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High school students participating in the Biotechnology Learning Alliance for Bioscience (LAB) Program at Ohlone College. Get information at www.ohlone.edu/instr/biotech/labprogram/
Esteban Falconà (right), cereals program leader for Ecuador’s National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP), at work in a new biotechnology lab established at INIAP's Santa Catalina Experiment Station, not far from the city of Quito, Ecuador.
Until 2008, wheat research in Ecuador was in decline, as was wheat cultivation, thanks to cheap imports. While other staples were relatively unaffected, the global food price crisis of 2008 revealed this hole in the country's food security. When wheat prices spiked, Ecuador's government cushioned the blow by temporarily subsidizing imported wheat at great cost. Its long-term response was to institute a vigorous program to revitalize the nation's wheat production. Working with INIAP, the government set out realistic goals and provided about USD 4.3 million over 5 years for intensified wheat research and promotion.
The central aim of the new initiative is to expand Ecuador’s wheat area to about 50,000 hectares, enough to satisfy at least 30% of domestic demand, up from 3%. Less than two years after the 2008 decision, INIAP was already releasing improved varieties, the first in Ecuador since the early 1990s, including Vivar for southern Ecuador and San Jacinto for the country’s central and northern zones, both based on CIMMYT materials.
INIAP was able to release Vivar and San Jacinto so soon after the start of the initiative for two reasons. One was the government’s decision to thoroughly refurbish INIAP’s research infrastructure as well as to hire and train dozens more scientists and technicians. Equally crucial was CIMMYT’s unswerving support for local wheat research even during its time of relative dormancy in Ecuador. If that service had ceased, INIAP’s new wheat team would have been forced to start essentially from scratch, adding many years to the process of variety development.
Photo credit: Nathan Russell/CIMMYT.
For more information, see CIMMYT's 2010 e-news story "Ecuador's wheat awakening," available online at: www.cimmyt.org/en/about-us/media-resources/newsletter/872....
View of the remaining twilight from the parking garage 40 minutes after sunset overlooking the bridge to the Byrd Biotechnology Center at Marshall University in Huntington, WV.
Running during the 2012 Toronto Fringe Festival, Where You Become New is a celebration of the members of ByoLogyc's Versatile Intern Program, and a sneak peek into the future of biotechnological innovation...
Monsanto Company is a publicly traded American multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. It is a leading producer of genetically engineered (GE) seed and of the herbicide glyphosate, which it markets under the Roundup brand. Founded in 1901 by John Francis Queeny, by the 1940s it was a major producer of plastics, including polystyrene and synthetic fibers. Notable achievements by Monsanto and its scientists as a chemical company included breakthrough research on catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation and being the first company to mass-produce light emitting diodes (LEDs). The company also formerly manufactured controversial products such as the insecticide DDT, PCBs, Agent Orange, and recombinant bovine somatotropin.
Monsanto was among the first to genetically modify a plant cell, along with three academic teams, which was announced in 1983, and was among the first to conduct field trials of genetically modified crops, which it did in 1987. It remained one of the top 10 U.S. chemical companies until it divested most of its chemical businesses between 1997 and 2002, through a process of mergers and spin-offs that focused the company on biotechnology.
Monsanto was a pioneer in applying the biotechnology industry business model to agriculture, using techniques developed by Genentech and other biotech drug companies in the late 1970s in California. In this business model, companies invest heavily in research and development, and recoup the expenses through the use and enforcement of biological patents. Monsanto's application of this model to agriculture, along with a growing movement to create a global, uniform system of plant breeders' rights in the 1980s, came into direct conflict with customary practices of farmers to save, reuse, share and develop plant varieties. Its seed patenting model has also been criticized as biopiracy and a threat to biodiversity. Monsanto's role in these changes in agriculture (which include its litigation and its seed commercialization practices), its current and former agbiotech products, its lobbying of government agencies, and its history as a chemical company, have made Monsanto controversial.
Legal actions and controversies
Monsanto is notable for its involvement in high profile lawsuits, as both plaintiff and defendant. It has been involved in a number of class action suits, where fines and damages have run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, usually over health issues related to its products. Monsanto has also made frequent use of the courts to defend its patents, particularly in the area of agricultural biotechnology.
On 25 May 2013, rallies against Monsanto took place. According to organizers, rallies were planned in 52 countries and 436 cities, and their goal was to protest against Monsanto and the genetically modified food it produces.