Dr Tory Clarke

Book as a Speaker

My research is all about how to best grow healthy and productive food crops sustainably. Plants are like specialised machines: they transform sunlight, carbon dioxide, water and minerals into nourishing food. Yet, like machines, they falter when faced with drastic environmental changes or damage. Hostile conditions like heat waves or droughts, or attacks by pests and diseases can all reduce plant productivity.

Unfortunately, climate change is making these challenging conditions more common across our farmlands, which means less food harvested and increasing disease impacts on those harvests – and who wants to eat mouldy fruit and veggies?! To combat this my research is developing new tools to help crop plants adapt to stressful environments and fight off diseases, including my current work developing BioClay technology for crop protection. BioClay contains a specialised RNA-silencing trigger that sparks the plants’ own natural defence systems to resist disease attacks and combines this with a biodegradable clay for long-lasting protection. My research is uncovering the mechanisms of this RNA-silencing response when sprayed on plants, with the goal of developing BioClay as an effective and sustainable crop protection alternative to current chemical fungicide sprays.

2024
Molecular Biology, Sustainable Crop Production, Alternative Tool Innovation, Crop Protection