At age 40, Federico Damian Ariel He was honored in France by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which selected five scientists from among 2,500 from around the world, in association with Saudi Arabia’s AL-Fozan Foundation. The award came for his research on the unspliced RNA of plants that creates the same defenses against various threats, such as fungi or adaptation to climate change.
In conversation with cross point From Paris, Ariel explained, “Plants don’t have antibodies, but they make a very small molecule called small RNA. Our job is to provide the plant with information to develop an adaptation or defense against a specific threat.”
According to the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO), 200,000 people worldwide die from the use of pesticides, and one million are infected, which is why this award is not given for research, but acknowledges it. With the sustainability guidelines that the international organization has.
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“Currently, in the scientific laboratory we are working with temperature extremes, but there is a lot of work to be done at the scientific level,” said the researcher, admitting that “ten years ago, it seemed like science fiction.”
To illustrate his work, Ariel explained that a tomato plant with a temperature extreme of 40 degrees loses 40% of its flowers, meaning tomatoes; But they are analyzing how to use RNA to acclimatize plants, “to tell them, a heat wave is coming, get ready.”
On the other hand, the technical laboratory develops RNA products to create fungal protection in vegetables and peanuts: “We chose to start with these products because we are talking directly about food for human consumption and can replace agricultural chemicals. If they are used, it will greatly help people’s health”.
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Argentina exports 90% of its peanut production. There is a dangerous fungus called groundnut smut, a black powder appears when you open the pods, it is very difficult to attack with very strong agrochemicals, and improves the situation but cannot solve it,” clarified the biotechnology graduate.
Regarding the vegetables, Ariel explained that they try to fight, for example, Botrytis, “It’s a fungus that causes a lot of damage in horticulture, to show it, it turns tomatoes black.”
Argentina, Biology and Scientific Development
Federico Ariel, in 2010 he moved to France with a scholarship “to learn things abroad, we have offer researchers in our country, which is normal.” But the European country’s regulations do not allow temporary contracts for more than six years, “I have to apply for a competition for a permanent contract or I applied for Konizet and decided to return to my country in 2016.”
The researcher from the Institute of Agrobiotechnology (IAL) of the coast highlights the support received especially through the national program “Science and Technology Against Hunger”. “They gave us money to test our hypothesis, see if it worked and if it worked,” Ariel said.
Later, together with UNL and Conicet, they decided to create a startup to add value to what they did. This is how they created Apolo Biotec, which allowed them to interact with the manufacturing sector.
However, the doctor in biological sciences and graduate in biotechnology emphasized that the reality in Argentina is very specific. “We have a very strong tradition in biochemistry and we have enormous molecular biology (derived from biochemistry), we have a lot of potential, but we need tools (machines) to develop biotechnology.”
Ariel affirmed that our country can position itself as a leader in the world in terms of biotechnology development: “We have the capacity to do it, the human resources, the laboratories, but we have to solve the economic problems that create problems when it comes to imports. Inputs or own inflation.
“The development of RNA products is not yet on the global market. I know colleagues in Europe, Australia and the United States who are trying to do the same as us, some small companies have also started to develop products for agriculture. , but we are from the first litter,” he said.
