UF Hopes To Speed Solutions to Citrus Greening, Other Crop Diseases With New Center
University of Florida scientists plan to utilize $2 million from an initiative by UF President Ben Sasse for a Crop Transformation Center to help Florida farmers improve production of citrus and specialty crops.
For now, front and center among goals for the center is to find citrus varieties that can tolerate or even resist citrus greening disease, also known as Huanlongbing (HLB).
Growers are looking for solutions to the disease, which has caused a 70 percent to 80 percent reduction in production to Florida’s signature crop.
UF Part of Multi-Institutional, $22M Cereal Crops Project Funded by USAID
The U.S. Agency for International Development announced the creation of the Feed the Future Climate Resilient Cereals Innovation Lab, or CRCIL, to improve lives around the world by making cereal crops more readily available to those most at risk for hunger and malnutrition.
University of Florida researchers involved will focus on sorghum. Charlie Messina, UF/IFAS horticultural sciences professor — who is a leading expert in applying artificial intelligence to crop modeling and simulation techniques — will head the efforts from the Gainesville campus while utilizing the supercomputing powers of the UF HiPerGator.
USAID With Feed the Future Funding Awards UF/IFAS $2 Million To Strengthen One Health Research in East Africa
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) will lead a three-year, up to $2 million project to enhance understanding of the burden of brucellosis and main modes of disease transmission, as well as behavioral risk factors and gender dimensions in livestock and human populations in East Africa. Research results will help inform health policy options for disease prevention and control using a “One Health” approach. This initiative will target Rwanda and Kenya, with selected capacity to strengthen activities in Uganda.
‘Invisible Fence’ Keeps Cattle on Ranch, Helps Protect Environment
Jim Strickland, who manages Blackbeard’s Ranch in Myakka City, cares about cattle and believes in the value of science. Therefore, he's partnered with Joao Vendramini, an agronomy professor at the University of Florida Range Cattle Research and Education Center (REC), on an invisible fence for his ranch — a first-of-its-kind project in the Southeast.
UF Awarded $5 Million in NIFA Grants to Battle Citrus Greening Disease
University of Florida scientists will elevate their efforts to control citrus greening, with about $5 million in grants from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
BioMérieux Receives CE Mark for Biomarker Assay for Mild TBI
BioMérieux, which signed an agreement in 2017 with Banyan Biomarkers to commercialize its TBI assay, has obtained the CE Mark for its assay to detect two biomarkers associated with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).
UF/IFAS Scientists Seek To Lure Mosquitoes, Build Better Surveillance System for Southeast Region With USDA-NIFA Grant
Mosquitoes’ sense of smell tells them when humans and wildlife are in biting distance, according to science. Over time, scientists have learned which types of scents and fragrances can lure mosquitoes best.
Over the next two years, a team of researchers from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) will develop a low-cost mosquito trap to lure mosquitoes and create a web-based dashboard to improve surveillance across the southeast United States.
UF/IFAS Research: On the Verge of Developing a Domestic Industry for One of the World’s Most Valuable Spices
University of Florida researchers in Homestead are on the verge of developing a domestic vanilla industry, poised to transform agriculture in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands for interested small growers and investors.
Study Uncovers Gut Bacteria Differences in Children Who Later Develop Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
For the first time, scientists have shown that gut bacteria differences are associated with later development of juvenile idiopathic arthritis, a debilitating rheumatic childhood disease, and that these differences are present years before the disease is diagnosed.
UF/IFAS Researchers To Train Workforce Preventing Mosquito-Borne Disease Transmission
Three faculty members at the UF/IFAS Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL) recently received $8.5 million from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to manage mosquito-borne disease transmission. Increasingly prevalent diseases in the Southeast include West Nile fever and Zika, among others. New diseases are also likely to emerge in the future.
