An Israeli professor working alongside an Israeli start-up has discovered a treatment for bees affected by a destructive virus.
Hebrew University Prof. Ilan Sela has won this year’s Kaye Award for
Innovation for discovering the IAPV virus, which is linked to Colony
Collapse Disorder, and for
finding a solution to the problem.
The Kaye Award for Innovation has been given annually since 1994 as a
means to encourage faculty and staff at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem to develop innovative ideas with good commercial potential
that benefit society at large.
Colony Collapse Disorder spreading within the bee population has caused $35 billion worth of damages in the US alone.
Many
crops rely on bees and farmers around the world have been quite worried
about the adverse effect on certain crops due to the drastic reduction
in the bee population. Until it was known that Colony Collapse
Disorder was the culprit, many believed the bee population was being
reduced due either to global warming or pesticide use.
However,
the
treatment uncovered by Sela can save the world’s bee population,
enabling farmers to continue to grow these crops without problems.
Following Sela’s discovery of the IAPV virus and an American group
linking it to Colony Collapse Disorder, a group of investors approached
Sela and asked him to be the chief scientist at Beeologics, an Israeli
start up whose mission is to control bee diseases and other pests.
Three years after that, Sela discovered a method for controlling IAPV
by silencing the expression of the viral genes via a new drug which
succeeded to treat bees in 70 percent of the hives which it was tested in.
Last year, Beeologics was considered such a great success that it was
bought by Monsanto for $120 million and the product ‘Remebee’ is now on
the market to assist farmers.
“The expertise Beeologics has developed will enable Monsanto to
further explore the use of biologicals broadly in agriculture. Monsanto
will use the base technology from Beeologics as a part of its continuing
discovery and development pipeline. Biological products will continue
to play an increasingly important role in supporting the sustainability
of many agricultural systems,” reads a statement on Beeologics’ website.
According
to the Alpha Galileo Foundation, “Sela, professor emeritus of virology
and molecular biology at the Hebrew University’s Robert H. Smith
Institute for Plant Sciences and Genetics at the Robert H. Smith Faculty
of Agriculture, Food and Environment, joined the faculty of the
university in 1968 and was named a full professor in 1981. Although he
formally retired several years ago, he is actively involved in research,
and has made significant breakthroughs in the study of virus-based
vectors in plants and bees, and in gene silencing. He has served at
the Hebrew University as the director of the Otto Warburg Center for
Agricultural Biotechnology, head of the Department of Entomology and
chairman of the university’s Inter-Track for Biotechnology.”
By Rachel Avraham, staff writer for
United with Israel
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