KUALA LUMPUR - Freshwater prawns are becoming an increasingly important component of the aquaculture industry in Asia, but farmers have to deal with problems related to disease, reproduction and climate change.

Subha Bhassu, a geneticist and associate professor at the University of Malaya 's Center for Biotechnology in Agriculture Research in Malaysia, believes that genome sequencing could help address these issues, along with the power of collective research.

Dr. Subha and her team have been working with researchers from the Beijing Genome Institute and theQueensland University of Technology in Australia since 2009. They have produced joint research papers, taken part in joint staff training and held student exchanges.

This year, she helped establish a Southeast Asian network of aquaculture researchers, with scientists from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam coming together every three months to share research and develop doctoral student exchange programs.

Dr. Subha, who communicates with her Asian counterparts every few weeks via Skype, is adamant that the most effective way to ensure a better and safer food supply is for scientists to pool their knowledge and resources.

"For poverty, for the environment, for sustainability, we have to work together," she said.

David Fuller's view I often think that the news we see on a daily basis is dominated by disasters, tragedies and forecasts that cater to our worst fears.

Without wishing to be Pollyannaish, I think that we should pay equal attention to all that is improving around us, not least from an investment perspective.

I find the article above both heartening and illuminating. Scientific researchers are collaborating not only in one of the world's most dynamic growth regions but also with their colleagues in the developed world, from the Antipodes to Europe and North America, plus research oriented centres that are emerging in Central and South America, and also Africa.

The many successes emanating from their combined efforts are manifold.