Alumni News

In just two short months, the CTAHR Academic and Student Affairs Office will host a Virtual Convocation ceremony on May 14 to celebrate our CTAHR Spring and Summer 2021 Graduating Classes! Please join the CTAHR ʻohana in cheering their accomplishments and wishing them a bright future. Register today; ASAO will send you the exact link at a later date. When you RSVP, you also can send a congratulatory message and/or video to our graduating students. For questions, please contact Herbenia Bowen.

Can plants be tweaked to better tolerate heat and resist heat stress? The question is becoming more and more relevant, as global warming threatens to decrease crop yields – and the global number of mouths to feed will only increase. A new study from the Dept. of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering has identified plant genes that could strengthen our agricultural response to this threat. One in particular stands out: protein disulfide isomerase-9, or PDI9, which the researchers discovered can provide heat protection during pollen development, one of the most heat-sensitive processes in plants. “The PDI9 enzyme is involved in folding the enzymes that control the construction of the pollen cell wall, and therefore plays a central role in the cellular and metabolic mechanisms that facilitate heat stress acclimation and ‘thermotolerance’ in plants,” explains lead researcher David Christopher.

He adds, “Since we can use PDI9 as a tool to decipher the genetic, molecular and cellular mechanisms that determine thermotolerance, we can potentially leverage this biotechnology to develop improved crops with enhanced ability to resist heat stress.”

The ultimate goal is to maintain crop productivity to help the more populated world cope with global warming.

“I’m particularly grateful for the 10 members of the research team who worked very cohesively together in MBBE,” David adds, “including two graduate students and the four undergraduates who got their first taste of molecular and cellular biology research by enrolling in MBBE 499.”

Read the full article, The Arabidopsis Protein Disulfide Isomerase Subfamily M Isoform, PDI9, Localizes to the Endoplasmic Reticulum and Influences Pollen Viability and Proper Formation of the Pollen Exine During Heat Stress, which appears in a recent issue of Frontiers in Plant Science.

Photo captions

Arabidopsis flower with male part (anther and pollen) stained with blue indicator dye, which indicates where the PDI9 gene is expressed.

Two pollen grains. Photo taken with a scanning electron microscope to show normal fertile pollen (left) and heat stressed infertile pollen (right).

by Russell Galanti. Teaching practical horticulture during COVID is no walk in the garden … or is it? Across our state, coordinators of CTAHR’s Master Gardener program are addressing the issue of developing an MG training curricula and schedule for 2021 – specifically for these unprecedented times when travel and in-person meetings are still difficult. The Master Gardener coordinators, which include Extension’s Dr. James Keach, Kalani Matsumura, Ty McDonald, Eric Demaria, and me, decided it was time to work together across the state to develop a unified training program, a historical achievement for the Hawaiʻi Master Gardeners. We’re confident we can make it work, because this same teamwork and coordination has already solved multiple problems this year related to developing the training program.

Lecturer travel was the first obstacle to overcome. By offering the class online, guest lecturers do not need to travel to every island individually to present. Offering the course as a statewide class also reduces the need for lecturers to present multiple times on the same subject.

Developing a synchronous program has allowed the Master Gardener coordinators to maximize their resources and offer an improved program through collaborative decision making. The statewide class allows all of the master gardener associations to interact with each other and create a sense of unity.

Most of the class remains online, with all participants meeting for online lectures, and splitting off into individual groups for hand-on activities. Some coordinators have decided to keep larger class sizes and remain completely socially distanced. This is the case for Oʻahu, Maui, and Kauaʻi. Hawaiʻi island is experimenting with reduced class size and the ability to still hold hands-on activities.

The details may differ, but one thing is for sure: statewide coordinators agree this has been an excellent team-building effort, and everyone appreciates working together to meet our goals. The training program began on February 12^th – and so far, all participants are very happy with the statewide online format.

For more information on each master gardener program, you can visit the Master Gardener webpage. Each page contains contact information for the individual coordinators.

Photo Caption: A class limited to 10 students sits in the conference room of Komohana Research and Extension Center, ready to connect online with 85 other Master Gardener students from across the state.

Calling the entire CTAHR ʻohana! Your kōkua is needed to “spread the word” and recruit Native Hawaiian mothers for a new study. The Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences will observe the diet and health of Native Hawaiian mothers and infants, from birth throughout their first year of life. Women may qualify if they are

• 18 years of age or older
• Native Hawaiian
• an Oʻahu resident
• currently pregnant or have given birth within the last 4 weeks
• comfortable using a mobile app to take pictures of the foods that she and her baby have eaten over the course of a year
• able to regularly meet with the research team for a total of 5 virtual visits over the course of a year.

Participants will receive a $10 gift card at enrollment, as well as diapers and wipes at each subsequent visit. For more information, call (808) 375-3785 or email fprch@ucera.org.

“Mahalo for your help!” says Jessie Kai. “I am happy to share more of our research to give CTAHR a clearer picture of our work.”

The project is being supported by a grant from the NIH’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD).

In their latest newspaper column on nutrition and health, Alan Titchenal and Joannie Dobbs of the Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences weigh in on green drinks, those superfoods-in-a-smoothie concoctions we drink for a variety of health goals. With more than 800 million green drink recipes available – each with health claims ranging from sensible to … not sensible – some of us might be tempted to over-consume such green drinks. “However, consuming too much of a good thing can be harmful,” the authors point out. “Many of the nutrients and phytochemicals in these drinks are good for you in moderation, but excessive amounts can result in potential health problems over time.”

Read the full article, Nutrient Overload From Green Drinks Can Be Harmful.