Alumni Claire and Les Halpins' generous donations improved biology facilities at the University
Les Halpin received an honorary doctorate from the University in 2011
The Halpins: building our future
Alumni Dr Les and Claire Halpin (Mathematical Statistics and Operational research 1979, Hon LLD 2011 and Biology 1979 respectively) have given over £1 million to the University. Their philanthropy includes funding PhD scholars researching Rice Blast disease, to facilities within the Business School.
Les said: “We give because we can see that each £1 makes a real difference to students, the research capabilities and reputation of the University and society as a whole. Of course Exeter is where we studied and met but we haven’t invested sentimentally.
"By working closely with academics we’ve targeted areas of development and can already see the difference our philanthropy is making. We are closely involved in the projects and for us that has been satisfying and rewarding.”
Our Rice Blast research
Scientists at the University of Exeter recently made a new discovery that they hope might lead to effective control of rice blast disease.
Rice blast is the most serious disease of cultivated rice and affects all the rice-growing regions of the world, causing losses of up to 30% of the global rice harvest.
Yasin Dagdas and colleagues studied the rice blast fungus, which develops a pressurised infection cell, called an appressorium to rupture the rice leaf cuticle. The appressorium generates extreme pressure, estimated to be 40 times that of a car tyre. Dagdas and colleagues, who work under the supervision of Professor Nick Talbot, have identified how the fungus channels its pressure to form a narrow infection peg that breaches the rice leaf surface. Their work implicates a specialised group of proteins called septins in plant infection for the first time. These proteins may be important to allow the rigid, pressurised cell to focus force at the point of plant infection.
Yasin Dagdas said: “This is another step in our journey to discover how this devastating fungus works and we hope, in the future, may help prevent the destruction of so much of the world’s rice production”.
Speaking about the discovery, Professor Nick Talbot said “Rice blast is a terrible disease, affecting some of the poorest regions of the world. We hope that this discovery will allow us to understand plant infection in more detail and we can then apply the knowledge to provide better solutions to farmers in controlling blast outbreaks”.
