Archives
Farrant one of big five in the life sciences
10 February 2012
Plant physiologist and winner of a Harry Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Fellowship Award, Professor Jill Farrant has added another feather to her cap: the L'Oréal-UNESCO Award in Life Sciences
Professor Jill Farrant she was named one of five women from around the world to win a 2012 L'Oréal-UNESCO Award in Life Sciences.
It's the latest in a string of accolades for the National Research Foundation (NRF) A-rated researcher.
Farrant was the first woman in the life sciences at UCT to receive the NRF A-rating, a spot in Mail & Guardian's Book of South African Women, and the South African Distinguished Women in Science Award from the Department of Science & Technology. Farrant was also in the running for a National Science and Technology Forum-BHP Billiton Award earlier in 2011.
The L'Oréal honour is no small fry, either. The company has packed some serious scholarly weight behind the award.
An international network of nearly 1 000 scientists nominates the candidates for each year's awards, which form part of the L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Programme. The five Laureates are then selected by an independent, international jury presided over by Professor Günter Blobel, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1999.
One winner is named for each of five regions, each singled out for the impact their research on society. Farrant, who holds a UCT research chair in the molecular physiology of plants, is renowned for her multi-angled work on resurrection or desiccation-tolerant plants, which are able to withstand prolonged drought or water loss - a looming climate change issue - but will spring to life once water arrives.
Over the past years she's explored the roles that antioxidants and sucrose play in this Lazarus-like act, and is now trying to unpack the signalling pathways triggered by a group of lipids known as volatile organic compounds - and, in a recently published work, is attempting to get to grips with the genetic make-up of such plants.
It's work that could have a profound impact on the world.
"I believe in the potential outcomes of my work - ie the ultimate production of drought-tolerant crops, with the aim of addressing food security needs in Africa; which will become more important as climate change (increasing drought) continues to impact on agriculture."
As always, Farrant is at pains to point out that the many awards that bear her name are an acknowledgement of team effort.
Farrant is the fourth South African woman, and the third from UCT, to receive the award.
Farrant will pick up her award at a ceremony at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in March this year.
