THANK YOU!
Any Questions?
Goals & Objectives
- Ignorance is the major problem
- Her mission is to do the best research and disseminate as much as possible
- Make politicians and governments aware of this issue
- Schools need to introduce it into the curriculum
- Early detection is very necessary
- The scanners that detects different crop pathogens needs to extend to multiple countries
- 'Surveillance and protection is the way ahead'
Women in Science
- Women represent 13% of employees in STEM (Sciences Technology Engineering and Mathematics) occupations.
- Prof Gurr's has experienced what it is like to be a woman in science.
- Some steps are being taken towards gender equality such as the Athena SWAN charter that tries to promote women in science by making the life work balance easier.
Dynamic Nature of the Pathogen Wall
- Fungi are closer to animals than plants
- One feature that makes them unique is the cell wall
- If the fungal cell wall is targeted with an anti fungal, this would be a strong strategy for protecting crops
Pest & Pathogen Movement
Food Security
- Worked on beta-lactam antibiotics
- Worked on the pathway which makes penicillin from 2 fungi that make penicillin
- Her idea was that if it can be controlled better, beta-lactam antibiotics could be made more efficiently
- Prof. Gurr spent her research career looking at major pathogens, which are almost all fungal
- Pesticides are the main problem with regard to pest and pathogen movement
- 10% of our food is lost to bacterial disease post harvest
- this would be a major problem for the developing world but not the developed world
- Plants contain their own innate immune system, so a possible path of research could be to investigate the possibilities of boosting the plants own immune system.
- A problem in food security is that we rely on a few major resistance genes, if a pathogen were to develop a resistance gene a vast amount of crop would be lost, potentially causing a huge famine
- 1999 famine in Bhutan wasn't hugely featured in the media
- Even though this was a massive crisis, food security is a great threat to developing world.
Crop Disease
- The highest contributing factor to the spread of crop disease is modern agriculture
- The Green Revolution is a series of research and development and technology advancements between the 40's and 60's
- This allowed for an increase in efficiency in crop production
- With the use of antifungals and antiaphids this can lead to new pathogens emerging
- The leading countries in bio protection are New Zealand and Australia.
Prof. Gurr's Specialisations
- Crop disease
- Fungal biology
- Pest and Pathogen movement
- Fungal Biotechnology
Prof. Gurr's Career
- Professor Sarah Gurr began her career reading medicine at Oxford University.
- The task of cutting up cadavers did not appeal to her.
- Her peers all read Medicine but she decided to become a “Plant Doctor”.
- Her fascination with fungi and crop diseases led her to swapping her degree and University to study at Imperial College.
- She was later sponsored by Shell to complete a PhD in Diseases Caused by Oomycetes
Prof. Gurr's Career
Introduction
- After her PhD, she undertook a post doctoral degree at St. Andrews University working on beta-Lactam antibiotics.
- Prof. Gurr was awarded Royal Society University Fund, later spending 20 years at Oxford as a Lecturer, Reader and then Professor.
- Prof. Gurr cites her biology teacher at school as one of her main inspirations in leading her to studying crops and disease
- She is a former president of The British Society of Plant Pathology.
- Professor Sarah Gurr BSc, ARCS, DIC, PhD, MA (Oxon) is a leading figure in Food Security and Plant Pathology.
- She is one of three sisters, both studying medicine
- She is currently a member of the BBSRC council and the Chair in Food Security
Contents
1. Intro
2. Crop Disease
3. Food Security
4. Pest & Pathogen Movement
5. Dynamic Nature of the Pathogen Wall
6. Women in Science
7. Goals and Objectives
Professor Sarah Gurr
By Sam Keat, Alice Kern, Ana Khot and Hannah Klair