Team:TecCEM
Project Description
On our first meetings as a team, we decided to approach a problem that were affecting Mexican fields. We went to the conclusion that HLB disease was a current and unsolved problem that not only affects Mexico but United States. The team saw an opportunity to develop a solution of international reach with many collaborations. Looking forward to have an innovation, the team considered many approaches including a biological insecticide to reduce the chemical damages of some insecticides and control the psyllid growth, to modify the plant to reduce the proliferation of the bacteria and to create a growth medium to study the bacteria CLas and eradicate it.
After weeks of investigation and feedback from instructors, the team decides to focus on the psyllid approach. Our project consists in the creation and evaluation of a novel HLB prevention method for citrus plantations. This method involves the application of dsRNA technology in order to silence multiple genes from Diaphorina citri effectively killing the psyllid or preventing it from acquiring Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, thus preventing the spread of the bacteria to healthy plants and further stopping HLB spread.
