Check Your Pantry

SO, anyone who has been reading my blogs so far knows that I'm totally pro-research pro-discovery pro-whatever-makes-our-crops-grow-better and what not, right? Well i have recently learned that our lovely Senate officials have a doosey of a bill on their hands. One that has been not-so-affectionately named the 
DARK Act. (Denying Americans the Right to Know Act)

Whoa. that sounds pretty sketchy now doesn't it? Well here's some need-to-know info before I go digging around in what this Act really is talking about. And why in the world you should even care about this. 

I don't know how many of you know about these already but I'm talking about GMs. AKA Genetically Modified substances. Things like organisms, plants (soybeans, corn, wheat), and they are even starting to modify certain feedstock animals. Plants that can grow in abnormal temperatures, and ones that that can resist insect damage and live on a low water supply. How great does that sound for our farmers? They will hardly have to worry about their crops and imagine the money you'd save!!!

so there's two sides to this debate here….

THE BIG "6" CHEMICAL COMPANIES

(Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow Chemical, etc)

WHAT THEY WANT:

• Place a law into effect that requires companies to voluntarily label any GMO product used in the process. (Except if during the process the GMO product is used completely and no mass is left over 
• Permit certain meat, eggs, and milk raised from animals that have been fed GMO feeds to be considered non-GMO. 

CONSUMERS

(that means us folks) 

WHAT THEY WANT: 

• Anything and everything using GMO's to a certain percent in their products MUST label the product as a GMO food.

GMOs. Should we? or shouldn't we consider them a substance that NEEDS to be labeled. 

Labeling =NOT NEEDED

• GM crops need less water and less harmful herbicides to grow properly. Which then is giving the farmer the ability to drench our crops with less harmful chemicals. 
• GM crops are used (mainly) to feed our livestock animals. Instead of our food products. 
• The small amount of GMs in food products are well within FDA regulations. 
• It would give the products a bad reputation by being labeled as a "BAD GMO Product"  Which would lower demand, causing jobs to be lost. 

Labeling = GOOD

• It's important that Americans should be able to pinpoint exactly where and what our pre-packaged food products are made of. 
• Implementing an obligatory Label-Law would set ground work for possible trade and sales to other countries and created a common standard. 
• It would force all companies to keep track of their FDA standards and regulations. 

So, Do we force all these large companies to label exactly every GM food that goes into grocery stores? Or do we just let it blow over? (and thats really really hard for me to agree with) Though it is very true, labeling these foods as GMO-containing products, people WILL care and be judgmental when it comes to picking produce, or picking which slice of bread to make their sandwich out of. So ethically do we need to label things? I think yes… but not as a big huge white or green or red sash with a big GMO sign pointing to exactly everything in their field. Though, since everything is well under the FDA standards, I find it slightly easier to just leave the label off if it's going to cause so much . 

So folks, think a little bit. about maybe what side you'd be on… and let me know please.. I always like to try and see what I kind of pictured in my head.. only a little bit heavier, 

Thanks so much 

Bethy 

What the Frack?!

SO... we have all heard about the great nodak oil boom right? Here happening in our great state that now has a negative unemployment rate and where people of all sorts can make a fortune. Well I'm all for that! I have a ton of friends and family who are up in Williston, Minot and Dickenson at the moment and they are making a great living! But since the oil boom has started I am worried about what is going to happen to that area once the oil runs out. 

The main way they have begun drilling for oil is a technique called "oil fracking". Literally fracturing the rocky ground in order to release the oil and gasses from below. The massive drills go down vertically first to find the oil or gas pockets  - hundreds or thousands of feet down. They then send the drill relatively horizontally, once they have reached their destination, a LARGE amount of water, chemicals, sand, and fracking compound (whatever that is?!!) is pumped at high pressures and velocities down into the ground, fracturing the rock. The fractured rock is much easier to extract the oil out of, 

which is the main reason companies like this method of extraction. 

Thats awesome that they found a relatively safe way to extract the oil, Right? Except there are lots of little side-effects... and these little side-effects have to potential to pile up and cause some MAJOR problems…

The "little" side-effects: 

• The natural groundwater we use for irrigation, and wells can become contaminated with the chemicals and sand and fracking compound. Quite easily actually…

• The pipes are not necessarily leak proof.. so some of the methane gasses leak into the air. which, you know, is kind of just wasting possible energy…

• the chemicals used can be pretty toxic in large exposures. 

• Lots of contaminated waste water, which they do their best to filer and purify, but there ends up being noticeable amounts of waste water. 

• And then, for all of you structural engineers, you know that as you take a large amount of mass out of the ground, there then is a loss in support, that is not prone to collapse, but is always a possibility. (and small earthquakes are not uncommon)

WELLL…. As a bio-systems engineering major I can't help but think about other possible ways to acquire the energy we need, by NOT hurting our environment in the process.. And I know Oil Drilling is needed, and they are doing their best to keep it as eco-friendly as possible (what little that is). But, all of these side-effects are why we are trying so hard to find new forms of fuels and energy. So that we don't ruin the area we live in, or contaminate the food our animals eat, or use dirty water to hydrate our crops. The whole nodak area has been a great reminder to the country that we really do need to keep looking for these new fuels and can't stop until we find something that will be economically feasible and that does not take a toll on our lives as well. 

Might Even Fit in Your Pocket

So I've been researching lots of new systems and experiments going on in the biological field at the moment, and have come across a lot of interest in modifying plant DNA to improve all sorts of things! Such as, plant growth in cold weather, size of the seed or root, improve color based on aesthetics, even improving the amount of natural sugars found in a certain plant. Pretty cool right? and the majority of these plants have been helping to make great strides toward improving products. 

For instance, when producing soybean oil, the seed goes through 2 processes, the press and the distillation. There has been a new strain of soybean that has increased the amount of surface area on each bean, with increased surface area, more oil can be pressed out of the seed in the first pressing step, which is beneficial because less chemical and energy will be needed for the second step. Improving the overall production cost and efficiency. 

Now, in order to modify and test all these plants DNA, there is a lot of guess and check work. which requires LOTS of DNA. So scientists often use thermal cyclers to increase DNA length. A thermal cycler heats up and cools down the DNA strand in order to quickly put the DNA through it's natural reproductive process (PCR). The ability to put the DNA into a small tube and just let the machine run gives the scientists exact copies of the same DNA with little to no error. 

Normally, these thermal cyclers run for thousands and thousands of dollars, but a new  smaller commercial unit has become available. 

The Applied Biosystems 7500 Fast Dx

with a smaller 96-well unit (smaller than the 300+ commercial ones) it can produce 192 strands in 40 minutes, with the average time of other machines being about an hour. 

It comes with pre-programmed run commands, but also has an option to customize certain parameters about the process. This particular feature can be quite handy, for instance if you'd just like to make a few copies, using the pre-progammed commands are fast and efficient, but if you have a particularly complicated sample using the custom run commands can insure no mistakes in the copy. 

 

The 7500 also has modern aesthetics to it, with the help of a sleek white exterior and high-tech LCD screens. 

 but i think the best feature of this particular instrument though is the "Assurance Service Plan". The company includes both software and hardware support 24 hours a day. Installation and operation training are standard on every machine purchased, along with a software and calibration setup. So. for low-tech people like myself this is a total plus, anytime you run into an error or warning your unfamiliar with you can call up the support team FOR FREE <win-win> and they will either walk you through how to fix it or send out a service team for emergency repairs! including parts and labor!

So, for the price, it seems like this smaller thermal cycler  definitely has bang for the buck. Granted it's not going to produce the hundreds of samples that a commercialized thermal cycler would but if your company is only interested in small scale research the 7500 seems to be a great pick!

Your a Bio-what?!?

Hey readers! First off my name is Bethany (though friends and family all know me as Bethy) I promise, I will not bore you with an extensive life story, but bear with me, I do want to share this with you. 

For years, friends and family have hounded me about what I'm going to be doing the rest of my life. Here's some ideas that were thrown at me - orthodontist, oral surgeon, fashion designer, architect, financial analyst, professor, doctor - you know the drill, everything and anything that pays well. I had no clue what I was even interested in, nevertheless what I wanted to go to college for. Though I did know one thing. 

I detest working inside. Especially in a cubicle. All. Day. Long. 

So, that threw out 90% of my high-paying options. I was afraid I would have to be a construction worker. (NOT that that's bad. Anyone who has the ability to drive all that complicated equipment gets my respect! And I'm mega jealous of their ability to tan all day ;) But I'd never cut it.)

Until I toured the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus, and found their: 

Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering.

Now what in the world is bioproducts and biosystems engineering you ask?! GREAT QUESTION! (I literally have to answer this every time I tell anyone what I'm majoring in. every. time.)

The major is split into four concentrations. 

Bioprocessing/Bioproducts/Renewable Energy

Environmental/Ecological Engineering

Food Processing

Building Systems/Energy Efficiency 

I personally, chose the Bioprocessing/Bioproducts/Renewable Energy option. 

Why? Because by studying this, I have the chance to use nature to create materials and products we use everyday - products that are currently being created out of harsh chemicals and lead to deposits of hazardous waste. 

Don't worry, I know what you're going to ask next.. "What does that mean? What kind of products?"... Right? 

I'm talking soda bottles made of plastics that are actually decomposable, and building materials such as sheetrock with naturally occurring fibers, pulps, and papers. Adhesives and oils which don't cause deterioration of the material it's applied to. Pretty cool huh? 

And then there's the FUELS. We all use some sort of transportation to get to work, or school, or the mall, or to the grocery store, or to the airport, wherever. Imagine being able to say, that mode of transportation is eco-friendly - not pumping harmful chemicals into the air we breathe. How about being able to grow your own Algae to fuel your car or being able to haul your horses down the road in a truck that burns an ethanol made from excess crop waste. How awesome does that sound?!

After learning all of this I knew what I wanted to do. And the best part - You're not ALWAYS indoors!

The Engineering programs funded by private donors and the government have made great strides since they have started exploring renewable resources and biofuels. And what a great field to get into - this research and exploration will never end.

 Because one day, the fossil fuels will dry up and we will need these new sources of energy. 

~Now lets explore ALGAE-BIODIESEL~

By testing over 3,000 types of algae in the world, it was found that Chlorella (the common icky green stuff that grows in you pond) can have oil levels which are well suited for producing biodiesel. By harvesting this quickly reproducing natural plant and then refining it, we can create a natural biodiesel that produces less emissions, and the wastes from producing this biodiesel can actually have constructive uses (such as electricity, fertilizers, free carbons and excess algae biomass used for material products)

**photo courtesy of BioEcoTek-Hawaii ~ a biodiesel producer**

Check out these articles to learn a little bit more about this new possible fuel. 

Smithsonian            Sewage>>Fuel           BioEcoTek-Hawaii

So, if you love nature, love being outside, and want to preserve the world we live in for our children's children, I would highly suggest thinking about a job in the bioprocess/bioproducts field. It'll give you a chance to be a part of the new natural technologies of the future 

Thanks for reading! 

Sincerely, 

Bethy