PHOTOSYNQ

Creating an open, global database of plant health

Who is it for

A researcher in Kenya is developing a hardier breed of African melon, a breed frequently grown in Kenya but completely ignored by big seed companies. He field trials 50 new varieties he’s developed. He gives his graduate student the Photosynq to measure drought stress in each plant over time. The data automatically uploaded to the cloud and is then seen by an American researcher seeking new model plants for studying drought stress. The two begin a mutually beneficial research collaboration.

A high school biology class in Massachusetts takes data on local oak trees over 2 weeks in early Fall. They analyze the data themselves on the Photosynq website and compare to oak tree samples taken by 200 other biology classes across the US and Europe taken in the same time. The time course data is used by researchers to measure climate change across the northern US. A prize is given to the student who finds the most energy efficient leaf.

A bio-prospecting traveler takes the Photosynq to China where she identifies a plant which is 10% efficient at converting sunlight to usable energy (most plants are 1 – 3% efficient). A researcher in Europe finds and isolates a compound from this plant to improve rice crop yields by 5%.