The Research (Part I)

I've noticed a lot of similarities between the University of Kentucky and the University of Cincinnati, but one thing that really distinguishes the two is UK's emphasis on agriculture. It's everywhere--and it's not just for future farmers. It's combined with business to form agricultural economics and there's a program specifically for agricultural engineering. It's also really cool to see how involved all the agriculturally-inclined departments are/are trying to be in the community. In fact, UK has been working on opening a Food Systems Innovation Center (which should happen at some point during my time here) to help local farmers and food producers meet FDA requirements for commercial production. On Wednesday I met Angela Anandappa (from Ag Econ), who introduced me to some of the people involved in the project, and then showed me some of the different labs that were participating (mostly those that focused on agricultural engineering, but we also walked around the greenhouses and went inside the plant diagnostics lab).

The lab I'm working in is run by Dr. Melissa Newman (up in the right corner!), whose research is in food microbiology (and based on her list of publications it seems like she's particularly interested in E. coli). Anyway, the lab just received a grant from the Department of Homeland Security to look for what they're calling "natural antimicrobials" that can be added to foods to either kill or prevent the growth of unwanted microbes; and by natural, I'm referring to compounds that are both not harmful to humans and are naturally occurring (not manufactured), such as allicin (found in garlic) or a chili powder extract (just chili powder and water). One of the major microbes targeted in this research is Anthrax, however, others such as listeria and E. coli are also being researched because they are responsible for the vast majority of food-borne illnesses. Interestingly, Dr. Newman mentioned that the likelihood of a bio-terrorist successfully transmitting anthrax through food is very low because the microbe is at its most infectious when it is vaporized and then inhaled. Also, while most of the microorganisms being studied are allowed in the lab, all anthrax research is going to be done on pseudo-anthrax, which while exhibiting similar growth patterns and responding to similar stimuli, does not pose the same safety risks as anthrax.

On a related note, there are actually four different biosafety levels, with four being the most regulated. Level one only involves microbes that are not known to cause disease in humans, and UK is a level two, as are most university labs, which means each scientist needs specialized training in handling pathogenic material, and access to the lab is limited. Level three involves specialized filtration systems and the use of a hood for handling nearly all microbes (this includes West Nile and the SARS virus), and level four involves mandatory hazmat suits, decontamination showers and an ultraviolet light room to kill all pathogens (this is where you'll find your hemorrhagic diseases, smallpox, etc.).

On Thursday I started working with Jen, who's currently working on her PhD in Food Science and Technology. She does most of what I'm going to refer to as the "blind research," in that she is taking various compounds with unknown antimicrobial capacities, creating extracts, and then adding the extracts to different bacterial cultures. Her research focuses on finding the compounds that might work, determining the smallest effective amount possible and then seeing if a combination of two or more compounds is even more efficient than each individual one.