Team:Lethbridge
World Food Shortage
By 2030 the Earth will have about 8.4 billion people living on it.
The UN estimates that we will need to increase agricultural production by 70% to feed the inhabitants of the world by 2050.
We need a better way to ensure the safety and productivity of our food supply across the globe.
Current Pesticides
In the past we have relied on pesticides to control species that damage our food supply. However, with the development of resistant pest species, harmful off-target effects, and persistence in the environment, and diminishing returns, conventional pesticides have shown themselves to be unsustainable for a growing planet.
Our Solution
We propose an alternative: a biosynthetic(?) pesticide that is:
- species specific
- cheap to produce
- easy to apply
- safe for the environment.
Design
RNA Interference mediated my double stranded RNA has been a powerful tool for research since it’s discovery. RNA is: transient, non-heritable, auto-hydrolyzing, making it the perfect molecule for pesticide use. Our goal is to produce highly pure and specific siRNAs to induce silencing in pest species using E.coli.
Results
SUMMARY OF ACHIEVEMNETS
Practices
We looked in depth into ethical issues surrounding our project, met with researchers, farmers, and pesticide producers.
Accomplishments
- Produced a modular system for purification of highly pure ds RNA and RNA.
- Addressed the human implications of RNA based pesticides.
- Check out how we met our medal criteria.
Who are we?
Meet the team behind the project.