QUT's Distinguished Professor James Dale and 2011 QUT Outstanding Alumnus Colin Jensen have been appointed Fellows of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
Professor Dale is director of QUT's Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities and is internationally recognised as a leading agricultural biotechnologist.
He has applied and commercialised his research into boosting the nutritional value of crops nationally and internationally.
Professor Dale's research on bananas, backed with close to $10 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is one of the most significant biofortification projects in the world today aimed at reducing Vitamin A deficiency in the developing world.
His work has resulted in the world's first human trial of pro-vitamin A-enriched bananas which began earlier this year.
"Human trial is a significant milestone for this project which started in 2005. We should see pro-vitamin A-enriched banana varieties being grown by Ugandan farmers around 2020," Professor Dale said.
"The Highland or East African cooking banana, which is chopped and steamed, is a staple food of many East African nations but it has low levels of micronutrients, particularly pro-vitamin A and iron.
"The consequences of vitamin A deficiency are dire, with 650,000-700,000 children world-wide dying from pro-vitamin A deficiency each year and at least another 300,000 going blind.
"Good science can make a massive difference here by enriching staple crops such as Ugandan bananas with pro-vitamin A and providing poor and subsistence-farming populations with nutritionally rewarding food."
Professor Dale's research prompted the government of India to partner with him to develop iron-enriched bananas to provide better nutrition to poor, vegetarian communities and also help stem the number of women haemorrhaging to death in childbirth as a result of iron deficiency.
QUT alumnus Colin Jensen, who is CEO of Brisbane City Council, the largest council in Australia, serving a population of 1.1 million has also been made a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. Mr Jensen is a civil engineer with responsibility for major local and state infrastructure projects and was awarded QUT's top alumnus award in 2011 when he was at the forefront of the massive re-building of post-flood Brisbane.
Media contact: Niki Widdowson, QUT media, 07 3138 2999 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au
