N O T A E What "Feeding 9 Billion People and Other Challenges to Agriculture in the Next 50 Years," a lecture by Brian Larkins, Regents Professor of Plant Sciences. When Tuesday, February 1, 7 p.m. Where DuVal Auditorium, University Medical Center, 1501 N. Campbell Ave. Parking is available in the visitor and patients garage immediately east of UMC for $1.50 per hour. Cost Free and open to the public. Contact Information Anne Marx 626-8121 amarx@email.arizona.edu Related Web sites http://ag.arizona.edu/pls/ http://provost.web.arizona.edu

The rate of growth of the human population has begun to decline, but we still face the prospect of needing to feed 9 billion people by the year 2050. How will we do this in the face of a diminishing supply of arable land and water, an ever increasing loss of top soil and environmental pollution resulting from current agricultural practices? Plant breeders believe we have not yet reached the maximum potential yield of cereal crops, but discovering ways to further increase their production and nutritional value is a challenge to scientists around the world.

A variety of technological innovations are currently being applied to meet this challenge that include traditional approaches of genetic engineering through plant breeding, as well as so-called novel techniques of "genetic engineering." Many authorities believe a combination of these technologies will allow us to produce not only more but also better, more nutritional food, while at the same time reducing the impact of agriculture on the environment.

However, others are greatly opposed to these new technologies. They have serious concerns about the nutritional and environmental safety of "genetically modified organisms," or GMOs, and their activities have greatly slowed the development of these crops.

Brian Larkins studies the regulation of seed development and the synthesis of storage proteins in developing maize seeds. His research has significant implications for improving human nutrition, particularly in developing countries where maize is a dietary staple.

Larkins was designated Regents' Professor for his extraordinary record of achievement in research, undergraduate and graduate education, and service to the campus and his profession. He is an endowed Porterfield Professor of Plant Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and an adjunct professor in the department of molecular and cellular biology. One of a handful of faculty members in Arizona to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences, Larkins has also earned numerous awards and honors.

As a researcher he has written more than 160 scientific publications, and has served as editor-in-chief of The Plant Cell, the premier journal of plant molecular biology. Larkins has played a leadership role in the development of plant molecular biology and plant agricultural biotechnology.

For further information or to request disability related arrangements, please call Anne Marx at 626-8121, or e-mail amarx@email.arizona.edu or visit the web site at http://provost.web.arizona.edu