Print This PagePledge Award Winner: Enabling Virus-Resistant Papaya and Sweet Potato in Asia
Stan Flasinski, a Monsanto researcher in St. Louis, collaborated with local nonprofit research teams in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, India, the Philippines and Malaysia to leverage Monsanto expertise and create viral-resistant papaya and sweet potato varieties, now in field evaluations. His work raised the researchers’ abilities to enable crop transformation techniques, address biotechnology regulatory issues, conduct biosafety risk assessments, manage intellectual property, and increase regional networking. Now, these countries have greater capacity to practice viral control in the field. This project can be a model for additional disease collaborations that affect small acreage, subsistence crops that are integral to many Asian communities. Ultimately, the training Flasinski delivered enables local researchers to have more autonomy in future projects.
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