Even as we press forward on commercialising Aflasafe for large-scale use, we continue to be amazed by the Aflasafe research and development team. Not only have they created this remarkable and powerful product, but their support and enthusiasm is essential to successful commercialisation.
In countries where Aflasafe is available, they are working hard to transfer their know-how to our partners and help them set-up their own Aflasafe production systems, while also continuing to improve and test the ongoing effectiveness and quality of each Aflasafe product. Meanwhile, where tailored Aflasafe products are still under development, the team is exhaustively testing each iteration and is heavily involved in national registration processes for the various Aflasafe products.
A little brag on bigtime blogging
March 2018 saw the publishing of a fantastic blogpost by Dr Charity Mutegi, our Aflasafe R&D Manager for East Africa, on Hungry Bellies and Silent Killers: Why both Quantity and Quality Matter in Food Security. It was part of a series around the 2017 World Food Prize on the newly launched Borlaug Blog, exploring the theme of global food security. Read more
2017 awards: two bright feathers in Aflasafe’s cap
Last year brought a bumper harvest of high-level recognition for Aflasafe. We are very proud of Dr Ranajit Bandyopadhyay, Principal Scientist in Plant Pathology and Leader of the Africa-wide Aflasafe Initiative at IITA, who in August 2017 was presented with the 2017 Excellence in International Service Award by the American Phytopathological Society (APS), in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of the science of plant pathology outside his home country.
In a further testament to the stellar quality of the R&D team’s work, in early 2017 their open-access article, Biological control of aflatoxins in Africa: current status and potential challenges in the face of climate change, bagged the award for ‘Best paper of the year 2016’ from the Editorial Board of the prestigious World Mycotoxin Journal. The lead author was Dr Bandyopadhyay, and several other co-authors were also members of the IITA Aflasafe team. More on both awards in IITA News.
The same paper received a further recognition from IITA when, in November 2017, it was also named ‘Best paper of the year 2016’ by the Board of Trustees at IITA’s Annual Review of Planning Meeting. It was selected for this award from across the organisation’s research output.
And in news just in, we have extra evidence of just how brightly our scientists shine: a paper by Dr Alejandro Ortega-Beltrán, Aflasafe Technical Lead, was selected as an Editor’s Pick for March 2018 by top journal, Phytopathology. The work, on populations of Aspergillus flavus – the fungus that makes aflatoxin – in his native Mexico, was part of his doctoral studies before joining Aflasafe.
Both papers mentioned above also featured Prof Peter J Cotty as a co-author. Prof Cotty is a Research Plant Pathologist and Lead Scientist for the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, and pioneered the biological control approach to aflatoxin. Together, Dr Bandyopadhyay and Prof Cotty led the research that applied this approach in Africa and led to the creation of Aflasafe.
We are working on an R&D awards page with more of our team’s achievements, so do check back soon!
