Monsanto this week announced that it has awarded an Iowa State University researcher a grant to develop an RNAi-based approach to control corn rootworm as part of a broader grant program supporting research into ways of controlling the agricultural pest.
The grants provide as much as $250,000 a year in funding for up to three years.
According to the company, Iowa State University professor Bryony Bonning was awarded the grant to identify viruses of the corn rootworm, assess the potential for using viruses to control the insect, and develop a vector for RNAi-induced gene silencing in it.
Monsanto has a number of internal efforts ongoing to apply RNAi to controlling corn rootworm, including one that could be ready for commercialization by 2016 (GSN 1/17/2013).