Francisca Marchant, a doctoral student at CeBiB, together with her partner Rolando Kindelan, a doctoral candidate at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chile, traveled to Finland on April 1 after winning the Impacto Chile Hackathon. They will be able to present an innovative and sustainable solution in the area of ​​agriculture and forestry through their “FungusFree” project and visit the space observation center in the Arctic Circle.

Impacto Chile Hackathon was held in September 2021, organized collaboratively between Chile and Finland by Ultrahack, because Chile is a leader in Latin America in advancing towards Sustainable Development Goals, ranking 28th among 193 UN members. The open innovation contest consisted of using Copernicus satellite images to develop solutions in contribution to the 2030 agenda (SDG) aimed at air quality, agriculture and forestry, and mining in Chile.

"FungusFree" seeks to detect Botrytis cinerea early, a pathogen that causes gray rot that affects more than 1000 different plant species, including grapes, blueberries and strawberries. Currently, the methods to combat the fungus are used in an advanced stage of the disease, while preventive treatments are derived from chemicals. Both cases cause serious environmental damage and significant economic losses.

Image processing

“Our project aims to develop a multispectral and hyperspectral satellite image processing system for the early detection of the presence of Botrytis in crops. In this way, treatments based on beneficial bacteria with the ability to promote plant growth can be applied before it is too late”, explained Francisca Marchant.

Using machine learning methods and the analysis of Copernicus satellite images, the researchers determine the conditions that favor the appearance of Botrytis, these are checked by drones and experts, and then ActiPower is applied to control it. This is an ecological fungicide developed based on bacteria isolated from the root of Lupine plants isolated from the Atacama desert.

Likewise, the team that created "FungusFree" was selected to present their project in June in San Diego, United States, at the IEEE WIE ILC, the IEEE Women In Engineering International Leadership Conference. Event that has the objective of creating inspiration and collaborating in the advancement of women in technology, whether in industry, academia or government.

scientific forum

For her part, Francisca Marchant was invited to attend the 71st Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany. Meeting that takes place annually to promote the exchange between scientists of different generations, cultures and disciplines. This year 600 young doctoral and postdoctoral students from all over the world were selected, Francisca will attend between June 26 and July 1.

The international scientific forum allows young scientists to meet with the Nobel Prize winners to listen and discuss their presentations during the week that the event lasts. “This was a great surprise, I did not expect to be nominated from a place with high scientific prestige. I am very grateful and happy to collaborate and make my contributions from a scientific perspective and represent both Chile and women scientists, the research we carry out and the scientific contribution made in our country”, Francisca said. “I would like to contribute my experiences, what we are developing at the University of Chile. This will allow for future collaborations with other young people who have common interests,” she added.