Development of a novel Saccharomyces yeast RNAi production and delivery platform

Heavy pesticide and antibiotic use are prevalent in modern agriculture and is an essential requirement to feed the ever-increasing human population. Their increased use, however, has also resulted in a loss of ecological biodiversity, environmental contamination, emerging pesticide/antibiotic resistance and is an economic burden to farmers, especially in low income nations. The research proposed aims to develop novel alternative agricultural bio-control technology centered around Baker’s yeast, a common and non-toxic organism used in baking and brewing. This technology has the potential to be pest/disease specific, more efficient and stable, cost-effective and completely non-toxic to the environment; furthermore, this technology would also address a significant need in Canada and the world and would put Canada on the map as a world leader in a rapidly growing market.

Intern: 
Cassidy Erdelyan
Kyle Lewald
Yvonne Pang
Mahdis Monajemi
David Giesbrecht
Faculty Supervisor: 
Laura Sly
Douglas Allan
Steven Whyard
Province: 
British Columbia
Sector: 
Partner University: 
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