2Blades

Key takeaways

2Blades belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect 2Blades to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of 2Blades from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

2Blades is an agricultural phytopathology non-profit which performs research to improve durable genetic resistance in crops, and funds other researchers to do the same. 2Blades was co-founded by Dr. Roger Freedman and Dr. Diana Horvath in 2004.

Funding source 2Blades is partly funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation does its research at The Sainsbury Laboratory, among other locations. One co-founder, Chairman Roger Freedman also works for Gatsby, which was founded by Lord David Sainsbury. Freedman had pitched an idea to Sainsbury's venture capital company to begin investing in plant genetic engineering technologies, and although the board did so, they found someone else to lead it. Freedman had wanted to run it, but was told that was not for him by Sainsbury. Indeed, soon thereafter Sainsbury set up another early investment company specifically for Freedman and a colleague, and a separate non-profit for Freedman to grant money, both for plant science. The non-profit was 2Blades.

Research activities 2Blades routinely works in partnership with other crop disease organizations like CIMMYT and BGRI. The foundation also conducts research in partnerships with the industry, including with Bayer CropScience and Monsanto. The organisation's End the Blight campaign has been joined by CIP (the International Potato Center) and Chairman of Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises Christopher Kennedy. This campaign is advancing research and delivering cultivars specifically for Phytophthora infestans in Africa. Mr Kennedy is chairman of 2Blades African Potato Initiative which is funding the delivery of a Victoria-based cultivar to East African markets. The GEMS Informatics initiative at the University of Minnesota, which is a joint venture between the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) and the College of Biological Sciences (CBS), partners with 2Blades to create a gene discovery platform. Crops and pathogens of research interest to the foundation include P. infestans on potato, rye, Phakopsora pachyrhizi on soybean, Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici on wheat, and Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense on Musa spp.

References

Bibliography of affiliated personnel Freedman, Roger Prester (23 October 1969). Some features of the structure and function of the genetic elements of bacteriophages (PhD). University of Cambridge Laboratory of Molecular Biology. p. 165. (ISNI 0000000134837464). BLDSC number: D1141/71. Jisc text ill. BL EThOS ID uk.bl.ethos.455951 Horvath, Diana (1991). Investigation of the MerR and PcoR metalloregulatory proteins: Molecular mechanisms of mercury and copper signal transduction and transcriptional activation (Thesis). Northwestern University. Schornack, Sebastian; Moscou, Matthew J.; Ward, Eric R.; Horvath, Diana M. (2013-08-04). "Engineering Plant Disease Resistance Based on TAL Effectors". Annual Review of Phytopathology. 51 (1). Annual Reviews: 383–406. doi:10.1146/annurev-phyto-082712-102255. ISSN 0066-4286. PMID 23725472. Dangl, Jeffery L.; Horvath, Diana M.; Staskawicz, Brian J. (2013-08-15). "Pivoting the Plant Immune System from Dissection to Deployment". Science. 341 (6147). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 746–751. Bibcode:2013Sci...341..746D. doi:10.1126/science.1236011. ISSN 0036-8075. PMC 3869199. PMID 23950531. S2CID 206548210. "Corrections and Clarifications". Science. 341 (6151). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 1175. 2013-09-12. doi:10.1126/science.341.6151.1175-a. ISSN 0036-8075. Luo, Ming; Xie, Liqiong; Chakraborty, Soma; Wang, Aihua; Matny, Oadi; Jugovich, Michelle; Kolmer, James A.; Richardson, Terese; Bhatt, Dhara; Hoque, Mohammad; Patpour, Mehran; Sørensen, Chris; Ortiz, Diana; Dodds, Peter; Steuernagel, Burkhard; Wulff, Brande B. H.; Upadhyaya, Narayana M.; Mago, Rohit; Periyannan, Sambasivam; Lagudah, Evans; Freedman, Roger; Lynne Reuber, T.; Steffenson, Brian J.; Ayliffe, Michael (2021-01-04). "A five-transgene cassette confers broad-spectrum resistance to a fungal rust pathogen in wheat" (PDF). Nature Biotechnology. 39 (5). Nature Research: 561–566. doi:10.1038/s41587-020-00770-x. ISSN 1087-0156. PMID 33398152. S2CID 230508442. PD ORCID 0000-0003-0620-5923 GS N3w9QUUAAAAJ RID D-1181-2009. RF ISNI 0000000134837464. "A five-transgene cassette confers broad-spectrum resistance to a fungal rust pathogen in wheat". Nature Portfolio Bioengineering Community. 2020-12-09. Retrieved 2021-07-02. PD ORCID 0000-0003-0620-5923 GS N3w9QUUAAAAJ RID D-1181-2009. RF ISNI 0000000134837464. Oadi N. Matny, Mehran Patpour, Ming Luo, Liqiong Xie, Soma Chakraborty, Aihua Wang, James A. Kolmer, Terese Richardson, Dhara Bhatt, Mohammad Hoque, Chris Sorenson, Burkhard Steuernagel, Brande B. H. Wulff, Narayana Upadhyaya, Rohit Mago, Sam Periyannan, Evans Lagudah, Roger Freedman (ISNI 0000000134837464), Lynne Reuber, Brian J. Steffenson, and Michael Ayliffe, A Wheat Multi-Transgene Cassette Provides Stem and Leaf Rust Resistance in the Field. In Plant and Animal Genome XXVIII Conference (January 11-15, 2020). PAG.

External links Official website: "2Blades Foundation Home". 2Blades Foundation. 2021-02-08. Retrieved 2021-06-05.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with 2Blades

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what 2Blades claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to 2Blades before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about 2Blades ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of 2Blades

In research: 2Blades appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses 2Blades in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: 2Blades is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Agronomy, Genetic engineering and agriculture, Genetic engineering in the United Kingdom, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for 2Blades outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study 2Blades in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what 2Blades means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain 2Blades out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is 2Blades in simple terms?

2Blades is an agricultural phytopathology non-profit which performs research to improve durable genetic resistance in crops, and funds other researchers to do the same. 2Blades was co-founded by Dr. Roger Freedman and Dr.

Why does 2Blades matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study 2Blades?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on 2Blades.