Laura Boykin: How we're using DNA tech to help farmers fight crop diseases
劳拉·博伊金: 我们如何使用DNA科技来帮助农民抵抗作物疾病
TED Senior Fellow Laura Boykin uses technology to help farmers in East Africa have more food to feed their families. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
need more food.
需要更多的粮食。
farmers that feed us are hungry.
还要忍饥受饿,简直不可思议。
more diverse and inclusive.
the toughest challenges on the planet,
最艰难的挑战,
living in extreme poverty,
的粮食短缺,
and inclusive teams on the planet
和包容的团队一起,
and how is it going to help end hunger?
它将如何杜绝饥饿?
putting that together is a job.
在一起就成了一项工作。
from a young age.
basketball in college.
was I needed a work-study job.
to my dorm room.
旁边的建筑物,
it was the biology building.
to work in the herbarium.
my basketball schedule.
我的篮球时间表。
to figure out what an herbarium was.
什么是植物标本室。
dead, dried plants.
死了,干了的植物。
for hours on end.
将枯死的植物粘在纸上。
a computational biologist.
计算生物学家。
and biophysics group.
with the supercomputer,
of connected PCs on steroids,
of influenza and hepatitis C.
和丙性肝炎的复杂性。
that I saw the power
and biology combined, for humanity.
of my scientific career
for farmers in Africa.
为非洲的农民工作的。
in the plight to save cassava.
feed 800 million people globally.
能养活全球8亿人,
for their daily calories.
他们每天的卡路里。
has enough cassava,
有足够的木薯,
for important things like school fees,
换取重要的东西,如学费,
are devastating cassava.
of over 600 plants.
of plant viruses
for millions of people.
need some help.
small-scale family farmers,
小型家庭农场主,
to feed their families,
when the rains come.
们到木薯田里耕种。
pests and pathogens.
这些害虫和病原体。
some time on the ground
that could be helpful.
that are eaten for protein,
that are eaten for starch.
an entire year of income and food,
的收入和食物,
a long hunger season.
一个漫长的饥饿季节。
to plant in her field,
to those viruses and pathogens,
around the globe.
to uncover the complexities
for sub-Saharan Africa.
南非撒哈拉地带而设的。
and far between on the continent,
battling on the front lines no choice
的科学家不得不
over weak internet
to get the results back to the farmer.
的时间把结果送回农民手里。
and more hunger.
portable DNA sequencer
Oxford Nanopore MinION 的
in West Africa to fight Ebola.
in East Africa to help farmers?
replicate this on the farm.
农地里复制相似的结果。
get that to work in East Africa,
two of the best bottles of champagne
两瓶最好的香槟,
Kenya and Uganda,
和乌干达的农民们,
we gave ourselves a team name --
Action Project.
and computing communities,
requirements needed
on this stage here as well.
全都在这个舞台上。
closer to the problem,
使数据更贴近问题,
what was wrong with her plant.
她的植物出了什么问题。
and pathogens she has in her field.
抵抗力的植物品种。
was we had to do a DNA extraction.
是进行DNA提取。
"Pretty Damn Quick Extraction."
in doing a DNA extraction
very expensive equipment,
and prepare it into a library,
genomic sequencer,
微型超级计算机,
into a mini supercomputer,
into a portable battery pack.
of main power and internet,
on a small-scale family farm.
运作的局限因素。
can also be a problem.
a computational biologist came in handy.
的存在派上了用场。
in a real-world, real-time way.
以实时方式派上用场了。
results in three hours
that we're having impact?
我们的策略产生了影响呢?
zero tons per hectare
for her family.
3,000 people in her village,
帮助了她村子里的3000人,
and also the solution.
farmer I've ever met.
to help them become more food secure.
提升食品安全方面最好的尝试。
I would ever do in my life
in three hours versus six months,
而不再需要六个月,
of diversity and inclusion in science.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Laura Boykin - Computational biologist, activistTED Senior Fellow Laura Boykin uses technology to help farmers in East Africa have more food to feed their families.
Why you should listen
Dr. Laura Boykin is a TED Senior Fellow, Gifted Citizen and computational biologist who uses genomics and supercomputing to help smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa control whiteflies and viruses, which cause devastation to the local cassava crops. Cassava is a staple food that feeds more than 800 million people globally.
Boykin also works in partnership with African scientists to train local communities in genomics and high-performance computing skills, with the aim of tackling future insect and viral outbreaks. Recently, she founded The Cassava Virus Action Project along with collaborators in east Africa to roll out portable DNA sequencing and analyses to farmers in the region. Their mission is to increase cassava yields for 500 million farmers.
Laura Boykin | Speaker | TED.com