Happy Thanksgiving (2024): A Message from Danforth Center Chair Penny Pennington

As Thanksgiving approaches, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to you for your continued support of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Your generosity and commitment to our mission have been essential in driving forward the innovations that define our work. I am honored to serve as the new Chair of the Board and deeply grateful for the community of supporters like you who share in our vision for a better world.

I would also like to acknowledge Todd Schnuck, who has led the Danforth Center board with distinction over the past five years. Under his leadership, we have reached new heights in our mission to advance food security and environmental sustainability. His legacy of service inspires us as we look to the future.

This year, we have much to celebrate, and your partnership has been critical in making these achievements possible. I’m pleased to share a few highlights:

• Empowering Farmers in West Africa: Ghana joins Nigeria as the second nation to release pod-borer resistant cowpea. This improved crop is now in the hands of Ghanaian farmers, providing them with a crucial tool to protect their crops and ensure better harvests. This breakthrough is improving livelihoods and bolstering food security in the region.
• Advancing Gene-Editing Technology: The Slotkin lab’s pioneering discovery of a new tool (called TATSI) to lower the cost and difficulty of gene-editing was published in Nature, the world’s most prestigious scientific journal. This achievement will help reduce the barriers to bringing an improved crop to market and speed sustainable solutions to farmers.
• Fueling Innovation: The Danforth Center Start-Up Initiative has launched its second company in as many years. Metablify from the Baxter lab, which won Big Ideas 3.0, enables the detection of previously undetectable metabolites and chemicals, providing a groundbreaking solution for biological research, both in plants and in human medicine.

These successes underscore the transformative impact of your support. Together, we are forging a path toward a future where science addresses the most urgent challenges of our time—from climate change to food scarcity—and delivers real, lasting solutions.

As we gather with family and friends this Thanksgiving, we are reminded of the blessings we share—and the responsibility we have to help others around the world enjoy the same abundance. Your generosity is not just a gift to the Danforth Center, but a gift to the farmers, researchers, and communities whose lives are being transformed by the power of plant science. For this, I am profoundly grateful.

Thank you for partnering with us to nurture a future where everyone has access to nutritious food and a sustainable environment.

Warmest regards,