Talking Biotech with Dr. Kevin Folta

In this special edition of the Talking Bitotech Podcast Dr. Kevin Folta covers recent topics in COVID19.  These topics are pulled from the headlines and distilled to that you can better communicate t…

Grafting is an age-old practice of connecting a set of roots to an aerial portion of a separate plant.  Together they typically exhibit enhanced productivity, disease resistance, or other trait that …

As of 3/11/2020 COVID-19 is emerging as a significant health threat worldwide.  This pandemic is on the rise, and public health suffers from politicized spin, misinformation, and a lack of good infor…

Seasonal influenza causes thousands of deaths annually.  Part of the problem is that the vaccine must be administered annually because the virus presents different immunological faces to avoid detect…

Plants produce a variety of oils, many that are critical to the human diet.  The precise chemical qualities of plant oils dictate its stability, use, nutrient quality, or even its use as fuel.  Dr. S…

The gene editing explosion has accelerated discovery, food and therapies by defining a new toolbox of useful ways to manipulate DNA.  The “Cas” series of enzymes are the core machinery of the editing…

In the first part of today’s podcast Dr. Kayleen Schreiber and Jon Entine discuss the latest addition to the Genetic Literacy Project, a website called the Global Gene Editing Regulation Tracker.  Th…

 Dr. Ilaria Capua is an internationally recognized virologist, and a world expert in avian influenza and other animal viruses.  Following her effort to make genetic information about viruses more acc…

The American Society of Plant Biologists is the largest professional society for plant biologists.  Dr. Mary Williams discusses some of the ways that ASPB can mentor young scientists, develop careers…

Like many areas of science, the early days of genomics quickly became a male-dominated discipline.  While more women were earning advanced degrees and training in this area, fewer were finding a plac…

Cassava is a staple food crop in Africa and Asia, yet is widely unknown by the industrialized world.  While almost a billion people depend on this crop, production is limited by a series of diseases,…

I’ve dreaded this day.  I have not missed a Saturday in a long time, but after being told to end the series by the institution I have not been able to find someone that can do the work to host the po…

Kenya is an emerging economy and has significant investment in advanced technologies.  However, a 2013 ban on biotech crops has limited farmer access to the most needed technologies for the field.  T…

Dr. Stuart Smyth is no stranger to anyone that has watched social media.  As a leading ag economist he has consistently represented science and technology fairly and accurately, and tethered to his p…

The cowpea is a high-protein food staple in parts of Africa, particularly in the growing countries of Nigeria, Niger, and Burkina-Fasso. Production is predominantly on small holder farms.  Production…

There is a massive amount of human genomic DNA sequence data, and it is now possible to identify correlates with specific disease, drug sensitivity and physiological variation.  The concept of “genom…

 Nitrogen is essential for crop growth.  That reality has led to intensive crop fertilization using nitrogen fixed through the Haber-Bosch process, which has energy costs in production and transport.…

While the country of Australia has been growing genetically-engineered crops for over 15 years, the state of South Australia has banned their use.  This moratorium has been in place since 2004, and r…

The genomics era has generated tremendous data sets, yet the information they reveal is limited by the human biases that search them.  Are there ways to examine complex data sets for hidden patterns …

There is an unfortunate side to egg production.  Only female chickens produce eggs, so layers are selected at hatching.  Chicks are sexed with a vent inspection. Females are kept for egg production. …