MEDIA STATEMENT Wednesday 30th September 2015
“ZERO HUNGER” A GLOBAL GOAL FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIAN RESEARCHER
Dr Laura Boykin spoke at the United Nations Headquarters in New York last weekend about how her research will play a role in tackling the Global Goal of “zero hunger”.
Dr Boykin, a Research Fellow at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology and the University of Western Australia’s School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was chosen as one of 14 people from around the globe to present her work to world leaders as part of the Solutions Summit.
The Solutions Summit, described as a “catalytic gathering”, was part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit held last weekend. It marked the beginning of a global effort to support those who are tackling 17 Global Goalsby recognising that exceptional innovators, including scientists, technologists and engineers are developing solutions that can address one or more of these goals.
Dr Boykin and her research team use genomics and supercomputing to help smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa control whiteflies,which cause devastation to local cassava crops.
800 million people globally depend on cassava for their daily calories. Estimates of cassava production losses across East and Central African countries as a result of whitefly-mediated destruction have been put as high as 47%. Suchdevastation is leaving many without food.
Dr Boykin hopes that her work will play a part in tacking Global Goal 2: Zero Hunger. The goal is to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”.
Using genetic data to understand the whitefly’s evolution, Dr Boykin’s research has demonstrated important genetic differences in various whitefly species. This speciation information is used by researchers and breeders to ensure farmersare givenvarieties of cassava crop resistant to the appropriate whitefly species they are encountering.
Cassava crop destruction results not only in hunger but also in annual lossesof more than US$1.25 billion to small scale family farmers in Africa. As such, Dr Boykin’s research will also help to tackle the Global Goal of eradicating poverty.
Dr Boykinis also working to equip African scientists with a greater knowledge of genomics and the high-performance computing skills needed to tackle future insect outbreaks.
“My plan is to empower African scientists with genomics and high performance computing skills to not only tackle the whitefly/cassava issue but also future insect problems” says Dr Boykin.
The UN Sustainable Development Summit was attended by more than 150 Heads of State and Government and was designed to turn attention toward breakthrough solutions for achieving the Global Goals.
“Our team uses supercomputing and genomics to help smallholder farmers and I am convinced other technology innovators have ideas on how we can improve our pipelines” she says. “I would like to connect with other change-makers who are working to improve food security globally”.
To learn more about Dr Boykin’s research see:
MEDIA REFERENCE:
Laura Boykin(Research Fellow, UWA School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, ARC CoE in Plant Energy Biology), +61 8 6488 4488
Dr Laura Boykin’s research will help to tackle a number ofimportant Global Goals. Image credit: Agnes Nakirya.