Support Costa Rican students present their Panama Disease Project in Japan!

Why Tokyo?

The Mission Idea Contest (MIC) is an international competition, that lets students, aerospace engineers and anyone interested in space present their ideas before an expert panel of people. This lets them bring expert opinions and international attention to their ideas and helping them become a reality. It also helps with crucial networking with people directly working in these areas, so that the mission can go from idea to reality. This year the competition will take place in Tokyo, Japan. From November the 30th to December the 3rd.

What is the Panama Disease?

The Panama disease is the fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (FOC). The fungus attacks banana plantations. Presently, it’s a pandemic that affects 80% of musaceae species generating wilting and eventual loss of the crop. Until recently, the Panama disease (race 4) was contained outside of America, however, in the last few weeks it was confirmed that it has as of now entered the continent. The banana industry generates thousands of direct and indirect jobs globally. In Costa Rica alone, banana generates around 40 000 direct jobs in the Caribbean zone and the industry makes a revenue of around $1 billion yearly.

Source: https://www.crhoy.com/nacionales/pais-en-alerta-maxima-ante-hongo-que-destruye-el-banano/

MUSA Project

The MUSA project seeks to find a posible solution to the Panama disease problem. By making use of an antagonist fungi (Trichoderma Harzianum). The team seeks to send an experiment on board the International Space Station (ISS). The sample consists of a dual culture with a race 1 FOC that is very similar to the race 4 that causes the Panama disease. The experiment seeks to evaluate if any epigenetic changes (caused by the environment) in the antagonist fungus occur that may be helpful to fend off, contain or suppress the advancement of the pathogenic fungi.

Our Team:

Musa consists of a team of 11 students from the Costa Rica Institute of Technology (TEC) and TECSpace (space engineering student group). The team counts with 2 biotechnology engineers, 1 forestal engineer, 3 electromechanical engineers, 3 mechatronic engineers and 2 computer engineers. Furthermore, the team’s coaches are Johan Carvajal, who is an expert on space mission design and M.Eng. William Rivera Méndez, professor and researcher of the Biotechnology Investigation Center (CIB).