Rachel Chan


Rachel Chan is a pioneering Argentine biologist from the Santa Fe Province in Argentina. Her work has centered on photosynthesis, and she has invented multiple drought-resistant seeds. She is the Director of the Agrobiotechnology Institute of Santa Fe. Chan was named one of the ten most outstanding women scientists in Latin America by the BBC.

Education

Chan did her undergraduate study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. She received her Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from the National University of Rosario, Argentina, in 1988.

Career

Chan holds positions at the National University of Litoral, the National Research Council, and the Agrobiotechnology Institute of Santa Fe. The IAL researches biotechnology and plant molecular biology. Chan's research concentrates on photosynthesis. After returning to Argentina in 1992, she began a project to understand how plants are affected by environmental conditions. Chan's team of scientific researchers created more drought resistant seeds.
About her work Chan stated, "The creation of more drought-resistant seed) was a very long process of basic research with research groups were changing over time. It was a day and Eureka! It was like the discovery of Newton when the apple fell"
Supporters of the technology say the boost in productivity could mean as much as $10 billion in added profits each year, particularly after a severe drought recently slashed Argentina's soy output by more than a third.
Chan continues to support the South American agricultural innovation, helping commercialize drought-resistant soybean seeds as recently as 2018.

Patents

Chan holds two patents, both concerning photosynthetic processes that result in drought-resistant crops.
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