A team of 12 students from SupBiotech is spearheading a fundraising initiative to fight against Beet Yellows Virus (BYV) threatening sugar beet crops. This is organised within the scope of the CAP’siRNA project, as part of the international iGEM competition, which specialises in synthetic biology.
Sugar beets represent a quarter of global sugar production and “play an essential role in bioethanol production”. This issue is critical to highlight as beet crops are heavily impacted by BYV, which has resulted in up to 40% sugar yield loss.
The goal of this fundraiser is to aid the team via the CAP’siRNA project to develop an effective solution to eliminating the BYV, drawing inspiration from natural plant defence mechanisms using a developed technology to reinforce sugar beet defences to fend off the virus.
All donations will go directly to the student team via the association iGEM IONIS and be utilised to finance various project aspects and activities such as market research, printing presentation materials and laboratory research.
To find out more information about the great work that CAP’siRNA is doing and to donate to their fundraiser, click here (in French): https://www.helloasso.com/associations/igem-ionis/collectes/cap-sirna-des-betteraves-protegees-du-sucre-a-volonte
