A biologist at UNC-Chapel Hill is one of 15 scientists chosen to join a national plant research program. Dr. Jeff Dangl studies how plants recognize and respond to diseases. His research is part of a $75 million grant awarded last week by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Dangl says the program has wide implications for human health and the environment.
Dr. Jeff Dangl: "About 30 percent of the world's harvest on average is lost to pathogens every year. And so there's a lot of wasted energy that we could save and a lot of water that we could save if we could combat plant diseases more effectively."
Sponsors say the grant is designed to improve world nutrition and energy efficiency over the next five years.