are a teeny (~1mm) species but can cause extensive damage to crops and horticultural plants. With increasing pressure on farmers to reduce chemical insecticide usage, I am investigating the potential to use an alternative method of control. Entomopathogenic fungi are capable of being applied much like a chemical pesticide, but they are naturally occurring insect killers. Unfortunately, they also are limited in usage due to their slow rate of kill and their need for specific conditions like high humidity.
This is important because pests like these quickly develop resistance to chemical pesticides but they have no resistance to fungi. We need to find sustainable and non-harmful ways of producing food!
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Martin Johnsson answered on 13 Mar 2020:
I have the privilege of collaborating with some breeding companies and organizations, which means that if we discover something useful, they could use that, and potentially affect farms all over the world. 🙂
In the best case, that might mean make a lot of pigs or chickens a little bit more productive, or a little bit healthier. Breeding only makes small differences each generation, but they add up over time.
Of course, a lot of research projects don’t end up leading to practical improvements, but at least we learn things in the process.
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Ross Alexander answered on 13 Mar 2020:
Excellent question. My research is really based around food security. The planet faces huge problems with climate change and this is gonna affect our food supply.
So my research is trying to make plants / crops that can survive this change in climate so that we can have enough food to eat.
I used to work on really fundamental stuff that was interesting but had no real world application, so I tried very hard to get back to plants
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