{"id":16131,"date":"2016-04-05T18:55:37","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T22:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=16131"},"modified":"2016-04-05T18:55:37","modified_gmt":"2016-04-05T22:55:37","slug":"federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Controlling Fungus with Federal Grant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-16132 \" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2016\/03\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease.jpg\" alt=\"Chem. Professor Grant - deadly crop diease\" width=\"398\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2016\/03\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease.jpg 459w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2016\/03\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease-300x163.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2016\/03\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease-299x163.jpg 299w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 398px) 100vw, 398px\" \/>UCF scientists have been awarded a $477,000 grant to develop a method of combating a bacterium that attacks tomatoes and other crops.<\/p>\n<p>The grant is part of a $5.2 million investment in nanotechnology research at 11 universities announced by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.<\/p>\n<p>The money from the <a href=\"https:\/\/nifa.usda.gov\/\">U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of Food and Agriculture <\/a>will fund three years of research by a team led by Associate Professor of Chemistry, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nanoscience.ucf.edu\/faculty\/santra.php\">Swadeshmukul Santra, Ph.D.<\/a>, as well as field trials to be conducted by University of Florida researchers Mathews Paret and Jeff Jones.<\/p>\n<p>The disease, bacterial spot, is one of the most devastating for tomatoes and peppers, attacking plants in warm, moist areas around the world. Infection produces lesions on parts of the plant including its leaves and fruit. It can also lead to severe blighting of the foliage, rendering them more vulnerable to other fungal and bacterial pathogens.<\/p>\n<p>When conditions are right for the spread of the disease, growers have seen their crop yields drop by more than half.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe tomato industry has a major problem with this bacteria in Florida,\u201d Santra said.<\/p>\n<p>Options to manage the disease are limited. In the 1950s, growers began using the antibiotic streptomycin with some success. But strains of the bacteria developed resistance to the antibiotic and it lost its effectiveness.<\/p>\n<p>Growers have since been using a copper-based bactericide, but are now having the same problem: All strains of the bacterium in Florida are now tolerant of the standard copper treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Santra and his team plan to use nanotechnology as a way of delivering copper inside the plant. They\u2019ve developed a particle with a core housed inside a shell that can be delivered via a spray. The silica-based shell contains \u201cengineered copper\u201d nanoparticles small enough to pass through pores known as stomata on the leaves of the plant and move to the parts of the plants where the bacteria are located, attacking the bacteria from within.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur goal is that once you spray, this particle will mobilize to the stomata \u2026and slowly release the copper,\u201d Santra said. \u201cOur idea is to deliver the bactericide inside so it stays there \u2013 it will be a locally systemic pesticide particle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/physics.cos.ucf.edu\/people\/tetard-laurene\">Laurene Tetard, Ph.D.,<\/a> a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nanoscience.ucf.edu\/\">NanoScience Technology Center <\/a>researcher and Assistant Professor of Physics,\u00a0working with Santra, said the formulation is designed to deliver copper at levels much lower than the heavy concentrations now used, reducing the effect of copper accumulating in the environment.<\/p>\n<p>For that reason, new tools will be needed to monitor the treatments and their effects on plants. As part of the study funded by the USDA grant, Tetard will perform high-resolution subsurface imaging and spectroscopy to measure the distribution of the pesticide within plant tissues.<\/p>\n<p>View original story <a href=\"http:\/\/today.ucf.edu\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/\">here<\/a>\u00a0on UCF Today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UCF scientists have been awarded a $477,000 grant to develop a method of combating a bacterium that attacks tomatoes and other crops. The grant is part of a $5.2 million investment in nanotechnology research at 11 universities announced by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":16132,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,35,38,4,39,13,25,28,29],"tags":[629,736,1758,2020,2208,2368,2686,2856,3243,3442,3443,3457,3497,3499,3516,3592,3608,3723],"class_list":["post-16131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awards","category-chemistry-departments","category-breaking-news","category-departments","category-faculty-news","category-news","category-staff-news","category-top-news","category-ucf-news","tag-chemistry","tag-college-of-sciences","tag-jeff-jones","tag-laurene-tetard","tag-mathews-paret","tag-nanoscience-technology-center","tag-physics","tag-research","tag-swadeshmukul-santra","tag-u-s-department-of-agriculture","tag-u-s-department-of-agricultures-national-institute-of-food-and-agriculture","tag-ucf","tag-ucf-chemistry","tag-ucf-chemistry-department","tag-ucf-college-of-sciences","tag-ucf-news-2","tag-ucf-physics","tag-university-of-central-florida"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Controlling Fungus with Federal Grant - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Controlling Fungus with Federal Grant - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UCF scientists have been awarded a $477,000 grant to develop a method of combating a bacterium that attacks tomatoes and other crops. The grant is part of a $5.2 million investment in nanotechnology research at 11 universities announced by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-05T22:55:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2016\/03\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"459\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cosmarketing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cosmarketing\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cosmarketing\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\"},\"headline\":\"Controlling Fungus with Federal Grant\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-05T22:55:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":468,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"chemistry\",\"College of Sciences\",\"Jeff Jones\",\"Laurene Tetard\",\"Mathews Paret\",\"NanoScience Technology Center\",\"physics\",\"research\",\"Swadeshmukul Santra\",\"U.S. Department of Agriculture\",\"U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of Food and Agriculture\",\"UCF\",\"UCF Chemistry\",\"UCF Chemistry Department\",\"UCF College of Sciences\",\"UCF news\",\"UCF Physics\",\"University of Central Florida\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Awards\",\"Chemistry\",\"COS News\",\"Departments &amp; Schools\",\"Faculty News\",\"News\",\"Staff News\",\"Top News\",\"UCF News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\\\/\",\"name\":\"Controlling Fungus with Federal Grant - College of Sciences News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-05T22:55:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease.jpg\",\"width\":459,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"Two tomatoes with blossom-end rot, showing dark, sunken spots on the bottom, resting on a light surface.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Sciences News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\",\"name\":\"cosmarketing\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cosmarketing\"},\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Controlling Fungus with Federal Grant - College of Sciences News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Controlling Fungus with Federal Grant - College of Sciences News","og_description":"UCF scientists have been awarded a $477,000 grant to develop a method of combating a bacterium that attacks tomatoes and other crops. The grant is part of a $5.2 million investment in nanotechnology research at 11 universities announced by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/","og_site_name":"College of Sciences News","article_published_time":"2016-04-05T22:55:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":459,"height":250,"url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2016\/03\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cosmarketing","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cosmarketing","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/"},"author":{"name":"cosmarketing","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d"},"headline":"Controlling Fungus with Federal Grant","datePublished":"2016-04-05T22:55:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/"},"wordCount":468,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2016\/03\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease.jpg","keywords":["chemistry","College of Sciences","Jeff Jones","Laurene Tetard","Mathews Paret","NanoScience Technology Center","physics","research","Swadeshmukul Santra","U.S. Department of Agriculture","U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of Food and Agriculture","UCF","UCF Chemistry","UCF Chemistry Department","UCF College of Sciences","UCF news","UCF Physics","University of Central Florida"],"articleSection":["Awards","Chemistry","COS News","Departments &amp; Schools","Faculty News","News","Staff News","Top News","UCF News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/","name":"Controlling Fungus with Federal Grant - College of Sciences News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2016\/03\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-05T22:55:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/federal-grant-funds-ucf-scientists-effort-control-deadly-crop-disease\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2016\/03\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2016\/03\/Chem.-Professor-Grant-deadly-crop-diease.jpg","width":459,"height":250,"caption":"Two tomatoes with blossom-end rot, showing dark, sunken spots on the bottom, resting on a light surface."},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"College of Sciences News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d","name":"cosmarketing","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cosmarketing"},"url":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}