“Designer Wheat” Research Breakthrough Wins Grade 10 Saskatchewan Student, 16, Top Honour in National Biotech Competition

Canadian Biotechnology Education Resource Centre / BioTalent Canada
Toronto / Ottawa
6-May-2009

160_wheatGenetic research by a 16-year-old Saskatchewan student that could one day help farmers grow “designer wheat” — tailoring the starch content of grain grown for different markets — has earned the top national prize in the 2009 Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge (SABC).

Grade 10 Student Scott Adams of Saskatoon’s Walter Murray Collegiate Institute won the $5,000 national 1st place prize today with a ground-breaking study showing agricultural scientists a novel way to turn off a gene in wheat and alter its starch elements, making it possible potentially to grow wheat customized for different markets ranging from textiles to foods such as pasta and bread.

Full release text: here

Sample coverage, by The Canadian Press, click here

Coverage summary: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=r4A3wrznE3TxgCE7tecxF-A&hl=en