By BRENDAN WEDLEY, PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER
July 18, 2009
Trent University researchers and a team from a Japanese research institute are working together to try to feed the world, a Trent professor says.
The researchers from Trent and the Riken institute for research in science and technology in Japan are trying to increase the yields of rice, wheat, barley and corn.
Hitoshi Sakakibara, a Riken researcher, left Peterborough today after a two-day visit. Trent University graduate students who are involved in the project presented seminars on their work to Sakakibara, and Sakakibara discussed the progress being made by the Riken team.
The Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation gave the project $96,500 to pay for two trips to Japan for Trent professor Neil Emery, and possibly one of his graduate students, plus trips to as many as four international conferences to share information.
An international conference on crop-yield research will be held in Peterborough in October next year.
Sakakibara emphasized the importance of being able to physically meet with the Trent team to discuss its research.
"This kind of communication stimulates each other," he said. "New ideas often come up.
"Face-to-face meetings, or discussions, are real important."
The project is organized by the Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster at Trent University.
Sakakibara is an international leader in identifying the plant genes that are associated with the yield that the plant produces, said Innovation Cluster innovation director Danielle Rocheleau, adding Sakakibara's discoveries could lead to a 40% increase in rice crop yields.
"It's a very new area of research. Neil and Dr. Sakakibara are very much in the initial phases of something that can really change food sustainability, hopefully, in the future," she said.
Emery and Sakakibara arrived in Peterborough on Wednesday from a conference in Prague, which the Trent professor was able to attend because of the Ministry of Research and Innovation grant.
"It's supposed to bring together the best researchers from Ontario with the best in the world," Emery said, referring to the project. "Usually we're getting grants for research activity, to pay for lab work and so on, but this is for us to meet, exchange ideas, to learn from each other and to work together."
It's about "feeding the world," Emery said.
"I think we're on a hot path of research," he said.
Emery visited Sakakibara at Riken in Japan in October.
Sakakibara explained that the Trent researchers have a special platform to analyze the product of genes.
When the Riken team identifies a specific gene with a mutation that they believe could be associated with increased crop yields, the information is shared with Trent for analysis, he said.
The food industry will be invited to the conference in Peterborough next year to try to encourage businesses to take advantage of the research, Emery said.
"Everyone's frustrated. We have great ideas and they're not getting transferred into products. We're not getting higher yielding crops based on our knowledge because the transfer's so difficult," he said.
Posted with permission from The Peterborough Examiner