Representatives from organizations linked through the African Orphan Crops Consortium met in Kenya recently and planted a jackfruit tree, symbolizing their goal of building a world where food security and peace go hand in hand.
Construction officially began on the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Center for Agricultural Innovation with a groundbreaking event on May 29, celebrating the future $64.4 million facility at the University of California, Davis.
Doctoral student Maria Rottersman joins a national fellowship this year that helps early-career scientists pursue their research and develop their careers in food science and agriculture.
Ana Zepeda has received a $7,300 grant to help women in southern Mexico plant a community garden. The garden is intended to provide better nutrition for their children and keep them in school.
Maeli Melotto and her team at the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences are looking for strains of lettuce that are genetically stronger at resisting bacteria that can make people sick. Their work has led to the identification of a gene that could play a role in the plant’s susceptibility to E. coli, a bacterium that causes potentially lethal intestinal illness.
Christine Diepenbrock, an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, and several researchers from Cornell, Michigan State, Purdue, and North Carolina State Universities have collaborated to identify and thoroughly dissect 11 genes underpinning natural variation in levels of carotenoids, including those with provitamin A activity, in maize kernels.
John E. Kinsella Endowed Chair in Food, Nutrition and Health
Faculty
Phytonutrient biochemistry and physiology; Biosynthesis, accumulation and function of carotenoids and polyphenols in plants; Targeted improvement of crop phytonutrient composition and content for enhanced nutritional and medicinal values.
Professor of Cooperative Extension and Emeritus Director, Postharvest Technology Center
Former Director of the USAID Horticulture Innovation Lab
Postharvest biology and technology of horticultural crops, including regulation of fruit ripening, calcium deficiency disorders, and postharvest control of insects in harvested products
