Novel Solutions for Fungal Nucleic Acid Extraction

ABSTRACT

Fungal pathogens of plants impact agriculture around the world by reducing crop yields and increasing the amount of fungicides to maintain crop performance. At Corteva Agriscience, our goal is to develop effective, sustainable, and durable solutions to protect plants from fungal pathogens, which would allow us to provide farmers with superior products maximizing their return. The key to this objective is to develop new and improved approaches to studying and detecting fungal pathogens. In turn, this requires the design of novel methods for the simultaneous extraction of nucleic acids from pathogens and their hosts.   

This is an Ideation Challenge with a guaranteed award for at least one submitted solution.

OVERVIEW

Understanding the characteristics of fungal genomes and detecting fungal pathogens with nucleic acid-based molecular techniques is critical to our ability to improve plant disease management. A key step in this process is the extraction of the pathogen’s nucleic acids from infected plants.

Unfortunately, many important fungal species are recalcitrant to the extraction of high-quality nucleic acids. To improve the foundational knowledge of plant pathogens, Corteva Agriscience invites scientists from both public and private sectors to join our efforts to develop new and improved methods to simultaneously extract nucleic acids from fungal pathogens and their plant hosts.

This is an Ideation Challenge, which has the following unique features:

• There is a guaranteed award.  The award(s) will be paid to the best submission(s) as solely determined by the Seeker. The total payout will be $15,000, with at least one award being no smaller than $5,000 and no award being smaller than $2,000.
• The Solvers are not required to transfer exclusive intellectual property rights to the Seeker.  Rather, by submitting a proposal, the Solver grants the Seeker a royalty-free, perpetual, and non-exclusive license to use any information included in this proposal, including for promotional purposes.

Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on March 19, 2023. 

Late submissions will not be considered.

After the Challenge deadline, the Seeker will complete the review process and make a decision with regard to the Winning Solution(s). All Solvers that submit a proposal will be notified on the status of their submissions; however, no detailed evaluation of individual submissions will be provided.

ABOUT THE SEEKER

Corteva, Inc. (NYSE: CTVA) is a publicly traded, global pure-play agriculture company that combines industry-leading innovation, high-touch customer engagement and operational execution to profitably deliver solutions for the world’s most pressing agriculture challenges. Corteva generates advantaged market preference through its unique distribution strategy, together with its balanced and globally diverse mix of seed, crop protection, and digital products and services. With some of the most recognized brands in agriculture and a technology pipeline well positioned to drive growth, the company is committed to maximizing productivity for farmers, while working with stakeholders throughout the food system as it fulfills its promise to enrich the lives of those who produce and those who consume, ensuring progress for generations to come. More information can be found at www.corteva.com.

What is the Wazoku Crowd?

Imagine a world where any problem you have can be looked at by millions of expert, motivated eyes. The Wazoku Crowd makes this possible. With twenty years of experience in crowdsourcing, the Wazoku Crowd is the gold standard for open talent and external innovation solutions. Commercial, governmental and humanitarian organizations engage with the Wazoku Crowd to solve problems that can impact humankind in areas ranging from the environment to medical advancements.

What is a Wazoku Crowd Ideation™ Challenge?

A Wazoku Crowd Ideation™ Challenge is a broad question formulated to obtain access to new ideas, similar to a global brainstorm for producing a breakthrough idea or market survey which may include ideas for a new product line, a new commercial application for a current product, or even a viral marketing idea to recruit new customers. Ideation™ Challenge submissions are typically about two written pages, and Seekers receive a non-exclusive, perpetual license to use all submissions.

In an Ideation™ Challenge, Solvers may:

• Submit ideas of their own
• Submit third party information that they have the right to use and further the authority to convey that right and the right to use and develop derivative works to Seekers
• Submit information considered in the public domain without any limitations on use

Solvers should not reveal any confidential information in their submissions. Often the Ideation™ Challenge will be followed by one or more of the other three Challenge types to further develop the ideas and gain Intellectual Property protection when the concept has been well-defined.