Project:

The Mysterious Case of the Vanishing Coffee Beans

Students:

Shreya Sibal, Jennifer Kim

School:

Tenafly High School, Other

Mentors:

Alan Brandstaedter

Abstract:

Coffee is a popular food product that is facing extinction in many of its species. Due to climate change and plant diseases, the coffee plant is dying out. It is expected that of the 124 wild coffee species, greater than 60% are facing extinction. Furthermore, 45% of these species are not part of any germplasm collection and 28% do not exist in a protected area. DNA sequencing can identify the regions of each species' DNA that vary to determine which ones make each species resilient to climate change and disease vectors.

Poster:

Team samples: