5 October 2016Africa

LSIPR 50 2016: Florence Wambugu and Feng Zhang

Name: Florence Wambugu

Organisation: Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International

Position: Founder, director and chief executive

A plant pathologist specialising in virology and genetic engineering, Florence Wambugu has been the director and chief executive of Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International, based in Kenya, since 2002. Over the years Wambugu has devoted her time to many research projects including working as African regional director for the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications.

Africa Harvest’s goal is to promote innovation and develop technology-based models that enable rural communities to engage in sustainable agricultural farming, ultimately reducing rural poverty and malnutrition throughout Africa.

Wambugu is an advocate for how biotech investment in Africa could increase food production in the continent and is the co-author and publisher of “Modifying Africa: How Biotechnology Can Benefit the Poor”. Under her direction, Africa Harvest and its collaborative organisations were awarded $18.6 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"Africa Harvest’s goal is to promote innovation and develop technology-based models that enable rural communities to engage in sustainable agricultural farming."

One of the Africa Harvest’s most notable achievements is the TC Banana Project, a programme that developed disease-free tissue culture banana plantlets. The project enabled local farmers to access the plantlets, which are virus indexed and designed to eliminate the infection that limits the productivity of the plant.

Since the support from Africa Harvest farmers have reported an income of KSh 60,000 ($592) from 0.75 acres of land using the TC banana plant, where previously they would generate just KSh 5,000 from the same land. The genetic engineering of the banana plant has ensured that more food is produced from each plant, benefiting the local communities as well as the individual farmers.

These achievements have been under the supervision of Wambugu, whose expertise in genetically modified plant varieties and understanding of the potential for biotechnology in Africa are fuelling innovation in this area.

Name: Feng Zhang

Organisation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Position: Principal investigator

As one of the most exciting and talked-about areas in the life sciences industry, CRISPR technology ensures that anyone involved in it is bound to feature in our Top 50 list.

Feng Zhang is one of two parties currently doing battle in the US for patent rights related to the CRISPR/Cas9 technology. A scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Zhang says he pioneered the gene-editing technology first but is embroiled in a fight with Jennifer Doudna, who works at the University of California.

At the time of writing an interference proceeding is underway at the US Patent and Trademark Office to determine who should be awarded the patent rights.

Zhang won the 2016 Canada Gairdner International Award—a prestigious scientific prize—for his role in the development of CRISPR technology and in 2012 he was one of the winners of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, an annual research award designed to support scientists’ biomedical research.

"Zhang is one of the founders of Editas Medicine, a genome editing company."

He is also known for developing another breakthrough technology called optogenetics with Karl Deisseroth, a professor at Stanford University, and Edward Boyden, who works at MIT. Optogenetics is a biological technique which involves the use of light to control cells in living tissue.

Zhang is one of the founders of Editas Medicine, a genome editing company that also specialises in protein engineering, and molecular and structural biology.

He earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University, where he studied chemistry and physics, and was awarded a PHD in chemistry from Stanford University.


More on this story

Americas
20 September 2017   Feng Zhang, one of the pioneers of CRISPR technology, has been announced as the 2017 recipient of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize, which honours outstanding inventors.

More on this story

Americas
20 September 2017   Feng Zhang, one of the pioneers of CRISPR technology, has been announced as the 2017 recipient of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize, which honours outstanding inventors.