OhiO AgriculturAl reseArch And develOpment center

OhiO AgriculturAl reseArch And develOpment center

The OARDC Research Enhancement Competitive Grants Program

Report of Progress for Calendar Year 2013

SEEDS

SEEDS Report of Progress Calendar Year 2013

OhiO AgRiCultuRAl RESEARCh AnD DEvElOPmEnt CEntER

ContentsCurrent and Past Collaborators .......................................................................................................... 1

Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................3

Interdisciplinary Team Competition .................................................................................................. 7

Matching and Industry Small Grant Competitions .......................................................................11

New Enterprise Competition ............................................................................................................ 21

Seed Grant Competition ................................................................................................................... 25

Student Projects ....................................................................................................................................37

Publications, Presentation and Graduate Students ................................................................. 45

Current Research Committee MembersMacdonald Wick, Animal Sciences, Chair

Andrew Michel, Entomology, Co-Chair

Larry Antosch, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation

Imed Dami, Horticulture and Crop Science Richard Dick, School of Environment and Natural Resources Gary Gao, Extension

Dennis Hall, Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center (OBIC)

Jason Kong, Ohio Department of Agriculture

Chang-Won Lee, Food Animal Health Research Program

Yebo Li, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering Farnaz Maleky, Food Science and Technology

Gary Rawlings, TECH Columbus Abdoul Sam, Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics

Robert Scharff, College of Education and Human Ecology

Gary Straquadine, Agricultural Communication, Education and Leadership Christopher Taylor, Plant Pathology

F. William Ravlin, Associate Director and Administrative Advisor Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Ex-Officio

Steven A. Slack, Director Agricultural Research and Development Center, Ex-Officio

Grant Development Support UnitLori Kaser, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

Sarah Elvey, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

For more information, visit our website: grants.cfaes.ohio-state.edu.

produced by lori Kaser and sarah elvey, project managers, and by cFAes communications: Ken chamberlain, photographer; lauren Farr, senior graphic designer; heather gates, technical editor; gary Warren, digital press Operator


seeds report of progress calendar Year 2013

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Current and Past Collaborators3-I6062 Holdings LLCAccuDX Inc.AfrivaxAg-SpectrumAlltechAlpaca Jack’s Suri FarmAmerican Aggregates Corp.American Berry CooperativeAmerican Coal Ashland AssociationAmerican Hosta SocietyAmpac Seed CompanyAntorchas FoundationArcher-Daniels-Midland CompanyArgus Control Systems Ltd.Around the World GourmetAsgrow Seed CompanyAthersys Inc.AviagenBASF Plant Science GmbH Agrarzentrum LimburgerhofBass EndowmentBayer Advanced LLCBayer CorporationBayer CropScience LP Environmental SciencesBedding Plants Foundation, Inc.Berlin Natural Baker, Inc.Biotechnology Research and Development CorporationBoehringer Ingelheim-NOBLBritish Columbia Greenhouse Growers’ AssociationBritish United Turkeys of AmericaCalifornia Avocado CommissionCamelid Health FoundationCampbell R and DCargill Animal Nutrition CenterCattlemen’s Carcass Data ServiceCenter for Asceptic Processing and Packaging StudiesCenter for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT)Central Ohio Hosta SocietyCertified Angus BeefCiba Crop ProtectionCinergyCity of ColumbusCleveland MetroparksCognis Deutschland GmBH and Co.Consortium for Plant Biotechnology ResearchCooper Farms, Inc.CultivaDairy Management, Inc.DanoneDeVentureDonlar CorporationDow Agrosciences

DuPontDynal BiotechE.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co.Eagle-Picher Minerals, Inc.EarthgroEdstrom Industries, Inc.Elanco Animal HealthElectric Power Research InstituteEli Lilly and CompanyFarmland IndustriesFirst EnergyFive Points Equipment Co., Inc.Floriculture Industry Research and Scholarship TrustFood Science AustraliaFremont Pickle Growers AssociationFruit Growers Marketing AssociationGarickGeneral ChemicalGeorge F. Ackerman CompanyGreat Lakes Hosta SocietyGreen Circle Growers, IncGregson Technologies, Inc.Gustafson, Inc.Harris Moran Seed CompanyHillshire Farm and Kahn’sHirzel Canning Co.Holmes Cheese CompanyHolmes Cheese TableHormel FoodsHorticultural Research InstituteIams CompanyIdeasphere Inc.Industry UniversInfectech, Inc.Ingredient Innovations InternationalIntegrated Research Technology, LLVJ. Frank Schmidt Family Charitable FoundationJarrow IncorporatedJatco, Inc.Jiangxi Provincial Centre of Irrigation ExperimentKamiasahi Feed Lot, Ltd.Kanter AssociatesKohlpyrKraft Foods Global, Inc.Kurtz Brothers, Inc.Land O’Lakes Inc.Lilly Research LaboratoriesLipha Tech, Inc.Lipton Tomato Research CenterLois Smucker’s GreenhouseLoveland Industries, Inc.M and G Polymers USA



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Pharmacia, Wyeth Ayerst ResearchPhilip Morris, Inc., Shared Solutions in AgriculturePhycotransgenicsPIC USAPig Improvement CompanyPioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.Polter Berry FarmPolymerOhio Inc.Protein Technologies InternationalPurity Foods, Inc.Quality Liquid FeedsRainbow Treecare Scientific AdvancementsRainforest PhytoceuticalsRavenRhodia, Inc.Roche Vitamins Inc.SatlocSchillinger Genetics, IncSchmack BioEnergySCI Protek, Inc.ScottsSelect SiresSeminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc.Small Farm InstituteSmithers-Oasis CompanyStandard Process Inc.Sustane Natural FertilizersSyngentaThe Andersons, IncThe Chef’s Garden, Inc.The Cookie Cop CompanyThe Garland Company, Inc.The HANOR Company, Inc.The Scotts Company and SubsidiariesTheis Technology Inc.Thomas CookToh Products, LLCTop Soil Precision AgTree Research and Education Endowment FundTropical TraditionsTruGreen-ChemlawnTurkish Republic Harran UniversityUniversity of California, Davis. Sub award to USAIDValentValent USA Corp.Verdesian Life Sciences, LLC (Biagro Western Sales)Warner Endowment GrantWelch’sWest Texas A and MWilmington CollegeZoetis

Magical Farms, Inc.Maple Leaf Farms, Inc.Mars Chocolate North America, LLCMartek Biosciences CorporationMerck Research LaboratoriesMerial LimitedMicroBio LimitedMid-America Food ProcessorsMiddlefield CheeseMidtechMidwest Regional Hosta SocietyMinistry of Culture, Education, and Scientific Exchanges,

SpainMonsanto CompanyMTD ProductsNational Fish and Wildlife FoundationNational Sea Grant ProgramNational Wildlife FederationNatural Fiber and Composites Corp.Natural Fiber Composites CorporationNorth American Strawberry Growers Research Foundation,

Inc.Nourse Farms, Inc.Novartis Crop Protection, Inc.Nunhems USA, INCNursery Growers of Lake County Ohio, Inc.N-Viron International, Inc.Ohio Bioprocessing Research ConsortiumOhio BioProducts Innovation CenterOhio Corn Marketing ProgramOhio Dairy Farmers Federation, Inc.Ohio Dairy ProducersOhio Floriculture FoundationOhio Fruit Growers SocietyOhio Lawn Care AssociationOhio Nursery and Landscape Association, Inc.Ohio Pork Producers CouncilOhio Poultry AssociationOhio Seed Improvement ResearchOhio Sheep and Wool ProgramOhio Soybean CouncilOhio Space Grant ConsortiumOhio Vegetable and Small Fruit Research and DevelopmentOntario Greenhouse Vegetable GrowersOptimum Quality Grains, LLCOrganic ValleyOtterbein UniversityOutbackPanAridusPark FoundationPennington Seed, Inc. Oregon DivisionPetroseedPfizer



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Introduction

As the research arm of The Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) employs nearly 650 scientists and staff members throughout the state. OARDC’s Wooster campus is the larg-est agbioscience research facility in the U.S., and OARDC scientists work closely with researchers in Ohio State’s Colleges of Education and Human Ecology, Medicine, Pub-lic Health, Veterinary Medicine, Biological Sciences and Engineering.

INTRODUCTIONSEEDS: The OARDC Research Enhancement Competitive Grants Program

to take on common challenges and opportunities in key areas such as food production and security, energy and the environment, and health and wellness. OARDC’s SEEDS program is just one of the many ways in which Ohio State’s innovative research and development connect to industry and community on an eminent global scale. Currently, Ohio State is ranked 16th among the nation’s top public uni-versities and has been among the top 25 public research universities in each U.S. News & World Report ranking.

At any given time, OARDC researchers are engaged in more than 400 research projects. Primary focus is in three signature areas:

• Advanced bioenergy and biobased products

• Environmental quality and sustainability

• Food security, production and human health

Addressing the differing challenges and vast opportuni-ties of Ohio’s agbioscience industry is the ultimate goal of SEEDS: The OARDC Research Enhancement Competitive Grants Program. SEEDS encourages excellence in OARDC research by promoting exploration that is consistent with the mission and vision of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center and by encouraging connections across disciplines, with industry and with other external partners.

Established in 1996 and supported by OARDC, SEEDS: The OARDC Research Enhancement Competitive Grants Program is unique among U.S. state-assisted universities. In fostering high-quality research among scientists support-ed by OARDC and the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, SEEDS enables those scientists to collect the preliminary data needed to give them a compet-itive edge in national programs, and it provides them with leverage to attract industry support. Due to the changing nature of economic and societal trends, agriculture, food and the green industry depend on innovators and re-searchers to generate new processes and products. Ohio’s largest industry increasingly links with other industries



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Objective 1 — Increase the competitiveness of scientists in extramural grant programs. Of the 23 projects com-pleted and reported in calendar year 2013, $24,893,773 was generated in extramural funding. The Seed Grant Competition and the Agency External Competitions spe-cifically address Objective 1, although all competitions may result in additional funding from outside sources.

Over the life of SEEDS, 482 projects have been complet-ed and $105,658,260 has been generated extramurally. Over the life of SEEDS, OARDC has invested $1,063,885 in matching funds for Agency External Grants, which has generated $28,755,726 in extramural funding — a return of more than $26 for each dollar invested.

Objective 2 — Encourage partnerships with industry and other stakeholders. Of the 10 grants requiring at least a dollar-for-dollar match and completed during calendar year 2013, OARDC provided a total of $252,573, while indus-try matched those dollars. Over the life of the program, OARDC has provided $4,088,346 toward Matching and Industry Small Grants, while industry has matched these dollars with $7,759,201 — a return of 53%.

Objective 3 — Encourage the development of interdis-ciplinary teams. During calendar year 2013, two interdis-ciplinary teams completed projects. Over the life of the program, eight colleges and 31 departments have partic-ipated in this category of the competition, with OARDC investing $8,104,200 and teams competing successfully and reporting $22,779,091 in extramural funding — a return of about $3.50 on each dollar invested.

ObjectivesSEEDS was created to encourage partnerships with indus-try and other stakeholders and to increase the competi-tiveness of OARDC/CFAES scientists in extramural grant programs. While these objectives remain as the program’s cornerstone, SEEDS has grown to include a total of seven objectives:

1. Increase the competitiveness of scientists in extramural grant programs.

2. Encourage partnerships with industry and other stake-holders.

3. Encourage the development of interdisciplinary teams.

4. Encourage international collaborations.

5. Support the exploration of enterprises that are potential-ly new to Ohio.

6. Provide undergraduate students with research experi-ence.

7. Provide graduate students with the opportunity to take part in the grant-writing/review process.

By providing SEEDS money to develop the necessary pre-liminary data for a strong grant application or by matching funds to leverage external funding, SEEDS has proved to be a valuable program for scientists in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Within the context of our global society, the SEEDS program looks forward to continued success and new partnerships with industry and other collaborators in Ohio and throughout the world.



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IntroductionProgram Achievements

• supported research projects of more than $21 mil-lion in all categories and have received over $113 million in matching and extramural funding — a re-turn of about $10 for each dollar invested over the last five years. A return of $21.41 for each dollar invested was reported in calendar year 2013.

• invested $4 million in projects requiring matching funds, generating $7.7 million in industry matches — a return of more than $5 for every dollar invested over the last five years.

• enabled scientists to establish collaborations with colleagues from Africa, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, china, chile, France, ireland, italy, mexico, new Zealand, norway, the philippines, switzerland, taiwan, uganda and Zimbabwe.

• Obtained seven patents, 13 invention disclosures and three licensing agreements based on initial seeds funding.

• published a total of 844 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts, abstracts, popular press articles, bul-letins and/or book chapters and made more than 1,458 presentations throughout the world.

• produced 62 doctoral dissertations and 93 mas-ter’s theses.

• Awarded $1,162,716 in seeds grants, based on the 112 seeds applications requesting $3,793,372 in funding in fiscal year 2013. Twenty-seven awards were made to faculty members, for an investment of $1,162,716. Four undergraduate, six master’s level, and 13 graduate awards were made, for an investment of $108,135.

• Funded 574 faculty proposals out of 1,363 re-ceived, for a 42% funding rate.

Objective 7 — Provide graduate students with the oppor-tunity to take part in the grant-writing/review process. A total of 610 master’s and doctoral students have submitted proposals to the Director’s Graduate Research Competi-tion, and 239 projects have been awarded. The graduate competition is run like a federal competition. Graduate stu-dents who receive awards are asked to serve on a panel to review applications in the following year’s competition. This experience provides students the opportunity to develop essential career skills such as grant-writing and reviewing.

Objective 4 — Encourage international collaborations. Collaboration has occurred with scientists from Africa, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Chile, France, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, the Philip-pines, Switzerland, Taiwan, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Objective 5 — Support the exploration of enterprises that are potentially new to Ohio. New Enterprises are considered to be crops, animals, products, goods and services that currently are not produced for biological, physical, cultural, processing, economic or social reasons. The New Enterprise Competition is designed to explore new enterprises and to eliminate the barriers that constrain existing ones. Over the life of the program, the New Enterprise Competition has received 40 applications; 14 have been funded, with OARDC investing $666,021 and teams competing successfully and reporting $1,028,858 in extramural funding — a return of about $2 on each dollar invested.

Objective 6 — Provide undergraduate students with research experience. A total of 93 applications to the Director’s Undergraduate Research Program have been received, and 59 applicants have received awards. The Director’s Undergraduate Research Program provides undergraduate students with a professional grant-writing, research and reporting experience. Projects are designed, submitted for review and carried out with a faculty mentor. Once a project is completed, students take an indepen-dent studies class to write their research report in the form of a scientific journal article, using their faculty advisor as an editor. Some of these reports get published. In addition, many students present their research at professional meet-ings and at competitions such as the Denman Undergrad-uate Research Forum, a universitywide program presented by The Ohio State University Office of Research and The University Honors and Scholars Center.


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Interdisciplinary Team Competition

The Interdisciplinary Team Competition, funded at a maximum $100,000 level, is designed to stimulate new collaborative partnerships in multiple departments and colleges or build on existing programs of excellence. Interdisciplinary research provides expertise over several disciplines, bringing a more holistic approach to research questions and problems.v

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Understanding the Nature of Parasitism in Dodder from a Reproduction Aspect Flowering InitiationDouglas Doohan, Horticulture and Crop ScienceBing Ding, Plant BiologyFeng Qu, Plant PathologyEric J. Stockinger, Horticulture and Crop Science

Dodder (Cuscuta spp.) is a parasitic flowering plant that causes severe losses to many important crops in the U.S. and other countries. Dodder can completely destroy Irish potato, reduce sugarbeet yield by 3.5 to 4 tons/ha and forage yield by 20%–57%. Dodder has infested clover and alfalfa fields in western Ohio and is widely distributed throughout the state. Due to its intimate association with host plant stems, it is very difficult to control dodder with-out damaging host crops. Despite much anticipation that transgenic herbicide-tolerant crops would provide a highly selective system to control dodder, the parasite routinely survives and resumes growth after application of herbicide. The goal of this project was to improve understanding of how dodder interacts with hosts at the molecular level with an expectation that this would provide new knowledge for development of novel dodder management tools.

The central hypothesis was that a host-specific phenotype could be transferred to dodder along with the nutrient flow from the host to the parasite. It was also hypothesized that

host-specific herbicide-tolerant traits could be acquired by dodder. Dodder was grown on nontransgenic hosts (sensi-tive to herbicide application) and transgenic hosts (tolerant to herbicide application), exclusively treating the parasite with herbicide, and comparing responses to the applied herbicide.

With the result that dodder did acquire an herbicide tolerance trait from the host, it was discovered that the parasitic dodder becomes tolerant to herbicide only when growing on the transgenic herbicide-tolerant host. The reason for this phenomenon is an interspecies trafficking of a transgenic enzyme that confers herbicide tolerance. This result explained why dodder control is not effective using transgenic herbicide-tolerant crops, thus providing a novel direction to improve dodder control by preventing the transgenic enzyme moving from host to dodder. This is also the first discovery showing that a parasitic plant could acquire a stress-tolerant trait from host plants, largely extending our understanding of the nature of host/parasite interaction.

A parallel discovery was that these transgenic enzymes were also intraspecies-mobile using the soybean as a model plant: A transgenic rootstock can confer herbicide tolerance in a grafted nontransgenic. This is the first effort to incorporate an herbicide tolerance trait into the graft-ing practice. It could also be a new strategy to address herbicide drift problems arising from the commercialization of 2,4-D and dicamba tolerant field crop by using herbicide tolerant rootstocks.

Douglas Doohan

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Evaluating the Pesticide Contamination of Pollinators and Their Provisions Across an Urban-to-Rural Landscape GradientMary Gardiner, EntomologyDesheng Liu, GeographyPaul L. Phelan, EntomologyRoger N. Williams, Entomology

Across the world, pollinator decline has emerged as a sig-nificant threat to agroecosystem function. Although pollina-tion services are contributed to by a variety of organisms, bees are considered the most economically important to agriculture. Declines in bee populations in the U.S. have been linked to disease, introduction of exotic competitors and parasites, loss of habitat and exposure to toxins. The goal of this grant was to understand how landscapes that vary from urban to rural influence exposure of bee species to pesticides. Across this urban-to-rural gradient, pollina-tors will encounter many environmental stressors, including the use of chemicals.

This project studied the influence of landscape compo-sition on the diversity and concentration of pesticides collected by the common eastern bumblebee. Thirty bumblebee hives were placed across an urban-to-rural gradient extending from the city of Cleveland, Ohio, south into rural Wayne County. Bees were allowed to forage, after which they were collected and frozen. An analysis was conducted of the bees and their collected provisions for over 300 pesticides including herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. Data was also collected on the number of workers, larvae, pupae and provisions within the hive. Thus far, differences were detected in hive weight (577–699.2g), number of worker bees (89–205), number of larvae and pupae (0–277) and honey pots (0–162) between colonies. The landscape surrounding experimental sites was quanti-fied at a radius of 3 km by ground verification of all habitats present. These landscapes are currently being digitized using geographic information systems (GIS) software. After which, landscape patches will be designated as specific habitats based on a coding system developed relevant to analysis of an urban-to-rural gradient.

Development of a chemical analysis protocol has been ongoing in the laboratory of Dr. Larry Phelan. Dr. Phelan has been working to optimize the protocol to ensure maxi-mum retrieval of agrochemicals from bee samples and has recently begun testing field samples. Findings are expect-ed to show differences in pesticide exposures of bees in urban, suburban and rural environments as well as re-duced foraging abilities and hive growths in hives exposed

to pesticides. Analysis at this point has shown low recovery rates of pesticides within bee samples. Data analysis is ongoing and is expected to be complete in 2014. Addi-tional funding in the form of an NCR-SARE grant has been acquired to continue data collection and analysis.

In addition to this research, this grant also established a citizen science project titled Bee Healthy Landscapes (beehealthy.osu.edu). Researchers have partnered with 50 beekeepers to evaluate the influence of landscape structure on pesticide accumulation in commercial hives in Ohio. Toolkits to collect samples of workers, honey, wax and pupae were sent to beekeepers. These samples were also analyzed.

This research has led to a new partnership with the Elec-trical Engineering Department to develop a system for monitoring foraging activity of bumblebees that have been exposed to pesticides. They have aided in programming a radio-frequency identification data acquisition system so that foraging behaviors of individual bumblebees leaving the hive can be collected. This system is also used to study how a commonly used herbicide (2,4-D) and an organosili-cone adjuvant influence the foraging behaviors of bumble-bees. Preliminary experiments indicate that focal chemicals may influence colony growth and the amount of time that bees spend foraging in the greater landscape.

Mary Gardiner


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Matching and Industry Small Grant Competitions

The Matching and Industry Small Grant Competitions are specifically designed to develop partnerships with private industry and nonprofit foundations. Industry Small Grants provide up to $6,000 from the SEEDS program, while Matching Grants provide up to $50,000. Investigators are required to obtain at least a dollar-for-dollar match from industry for both of these competitions.

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Using Insect Population Dynamics to Improve Pest Management in GreenhousesLuis Canas, Entomology

Ohio is the sixth largest producer of ornamental plants grown in greenhouses. Ornamental facilities produce a large number of plant species and require complex deci-sion making that includes the selection of effective pest management tools. Commonly, the tool of choice is the use of pesticides. The large amount of information needed to deal with large pest complexes in ornamental plants makes threshold-based control a difficult task. This is further complicated by the ornamental market’s low tolerance to plant damage. A U.S. survey on agricultural chemical use in nursery and floriculture reported that almost half of the ornamental growers applied pesticides in a preventive schedule. Therefore, it is important to develop tools that increase the efficacy of our current management tools.

Whiteflies are important pests of vegetable and ornamental plants worldwide. Upon whitefly detection, greenhouse growers apply pesticides until no further signs of the pest are observed. Unlike nurseries, where pest generations are restricted by weather, the continuous growing condi-tions of greenhouses allow multiple pest generations per year, restricting the utility of developmental rate/degree day models. Therefore, in order to make predictions about the development of pest populations in greenhouses, it is necessary to identify an initial point in time at which repro-ductive adults are first detected. Thereafter, temperature

and plant preference can be used to estimate insect pop-ulations grow. The information generated could be used to break life pest cycle patterns by efficiently targeting specific pest life stages. Successful development of such models will have broader application to other pests with similar biological traits.

The main objective of this project was to develop an online tool to predict the growth of the silverleaf whitefly on sev-eral plant hosts. Temperature, host plant and initial day of pest discovery are critical factors necessary to forecast the presence and life-stage proportions of whiteflies.

A set of 12 ornamental plants commonly grown in Ohio’s greenhouses were chosen at random and used for the experiment. Four temperature conditions were evaluated. Female whiteflies were allowed to lay eggs in the various host plants, and then the offspring was evaluated over time. Whitefly development rates, days alive and egg production were measured and used to develop whitefly population growth models. This project was successful in developing growth models for whiteflies feeding from poinsettias and zinnias.

Next the whitefly growth models will be incorporated into a web-based expert system that will provide recommenda-tions for control.

Luis Canas (left)


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Identification of Seed Treatments to Manage Plant and Human Bacterial Pathogens on Pumpkin and TomatoSally A. Miller, Plant Pathology

Ohio is one of the top producers of pumpkins and toma-toes in the U.S., with approximately 17,400 acres of land in production and a farm value of $79.1 million. Ohio growers have reported recently an increase in seedborne bacterial diseases in pumpkins (bacterial spot) and tomatoes (bacte-rial spot and bacterial canker). Produce contamination with human pathogens has also become a serious concern. Identifying management strategies that consider risks as-sociated with both foodborne pathogens and plant patho-gens is economically sensible for vegetable producers.

The most effective means of controlling seedborne bacteri-al diseases is the use of pathogen-free seeds and trans-plants. Although soaking seeds in hot water, chlorine or hydrochloric acid has long been recommended to kill phy-topathogenic bacteria on and within raw vegetable seeds, it is not suitable for pelletized or fungicide-treated seeds, and its efficacy against Salmonella spp. is not known. The objectives of this project were to evaluate the efficacy of seed treatments in reducing the severity of bacterial spot on pumpkin seedlings; identify seed treatments that would not compromise the integrity of pelleted tomato seeds and pesticide-treated pumpkin seed; and identify seed treat-ments to eliminate Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimuri-um (Salmonella) from tomato seeds.

Neither sodium hypochlorite, hydrochloric acid (HCl), hot water, dry heat, peracetic acid (PA), acidic electrolyzed water (AEW), trichloromelamine nor Virkon reduced pump-kin seed germination, seedling fresh weight or seedling height compared to nontreated seed. PA, HCl and dry heat treatments reduced bacterial spot by 50% in pumpkin seedlings produced from seeds infested with the pathogen compared to untreated control seeds. Dry heat, UV light, a slurry of trichloromelamine and microwaves did not remove significant amounts of pesticide from pumpkin seeds, based on an inhibition assay with Phytophthora capsici. However, microwaves reduced germination and seedling height compared to nontreated seeds.

The coating on tomato seeds treated with a trichlorome-lamine slurry or steam were highly fragmented; none of the steam-treated seeds germinated. Seed volume was lowest following treatment with pressurized steam. Percentage germination was highest in seeds treated with trichlorome-lamine compared to all other treatments, but no differences were observed in seedling vigor. Sodium hypochlorite

and HCl were the only two treatments that eradicated Salmonella from infested tomato seeds. Hot water treat-ment did not significantly reduce Salmonella incidence on seeds with a moderately high population level compared to the nontreated control. Salmonella was not detected on tomato seedlings produced from noninfested seeds or seeds infested or with moderately high populations of the pathogen. However, when pathogen populations were in-creased, Salmonella was detected on seedlings produced from nontreated seed and seed treated with hot water and trichloromelamine.

This project provided researchers with the basic knowl-edge needed to further develop cost-effective seed sanita-tion practices that will be effective against multiple plant pathogens as well as human pathogens associated with pumpkin and tomato seeds. Ultimately, the intention is to identify sanitizers that are effective against a wide range of pathogens and compatible with pelleted tomato seeds or pesticide-treated pumpkin seeds.

Sally A. Miller


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Natural rubber is one of the strategic resources for many countries due to its unique characteristics and irreplace-ability. Natural rubber is predominantly produced by the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis), which is mainly cultivated in Southeast Asia. However, due to the threat of South American leaf blight, competition with palm plantations and the rapidly increasing global demand, rubber produc-tion from alternative sources is required and Taraxacum kok-saghyz is one of the best options. T. kok-saghyz (also known as Russian dandelion or Kazak dandelion, now named Buckeye Gold in Ohio) grows as an annual plant and has wide-range environmental adaptation, making it a potential domestic crop to produce natural rubber for the U.S. However, the lower rubber yield of T. kok-saghyz compared with rubber tree is a big issue when considering large-scale cultivation in the field. Therefore, one of the best approaches to achieve higher yield is metabolic path-way engineering, which refers to the manipulation of the metabolic pathway by genetic engineering. This approach is able to overcome some difficulties of traditional breeding and can shorten the breeding cycle.

There are two approaches to manipulate the metabolic pathways: nuclear transformation and plastid transforma-tion. Nuclear transformation has been successfully done in many species. However, there is a growing concern over the transgene introgression from T. kok-saghyz to its omni-

present, weedy relative, T. officinale (common dandelion). To reduce the gene flow risk, plastid engineering, which refers to the insertion of foreign genes into the plastid genome, has been developed.

This research was focused on the sequencing, characteri-zation and analysis of the whole chloroplast genome of T. kok-saghyz. This sequence data will be used for con-struct design to achieve plastid transformation with a high level of transgene containment and expression. In addition, the sequence provides essential information for studies about interspecific introgression and intraspecific differen-tiation. Furthermore, chloroplast-targeting nuclear trans-formation will be performed to increase rubber yield and valuable terpene production as well.

Future studies will be focused on the chloroplast genome analysis as well as chloroplast and nuclear transformation. After the completion of the entire genome sequence of the T. kok-saghyz chloroplast, more comparative analysis and barcode development will be carried out. The chloro-plast transformation vector harboring six genes encoding enzymes of cytoplasmic rubber biosynthesis pathway, me-valonate pathway, is under construction. This vector as well as the nuclear transformation vector will be transformed into T. kok-saghyz to increase rubber yield. Comparative analysis of rubber and other important secondary metabo-lites in the transgenic and wild type plants will be done.

Russian Dandelion and Guayule Germplasm Improvement Katrina Cornish, Horticulture and Crop Science

Katrina Cornish (right)



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Jersey Calf Responses to High-Protein, High-Fat Liquid Feeds with Varied Fatty AcidKristy Daniels, Animal SciencesMaurice L. Eastridge, Animal Sciences

Prior to 1956, the primary liquid feed fed to dairy calves was whole milk. However, many dairy farms have turned to the lower cost feed alternative of feeding milk replacer (MR) to meet the nutritional needs of calves. According to the USDA, more dairy farms feed MR (70.2%) at some point during the preweaning phase than pasteurized (1.4%) or unpasteurized (28.0%) saleable whole milk (SWM). Most MR fed to calves on U.S. dairy farms has been formulated to target the needs of Holstein calves, as they represent a majority of the dairy cattle in the U.S. However, due to the fact that milk composition varies among dairy breeds, some companies have formulated MR products to provide Jersey calves with a liquid feed that more closely matches the characteristics of SWM of the Jersey breed.

The fat source most often used in MR, even those formu-lated for Jersey calves, is edible lard. Edible lard has a fatty acid (FA) profile that is very different from milk fat in that it lacks short- and medium-chain FA (MCFA). Coconut oil, in contrast with lard, is a rich source of MCFA. Experimental MR containing coconut oil has been used in previous stud-ies with Holstein calves, but no data has been reported on MR containing coconut oil as a fat source in experiments with Jersey calves.

The objective was to determine whether altering the FA profile of MR with coconut oil would improve Jersey calf performance. Jersey calves were assigned at birth to one of four liquid diets: pasteurized Jersey SWM; MR containing 100% of fat as edible lard (100:00); MR containing 80% of fat as lard and 20% as coconut oil (80:20); and MR con-taining 60% of fat as lard and 40% as coconut oil (60:40). Calves were fed their respective liquid diet twice daily during weeks 1 through 7, and once daily until weaning at approximately week 8. Calves had free-choice access to grain and water, and calves were monitored one week after weaning.

In this trial, dry matter intake and average daily gain were similar among treatments. Additionally, altering the FA profile of MR with the addition of coconut oil had minimal effects on liver fat infiltration, liver gene expression and blood metabolites when fed to Jersey calves. It was noted that calves fed pasteurized SWM had an increase in days with a fecal score >2 compared to calves fed 80:20, mean-ing their stools were looser. Coconut oil had a quadratic

effect on fecal score, with calves fed 100:00, 80:20 and 60:40 scoring 4.00, 2.00 and 3.63d, respectively.

Many variables were looked at in this study. The vast major-ity of responses measured were not different between calves fed the different diets, with the exception of fecal scores. This is potentially indicative of some benefits of coconut oil on calf health. Despite coconut oil being slightly more expensive than edible lard (increase in cost of MR by $0.07/kg for each 20% replacement of lard with coconut oil), it is readily available, and increased health of calves could justify the costs. Further research is needed to deter-mine the value of making the substitution.

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Enhancing Soybean Health and Seed Yield by FGD Gypsum Application to Intermittently Wet SoilWarren Dick, School of Environment and Natural Resources

Soybean production areas in Ohio often experience heavy rainfall during early stand establishment. Plants that do survive flooding can be further injured due to insects and diseases. Yield losses due to flooding can be as high as 70%. Economic losses due to flooding ranked second, just behind losses due to combined heat and drought stresses, between the years of 1990 and 2004.

Flue gas desulfurization (FGD) gypsum is a material created when coal is burned to produce electricity or other energy forms. Gypsum is known to improve soil structure and en-hance soil aeration and water infiltration. Thus, its applica-tion to soil was hypothesized to reduce the length of time a soil would remain in a flooded stage, and thus improve crop growth and yields when excess rainfall occurs.

Field tests were conducted at OARDC in Wooster, Ohio, using three levels of FGD gypsum (0, 1000 and 5000 kg/ha). Two soybean varieties, Wooster and Wyandot, were then planted in 4-foot diameter aluminum rings. After plant establishment and during the early vegetative growth stage, sufficient water was added to the rings to ensure that the plants were immersed in water. Generally, plants

were stunted when the soil was flooded. Gypsum had little effect on reversing this stunting due to flooding. Howev-er, under the unflooded conditions, plant height for both soybean varieties increased as gypsum application rate increased. Also, under unflooded conditions nodule num-ber was the highest for both varieties when gypsum was applied at 5,000 pounds per acre. Under flooding condi-tions, applying gypsum at 1,000 pounds per acre yielded more nodules than at the higher application rate of 5,000 pounds per acre. In summary, gypsum had several bene-ficial effects on soybean growth. Unexpectedly, however, the benefits were more pronounced in the unflooded soil than in the flooded soil.

This work suggests that benefits of gypsum may not be realized when treating flooded soils, but treating soils with other deficiencies may be beneficial. Additional work is currently being conducted to investigate the effect of gyp-sum to improve overall soil quality and to reduce phospho-rus concentrations in water leaving fields that have high soil phosphorus concentrations.

Warren Dick



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Development of Membrane System for Cost-Effective Treatment of Anaerobic Digester EffluentYebo Li, Food, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a method engineered to decompose organic matter under oxygen-free conditions. It involves a variety of anaerobic microorganisms. The final product of AD is a combination of biogas, a mixture of methane and CO2 and a liquid effluent. The AD efflu-ent, which has a moisture content of over 90%, is rich in nitrogen and phosphorous and can be used as a fertilizer source. However, the use of the effluent as a fertilizer is limited due to insufficient amounts of farmland within an economic transportation distance. Thus, there is a need for advanced technologies to treat AD effluent.

Different liquid separation technologies including centri-fuge, nano membrane filtration and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane filtration were tested to separate the liquid AD effluent into two streams: solid fertilizer and clean wa-ter. With a combination of centrifuge and RO membrane separation, almost 99.9% of the total solids, ammonium and phosphorous were removed from the liquid stream, and a solid stream rich in nitrogen and phosphorous was produced. Effects of membrane type and applied pressure on the performance of the RO membrane system were also studied to find suitable operating parameters. The econom-ics will be a major barrier for the application of the mem-brane system for the treatment of AD effluent.

To reduce the separation cost, the permeate produced by centrifuge without membrane separation was tested as a nutrient source for algae cultures. Consequently, this method reduced both the cost of microalgal biodiesel pro-duction and the processing cost of the waste stream from AD systems. Microalgal biodiesel is a liquid fuel source that can directly replace petroleum-based diesel fuel. Utilizing algae cultures rather than commercial crops such as corn or soybean can save significant areas of agricultural land, thus providing an improved solution to the food versus fuel issue. The biomass and lipid productivities and the nutrient removal capacity of microalgae Nannochloropsis salina grown using AD effluent as a nutrient source were evaluat-ed at both batch and semi-continuous modes. The results gained from this study will provide baseline data for the op-eration of demonstration-scale algae ponds (one-quarter acre, each) at Cedar Lane Farm, Wooster, Ohio, to facilitate the commercialization of algae cultivation in AD effluent.

A patent pending integrated anaerobic digestion system (iADs) was also developed. This system uses the effluent

from liquid AD to inoculate lignocellulosic biomass for bio-gas production in a solid-state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) system. Liquid AD effluent also provides nitrogen supple-mentation to the SS-AD process. Biogas production from plant matter in SS-AD produces a compostlike stackable material that can be used for soil amendment. Liquid AD effluent can be directly used in the SS-AD process without any processing or separation. The effects of types of liquid AD effluent (from dairy manure, wastewater sludge and food processing water digesters), feedstock types (crop residues, woody biomass and energy crops) and feed-stock-to-effluent ratios on the performance of SS-AD have been studied at lab scale. A pilot scale iADs facility has been built at Zanesville, Ohio, by quasar energy group for validation and demonstration of this technology.

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Application of Vibrational Spectroscopy in Detection of Food Chemical ContaminantsLuis Rodriguez-Saona, Food Science and Technology

Recent safety scares with imported products have raised significant concerns in the U.S. about threats to the $1.2 trillion food industry and to the billions of dollars of import-ed foods each year. Current analytical methods for testing prohibited substances are time-consuming, expensive and labor-intensive, requiring complex procedures of sample pretreatment and well-trained technicians to operate the instrumentation. This project demonstrated the potential of field-deployable portable infrared (IR) units to authenticate high-risk ingredients (milk, corn meal and fats).

Fluid milk was evaluated because it is a common target for adulteration. The purpose of adulterating milk is to artificial-ly increase the volume and/or mask inferior quality product for economic gain with some common milk adulterants including water, whey, sodium hydroxide, urea, melamine and other potentially harmful substances. The fingerprint-ing capabilities of portable systems were evaluated for detection of economic adulteration of fluid milk, allowing excellent separation between the control and adulterated fluid milk samples according to the dilution level and type of adulterant used in the adulteration process. Research also demonstrated the ability of portable and handheld IR spectrometers, and pattern recognition analysis for classifi-

cation between organic and conventional cornmeal based on unique differences in protein structure. Furthermore, the same data was used to measure important quality param-eters (final viscosity and moisture content) of the cornmeal used for snack food production.

Efforts were directed to the characterization and authenti-cation of fats and oils. By combining the unique IR spectral information and chemometric pattern recognition methods, the presence of oil adulterants, product mislabeling and levels of trans-fat have been identified. Due to the health problems associated with consumption of trans-fats, efforts must be made to ensure careful monitoring and enforce-ment of current labeling guidelines. Trans-fat content was assessed in a variety of commercial products including potato chips, cakes, donuts, cookies and others.

A study by the University of California at Davis Olive Center (2010) reports that an estimated 69% of imported olive oils labeled as extra virgin failed to meet the international standard for extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) due to oxidation by exposure to elevated temperatures, light and/or aging; adulteration with cheaper, refined olive oil; and poor quality oil made from damaged and overripe olives, processing flaws and/or improper oil storage. The fingerprint spectra discriminated the different olive oil types, providing robust predictive ability to authenticate EVOO.

Finally, based on concerns from the snack industry, this project authenticated frying oils used in the manufacturing of potato chips. Researchers found mislabeling of chips that indicated the use of sunflower oil with either high oleic canola or mixture of sunflower with other oils (likely corn, soybean or cottonseed). The potential profits and trading advantages from mislabeling prejudice the interests of both consumers and honest manufacturers.

The technology would enable detection and characteriza-tion of potential food contaminants via unique spectral sig-nature profiles, permitting real-time and field-based control of the product stream to enhance safety and brand equity. Our team continues to evaluate high-risk food ingredients for authentication and is working on technology transfer in-terfacing of the models allowing for the routine analysis. Im-plementation of rapid testing by the industry and regulatory agencies can streamline food quality assurance, deterring food ingredient fraud due to the unconventional adulterants or substituted products used for these activities.

Luis Rodriguez-Saona



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Enhancing Rotavirus Vaccine Efficacy: Impact of Vitamin A as AdjuvantLinda J. Saif, Food Animal Health Research Program

Rotaviruses (RVs) are the leading cause of acute viral gastroenteritis in children, causing about 660,000 deaths annually worldwide, but with most (90%) in Africa and Asia. Although new live rotavirus oral vaccines (RotaTeq, Rotar-ix) are licensed, prior studies of similar live RV vaccines confirmed their dramatically reduced efficacy in poorer de-veloping countries. Infants’ high susceptibility to infections and immunologic immaturity pose universal concerns for vaccine development. In developing countries, widespread malnutrition with micronutrient deficiencies (including vitamin A, critical for gut integrity and immunity) compro-mise children’s health and reduce vaccine efficacy. Most children with vitamin A deficiency (VAD) live in Africa and Asia and are at increased risk of mortality from infectious diseases including RV.

Likewise, RV diarrhea is common and costly in weaned pigs; but for undefined reasons, the efficacy of commer-cial live oral RV vaccines is low. Thus, evaluation of oral RV vaccine efficacy in the gnotobiotic (Gn) piglet model with experimentally induced VAD is urgently needed. The long-term goal is to improve the efficacy of oral vaccines in infants with micronutrient deficiencies in impoverished countries and in weaned pigs. The objectives of this proj-ect were to assess the impact of VAD on RV diarrhea in a Gn piglet model, and to investigate oral Vitamin A (VitA) as adjuvant to improve efficacy of oral attenuated RV vaccines in Gn piglets, with or without VAD.

The rationale for use of the neonatal Gn piglet model is that they are similar to infants in anatomy, gastrointestinal physiology, nutrient requirements/metabolism, immunolog-ic immaturity and development of mucosal immunity. Only Gn piglets are susceptible to human rotavirus (HRV) diar-rhea, with disease, infection of villus enterocytes and gut lesions (villous atrophy) mimicking that in infected infants. Because swine metabolize retinol comparable to humans, the effects of VitA on the porcine immune system should most closely mimic that in humans.

The effects of VAD have been tested on the immune re-sponses to RotaTeq vaccine, protective efficacy of RotaTeq vaccine, clinical manifestations (diarrhea) of virulent human rotavirus (VirHRV) infection and on immune responses to VirHRV, using our Gn pig model. Prenatal vitamin A defi-ciency in gnobiotic piglets was successfully induced by ma-nipulating sows diets to be deficient in vitamin A. Findings

suggest that VAD affects human rotavirus-induced diarrhea severity and RotaTeq protective efficacy against diarrhea and that VAD may enhance VirHRV replication and/or affect RotaTeq vaccination efficacy. In VAD piglets, RotaTeq vaccination not only failed to reduce diarrhea severity, but it also failed to significantly reduce the magnitude of HRV shedding. Therefore, VAD compromised RotaTeq vaccine protective efficacy against both infection and diarrhea.

Pending future funding, there will be a further attempt to compensate vitamin A deficiency by various vitamin A sup-plementation regimens (including longer, higher doses and/or frequencies, maternal supplementation or supplementa-tion prior [instead of concurrent] to vaccination). An attempt will also be made to further assess VAD effects on gut permeability and the mechanisms involved and elucidate vitamin A metabolism in VAD piglets.

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The New Enterprise Competition is designed to support the exploration of new enterprises and the elimination of barriers that constrain existing ones. New enterprises are considered to be crops, animals, products, goods and services that currently are not produced for biological, physical, cultural, processing, economic or social reasons. New Enterprise projects are funded for up to $50,000.

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Commercialization of Burdock For Medicinal UsesJohn Cardina, Horticulture and Crop Science Joseph C. Scheerens, Horticulture and Crop Science

Each year there are 2.1 million burn patients in the U.S. Of these, 100,000 are admitted to the hospital, and up to 15,000 die. The treatment of burns has not changed much in the last 50 years. The burned skin is scrubbed twice a day for 6–8 weeks until a bleeding bed is ready for a skin graft. Skin is harvested from the victim’s nonburned areas and is stitched, stapled or glued to the burn bed. The graft develops contractures, which then require years of physical and occupational therapy. The complications include dehy-dration, infection, multisystem organ failure, disfigurement, psychological scarring, disability and death. The market for burn treatments is growing and is currently around $2.6 bil-lion annually.

Leaves of the burdock plant have been used with an or-ganic salve as a treatment for burn wounds by Amish com-munities. After salve is applied, burdock leaves are used to wrap skin wounds, replacing conventional bandages. This treatment reportedly speeds the healing process, reduces inflammation and bacterial infections and in some cases eliminates the need for skin grafts. Currently, this treatment is not recognized in conventional medical practice due to the lack of information on how burdock leaves affect wound healing.

This project aimed to understand which biochemicals in burdock are responsible for burn healing, and to develop techniques for producing these compounds for medicinal usage. We found that the species Arctium minus contained higher amounts of most phenolic acids and was less variabile than the species A. lappa. Large, mature leaves had more phenolic compounds than smaller leaves, and second-year rosette leaves had three times the amount of compounds as other leaves. Plants grown from seeds col-lected from over 70 sites around the world did not differ in chemical composition. Burdock leaves contained more of the biochemicals of interest when grown under high light, high moisture and lower temperature conditions. Burdock grown in tissue culture can be used as the material for more stable phenolic production than field grown plants.

For future studies to develop a standardized burdock leaf bandage, the data generated in this project can be used to guide development of a burdock variety with optimal bio-chemical properties. Future research will determine which compounds are most helpful in the healing of burn wounds. More studies are needed to determine the mix of metab-olites that aid in healing, and this might include a specific combination of compounds in particular ratios. Clinical studies are essential to determine the effectiveness and mechanism of burdock for treating burns. Such studies, which will require help of the medical research community, should determine the specific metabolites that are asso-ciated with the effectiveness of burdock for burns. Future research will help identify metabolites in burdock callus culture so we can compare them with metabolites accumu-lated in burdock plants grown in the field. This will help to verify that burdock callus culture could be used for medi-cally useful metabolite production. The system for burdock callus culture can likely be transferred to cell suspension culture systems, to meet commercialization requirements.

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Optimization of PHBV Polymer Blended with Guayule Rubber for Potential Food Packaging MaterialYael Vodovotz, Food Science and Technology Katrina Cornish, Horticulture and Crop Science

The packaging industry is searching for new materials to attain environmental sustainability. PHBV (poly-(β-hydroxy butyrate-co-valerate)) is a family of naturally occurring polymers that are extracted from microorganisms and have similar properties to conventional plastics. Previous work has shown that these polymers are not very amenable to different packaging applications due to poor processing conditions. Therefore, the objective of this grant was to blend PHBV polymer with bio-derived natural rubbers such as Guayule, Hevea and others to improve the mechanical and physical properties lacking in PHBV. The importance of bioderived plastics has been recognized as a high priority by the Society of Plastics Engineers, and has led to the for-mation of the Bioplastics Council to promote development of such materials. The council estimates that the global bio-derived plastics market will reach 1.2 billion pounds in 2012, with an annual growth rate of 18%. Ohio is one of the states leading this effort, with the formation of the Ohio BioProd-ucts Innovation Center (OBIC) Wright Center of Innovation. OBIC has valued the importance of such a market at over $125 million per year via a sustainable packaging research and commercialization agenda within the state of Ohio. Therefore, the use of these bioderived plastics will create new employment opportunities, increasing demands for alternative rubber such as Guayule and Buckeye Gold.

Aim one of the grant focused on optimizing the blends of PHBV and Guayule Natural Rubber (GNR). The preliminary results of the 50/50 blend (GNR/PHBV) using a solution casting technique showed uniform/homogenous film for-mation between GNR and PHBV. The new film was highly elastic, a property previously lacking in the PHBV polymer. After some difficulties in using a lab-scale extruder to mimic commercial polymer mixing of GNR and PHBV, it was determined that low molecular weight and poor flow prop-erties caused the blends to separate within the extruder, resulting in partial mixing between the two systems. There-fore, a different natural rubber (Hevea) processed and man-ufactured at OARDC in Wooster, Ohio, was used to blend with PHBV. Preliminary results from the same lab-scale extruder showed better mixing properties, which resulted in both the rubber and polymer blends traveling through the barrel of the extruder. The knowledge obtained from Hevea blends is the driver behind crosslinking the Guayule rubber to overcome the poor processing properties.

This research was critical in characterizing blends of PHBV and rubber, and identifying parameters that require optimi-zation to achieve better blends. Molecular weight, viscosity and chemical composition all played significant roles in obtaining a successful product. Additionally, changes to the GNR by crosslinking were identified as a key element in achieving a blend. Future plans are to continue working with GNR and PHBV, with the intentions of making a new and improved polymer blend. Some of the newer results show that the rubber and polymer can be premixed using an internal mixer prior to processing in an extruder or in-jection molding units. The knowledge obtained from these blends will be applied to Hevea and other natural rubbers and other biopolymers. Additionally, a commercial product such as a food tray would be attempted to satisfy the food industry’s need for bioderived alternatives to the current petrochemical materials.

Yael Vodovotz


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Seed Grant Competition

The Seed Grant Competition is designed to encourage new and innovative research and to generate the preliminary data needed for successful application to competitive external funding sources. Seed Grants are supported at a maximum level of $50,000.

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Validation and Development of a Methyl Jasmonate Delivery System for Insecticide-Free Control of the Emerald Ash BorerPierluigi Bonello, Plant PathologyDaniel A. Herms, Entomology

The emerald ash borer (EAB), an invasive wood-boring beetle, continues to be a pest of high impact and urgent concern in North America and elsewhere in the world out-side of its areas of natural incidence in East Asia. Currently, there are no tools to protect North American ash trees in the forest. Conversely, under more controlled manage-ment settings such as urban environments, the application of broad-spectrum insecticides can be quite effective to protect susceptible, high-value ash trees such as yard and street trees. However, the use of pesticides is never an optimal solution for environmental and societal reasons.

Previously, field experiments were conducted, providing strong evidence that the application of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) — a natural plant hormone associated with plant resistance mechanisms to pests and pathogens — to the bark of ash trees induces internal defenses that lead to resistance to EAB. In this project, it was hypothesized that MeJA could be developed into a practical control tool for EAB, which would have clear benefits for society and the environment in Ohio and elsewhere by eliminating the use of toxic pesticides.

MeJA was injected into trees at various doses using a commercially available injection system used by arborists to supply nutrients and pesticides to trees. The experiment was conducted collaboratively in Dayton, Ohio, with the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, which provided access to a number of uninfested trees in its parking lots. Heav-ily infested trees in other areas of the vicinity provided a source of EAB to test the resistance of our experimental trees. Trees were injected multiple times in the course of three summer seasons and were regularly monitored for signs and symptoms of EAB infestation by counting the D-shaped exit holes as well as by documenting the ap-pearance of epicormic branches (unusual shoots appearing on main trunks), root sprouting and woodpecker holes. Tissue samples were also collected to see if resistance induced by MeJA was correlated with changes in known defense mechanisms, in particular with phenolics.

It was expected that trees injected with MeJA would be more resistant to EAB, and that this would be directly correlated with higher levels of phenolics in tree tissues. Analyses of the effects of the MeJA application rate or effective dose (rate X number of yearly injections) on crown

dieback or number of D-shaped exit holes for each year showed no statistically significant differences between treatment levels. Canopy decline and EAB emergence hole frequency displayed high variability within and between treatments, but were highest in trees receiving the highest doses of MeJA. EAB infestation was spatially clustered within the site, generally centered on trees receiving the highest MeJA dose. These results suggest that the highest MeJA application rate made the trees more susceptible to EAB, perhaps by making them more attractive to adults or by suppressing tree defenses.

Determinations of MeJA and phenolics concentrations in tree tissues and their relationships to MeJA application rates are ongoing. The results of this project suggest that MeJA is not appropriate as a practical management tool for EAB. However, the results will provide very useful informa-tion for understanding how ash trees defend themselves, and the project research will contribute to a large body of scientific work concerned with the protection of our tree resources from the threat of exotic invasive pests like EAB.

Pierluigi Bonello

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Development of Live Recombinant Salmonella Vaccine Vectors for Use Against Campylobacter in Commercial PoultryKimberly Cole, Animal Sciences

Food illness is a significant worldwide public health problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 2.1–2.4 million cases of human Campylo-bacter infections occur each year, with poultry and poul-try products being the most common sources of human infection. Campylobacter does not often cause apparent clinical disease in poultry flocks, which further complicates the problem of preharvest identification and intervention. The Ohio Poultry Association estimates that the state’s commercial poultry industry has a production value of more than $600 million and produces 11% of the chicken consumed by Ohio citizens each year.

As poultry flocks that are not infected with Campylobacter cannot contribute to contamination of poultry products, preharvest intervention through the use of effective vaccination programs is a potentially important strategy for reducing contamination of poultry products with this foodborne pathogen. Because effective strategies are needed to reduce the number of human Campylobacter infections, this project was designed for the development and evaluation of bacterial-vectored vaccines against Campylobacter. Salmonella has previously been used as a bacterial vaccine vector to express recombinant anti-gens and stimulate a variety of immune responses against

Salmonella and the recombinant antigens. Unfortunately, the vaccination of poultry against Campylobacter has had varying success. Therefore, a vaccine that could effectively protect poultry from this organism would be a valuable tool for poultry producers.

The objectives of this study were to construct Salmo-nella-vectored vaccine strains that express recombinant Campylobacter antigens and then evaluate those vac-cine strains for their ability to invade, colonize and persist in tissues and elicit specific immune responses against infected chickens. Researchers proposed that these strains would effectively protect poultry against multiple strains of Campylobacter.

The research team developed multiple Salmonella-vec-tored vaccine strains to express Campylobacter antigens and evaluated their ability to protect poultry against Cam-pylobacter colonization. Although the vaccine strains were able to persist in the liver, spleen and cecal tonsils of the chickens, there were no significant differences in Campylo-bacter levels after challenge. The preliminary data gener-ated from this grant will be used to prepare future grants in which research will focus on the type of challenge model used to study Salmonella-vectored vaccines in poultry.

Kimberly Cole

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Novel Biopolymer Substrates for Medically Relevant Cell Differentiation and Tissue GrowthKatrina Cornish, Horticulture and Crop ScienceKeith J. Gooch, Biomedical Engineering

World natural rubber (NR) production is forecasted to be 12.5 million metric tons in 2013, with an additional 14.4 million metric tons of petroleum-derived rubber supple-menting the global demand. Currently, more than 90% of NR is from Southeast Asia and is used in the production of over 40,000 commercial products, including more than 400 medical devices. However, the primary source of commercially available NR latex is from the Brazilian rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, which can cause a Type I allergy sensitization and subsequent severe immune response.

The alternative rubber crop, Parthenium argentatum, commonly referred to as Guayule, is grown in the U.S. and poses no Type I allergic threat. Guayule natural rubber latex (GNRL) is commercially available, but currently no commercial latex products are made from GNRL. Thus,

development still needs to be done to create novel, safe and renewable rubber goods for the medical, industrial and consumer goods industries using GNRL. Therefore, the team researched new manufacturing techniques with GNRL to create novel substrates specifically for medical applications.

The team has begun investigating the use of GNRL as a bi-ological substrate to grow human cells for tissue engineer-ing applications. Currently, cells are grown on flat, plastic dishes that create cellular sheets and not three-dimension-al structures, not allowing for easy transplant and manip-ulation. Therefore, GNRL was analyzed to see if it could be used as a biological substrate. Initial studies include development of GNRL thin films, a sterilization technique and subsequent cellular testing using human fibroblasts.

Circumallergenic GNRL thin films were successfully made, and they possess mechanical properties superior to commercial goods currently available. This formulation of GNRL is patent pending research and can be used for commercial products such as surgical gloves. Unfortu-nately, fibroblasts are unable to adhere to these Guayule natural rubber thin films. This is due to the hydrophobicity of rubber. As a result, the team has begun to investigate creating plastic-rubber composites and latex-aqueous thin films as biological substrates. The plastic-rubber compos-ites will have improved elasticity in comparison to plastic substrates, and they are being investigated primarily through electrospinning, which creates nano-sized fibrous structures, with geometry similar to extracellular matrix (the body’s cellular support system comprised primarily of proteins). The team has successfully electrospun natural rubber from Hevea and Guayule plant sources. The team also has done preliminary work in creating aqueous latex membranes via liquid centrifugation to successfully create GNRL at intracellular pH, which allows hydrated rubber to be used in medical applications such as controlled cellular entrapment or drug delivery systems.

Katrina Cornish

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Comparative Toxicogenomics of Bees Important to Agriculture in OhioReed Johnson, Entomology

Bees provide substantial nutritional and economic benefits for humans. In Ohio, the pollination provided by bees and other pollinators contribute to $216 million in agricultur-al production of pumpkins, apples, tomatoes and other healthful fruits and vegetables each year. Worldwide, the economic benefit of pollinating insects has been valued at $200–$500 billion annually through increased agricultural production.

The benefits of bee pollination may be diminished through the use of pesticides, particularly insecticides, which may harm or kill bees. Growers often use pesticides with the intention of controlling insect pests or pathogens, but the use of pesticides may represent a tradeoff between reduced crop damage and the benefits of bee pollination. However, all pesticides are not equally toxic to bees. While some insecticides are quite deadly, others appear to be well-tolerated and relatively safe to use around bees. Ad-ditionally, the toxicity of pesticides to bees may be altered when tank-mixed (an insecticide and a fungicide, for exam-ple) as part of a spray program.

There were three main aims of this study: to understand why some insecticides are less toxic to some species of bees; to determine the role that insecticide detoxifica-tion plays in insecticide toxicity to bees, particularly as it relates to the detoxification genes encoded in the newly sequenced bee genomes; and to better understand how fungicides may make insecticides more toxic to bees when tank-mixed together.

Comparisons of insecticide toxicity were performed using four of the most important pollinators in U.S. and Ohio agriculture: the honey bee, Apis mellifera, the Eastern bumblebee, Bombus impatiens, the alfalfa leafcutter bee, Megachile rotundata and the squash bee, Peponapis pruinosa. Different species were found to be as much as 100 times different in their susceptibility to commonly used classes of insecticides (neonicotinoids, pyrethroids and or-ganophosphates). Insecticide detoxification within the bee was found to play a major role in the low toxicity of some safer insecticides in all classes and species. This indicates that fungicides with known potential to interfere with in-secticide detoxification can render some safer insecticides more toxic to bees when applied as a tank-mix.

Analysis of bee genomes revealed that, at least at the ge-nomic level, bees are relatively similar in their capacity for detoxification of insecticides and other toxic compounds. Further research will be needed to explain why some insecticides are more toxic to some bee species. Research into bees’ tolerance of insecticides will provide informa-tion that growers and pesticide applicators can use when choosing which pesticides and pesticide combinations to apply. This research will help guide the wise use of pesti-cides to maximize the production of food, while minimiz-ing the harm that pesticide use can have on our valuable pollinators.

Reed Johnson

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Multiple Genetic Marker Approach for Understanding the Impact of Land Use and Climate Change on Microbial Contamination in WaterJiyoung Lee, Food Science and TechnologyWarren A. Dick, School of Environment and Natural Resources

Human activities and wildlife are the major causes of the microbial contamination that impairs the quality and safety of natural water that is used for drinking, recreation and irrigation. Efforts have been made to protect and restore water quality, but these efforts are often inefficient and cost-ineffective. To help maximize resources and improve water quality, there is a need to accurately assess sources of fecal pollution that contribute to microbial contamination. Such information is necessary to design the most cost-ef-fective methods of mitigation.

The 26-square-mile Upper Sugar Creek watershed, one of the most impaired watersheds in Ohio, has had monthly measurements of phosphorus, nitrogen, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity since 2000. However, an important phase that had not been investigated in this watershed was mi-crobial contamination by bacteria and viruses. To address this need, multiple host-specific genetic markers were used to detect various microbial contamination sources

(human, bovine) and potential antibiotic resistance. The responses of these multiple markers were determined for different land uses (dairy, residential, wooded forests, crop land). This novel approach allowed us to better identify mi-crobial contaminants when the land use is changed along the Upper Sugar Creek watershed. In addition to microbial source tracking, this project also investigated the presence of enteric viruses (human enterovirus, human adenovirus, human and bovine noroviruses).

Since extreme weather events have become more fre-quent due to climate change, the project also initiated investigations to determine how weather change and storm intensity affected bacterial and viral levels in the study areas. Preliminary results (from samples collected during 2011–2012) suggest that the Upper Sugar Creek watershed experienced continuous human- and bovine- associat-ed fecal and antibiotic-resistant bacteria contamination, especially in areas near high human activities and dairy livestock operations. Based on this information, targeted restoration strategies, employing land-use specific informa-tion, can be recommended for protecting public health in this impaired watershed.

The investigators will seek external funding opportunities to continue this research to determine whether and how extreme weather events affect patterns and intensity of microbial contamination (viruses, bacteria, antibiotic-resis-tant bacteria) using Upper Sugar Creek as a model. For this, a longer period of observation is needed to capture various weather events and environmental variables. The long-term goal of our research is to assess and model risks to public health from microbial contamination under differ-ent conditions of land use, climate scenarios and human activities.

Jiyoung Lee

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Production of Algae for Biofuels with Effluent of Liquid Anaerobic DigestionYebo Li, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Phosphorus runoff in northwestern Ohio tributaries has become a major environmental concern, generating algal blooms that have threatened Lake Erie’s tourism economy and public health. On the other hand, wastewater rich in ni-trogen and phosphorus could be used to grow microalgae on nonarable land. Microalgae, a biofuel feedstock that has received considerable attention in recent years, can produce significantly more lipids per acre than any other source (from 5 to 30 times more, depending on the crop). Another benefit of algal biofuel is that algae consume approximately two units of carbon dioxide for every unit of biomass that is produced, making it an attractive technolo-gy for carbon capture from fossil energy combustion. This technology will benefit not only farmers and the biofuel in-dustry, but also the general public by providing sustainable fuels and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a method engineered to decompose organic matter under oxygen-free conditions to produce biogas, a mixture of methane and CO2, and ef-fluent rich in nitrogen and phosphorous. The technology is increasingly being adopted for treatment of organic wastes due to its capability of reducing pollution and producing biogas, a renewable energy source. Using byproducts of the AD process (AD effluent and CO2) as nutrient sources for algae growth could provide additional economic and environmental benefits. This project evaluated AD effluent and CO2 as nitrogen and carbon sources for algae produc-tion. Algal biomass residue after lipid extraction was also tested as a feedstock for AD.

This research found that Nannochloropsis salina can be cultured using AD effluent as a nutrient source for simulta-neous lipid production and nutrient removal. The growth of N. salina using AD effluent was generally comparable to that of commercial nutrients at the same total nitrogen level. In batch cultivation, N. salina fed with 6% effluent had the highest biomass productivity, with 29% lipid content and 100% nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies. The biomass and lipid productivity of N. salina was further improved in semicontinuous cultivation due to frequent replenishment of the culture medium. It was successfully demonstrated that N. salina could tolerate a wide range of temperatures (10°C–30°C) and could use multiple nutri-ent sources. Higher unsaturated fatty acid contents were attained in low-illumination systems.

Growth kinetics models developed based on the lab-scale data were integrated into a computational fluid dynam-ics (CFD) model to understand the impact of a variety of parameters and to optimize the system for maximum algal biomass yields. The model was validated with 150-day op-eration data from two outdoor, open raceway ponds. After lipids extraction, algal biomass residue was codigested with fat, oil and grease (FOG) in lab-scale digesters and re-sulted in improved methane yields and reactor productivity, while allowing for higher feeding rates compared to FOG only. Algal biomass residue could be used as a nutrient supplement to anaerobic digester feeding with carbon-rich feedstocks.

The results gained from this study will provide baseline data for the operation of large-scale algae ponds and will facilitate the commercialization of algae cultivation in AD effluent. The preliminary results obtained from this project greatly helped win a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to further explore this technology for algal biofuel production from wastewater at a large scale.

Yebo Li

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Maize Adaptation Along an Altitudinal GradientKristin Mercer, Horticulture and Crop Science

Mexico is the center of origin of the maize grown globally, and it houses a complex array of genetic diversity for this important staple. Farmers primarily grow landraces (or traditional varieties) in the southern part of the country and are stewards of the diversity found there. They grow their crops under a range of environmental conditions, from sea level to >2,500 meters. Along those elevational gradients, temperature, precipitation, pathogens and other biotic or abiotic conditions change. A more complete understanding of how the genetic diversity found within and among races is arrayed across a changing landscape can help us further interpret how these plants are dealing with the range of environments they face. Previous results suggested that these landraces are locally adapted (meaning they perform better under local conditions than do nonlocal varieties) and that warmer conditions can pose extreme stress, es-pecially for high-elevation types. Thus, the effects of global warming on these landraces becomes of concern. Under-standing maize and how it withstands a range of environ-mental conditions can benefit global agriculture by uncov-ering physiological or genetic mechanisms that protect plants as temperatures warm. Also, a better understanding of the diversity in the region can provide insight for helping farmers weather climate change through seed exchange, hybridization or participatory plant breeding.

The broad goal of this project was to better understand how maize-adaptive diversity is arrayed across the land-scape in southern Mexico by studying maize populations collected along an elevational gradient (600–2,100 me-ters). There was interest in the degree to which landraces are locally adapted and how they may differ physiological-ly. Researchers also sought to understand how much the maternal environment from which the populations were col-lected influences maize performance and local adaptation. Finally, researchers aimed to discern whether populations from varied altitudes had different patterns of gene expres-sion and whether any of the differentially expressed genes related to temperature or UV-B tolerance, two environmen-tal factors that change across the elevational gradient.

Samples of 27 maize populations from three elevations (lowland = 600 meters; midland = 1,500 meters; and highland = 2,100 meters) were collected and grown in replicated field plots at each of the elevations. For the maternal effects study, seeds that had been regenerated under common conditions were planted into these plots. Researchers collected tissue from leaves of young plants for the gene expression work, collected data on physio-logical traits and collected data on survival and all ears for assessments of performance and fitness.

Results demonstrated that there are patterns of local ad-aptation such that maize from a given elevation is the type that performs best there, though there is some variation among populations from within an elevation. The degree to which nonlocal types do poorly depends on the location and the year. Nevertheless, populations from the same community tend to have similar responses. Physiological characteristics show some degree of local adaptation, with greater photosynthetic rates of the local type than of non-local types at all gardens. Also, there are no clear patterns discerning the performance of the original and regenerat-ed populations, indicating no obvious maternal effects, at least by the time the plants reproduce. Thus, future experi-ments can use field-collected populations without concern of introducing maternal effects biases. Gene expression analyses indicated that maize from lowlands and highlands differentially expressed genes important for both UV-B protection and temperature tolerance. Future research should also look toward developing genetic markers to see whether there are gradients in the genetic variants possessed by our maize populations that parallel environ-mental gradients.

Kristin Mercer

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Poly P-Associated Enzymes of Campylobacter jejuni: Insights Into Novel Pathogenesis Mechanisms and Anti-Campylobacter TargetsGireesh Rajashekara, Food Animal Health Research Program

The foodborne bacterium Campylobacter jejuni is one of the major causes of gastroenteritis in humans. Even though death by C. jejuni infection is not common, this organism is associated with 15% of hospitalizations, resulting in con-siderable economic losses. Additionally, some cases may result in neuropathic diseases after four weeks of infection. Chickens are the primary source of human infections. At present, there are no vaccines available for use in humans or in chickens. Critical need exists for the development of novel anti-Campylobacter therapies and/or vaccines. Such efforts require a better understanding of the mechanisms and genes that contribute to colonization, persistence and transmission of C. jejuni in humans as well as in animal hosts. Biomolecules decorating C. jejuni outer material (OM) are essential to establish bacteria-host interactions that will lead in triggering the host-immune response. C. jejuni OM is mainly composed of a capsular polysaccha-ride, lipooligosaccharides and proteins with or without N- or O-linked glycosylation. These components play a role in evasion and/or resistance to the host immune system, as well as invasion of epithelial cells; thus, they also represent important virulence factor repertoire for C. jejuni. To date, it is not well known how C. jejuni modulates the host immune system to successfully colonize the host epithelia.

C. jejuni inorganic polyphosphate (poly P) is important in bacteria, as it serves as an alternative source of ATP and is involved in synthesis of capsule, in natural competence, in stress adaptation and in virulence. In C. jejuni, two poly P kinases, PPK1 and PPK2, have been associated with poly P biosynthesis and GTP generation from poly P, respectively. The need for PO4 and NTPs, particularly GTP, to generate cell-wall glycoconjugates is critical. Phosphorylated sugars such as mannose-1-phosphate (Man-1-P) need steady supply of GTP to allow the conversion of Man-1-P to GDP-Man, which is an essential precursor of bacterial Man-con-taining polysaccharides. Since OM is the first component of a bacterium to interact with the host epithelia and this mechanism is important for the bacterium to colonize and/or evade the host immune response, we hypothesize that cell-wall components are important for C. jejuni pathoge-nicity and that poly P kinases impact the extent of C. jejuni cell-wall composition.

Here, we studied the role of the OM and its respective fractions (protein, lipids, lipoglycans and poly- and oli-go-saccharides) from wild type, ∆ppk1 and ∆ppk2. We

tested OMs for their contribution to invasion and survival, and for their ability to induce IL-8 using human epithelial INT-407 cells. Further, we evaluated the differences in OM protein composition of ∆ppk1 and Δppk2 compared to C. jejuni 81-176 wild type, using mass spectrometry (MS). Our results imply that C. jejuni OM plays a role in invasion and survival in INT-407 cells. Deletion of ppk2 altered OM composition, allowing C. jejuni to survive better in INT 407 cells. We also found that C. jejuni OM proteins played a role in invasion and survival. In contrast, OM lipoglycans only played a role during intracellular survival. Alteration in OM protein patterns of ∆ppk1 and ∆ppk2 did not influence invasion but contributed to intracellular survival. Further, OM lipids were not observed to play a role in invasion. Conversely, the deletion of ppk1 altered the composition of the OM lipid fraction and allowed C. jejuni to survive better intracellularly. MS analyses of OM proteins indicated that several proteins are differentially expressed in the ppk1 and ppk2 deletion mutants.

In summary, this study indicates that ppk1 and ppk2 are im-portant in shaping the C. jejuni OM composition and thus, both contribute to its survival and virulence. Our future studies will assess the contribution of C. jejuni OM compo-nents to virulence in human macrophages, important innate immune cells in human campylobacteriosis disease, and also in chicken colonization, an important natural host for C. jejuni. Further, PPK1 and PPK2 are conserved across sev-eral bacterial species and no homologs of ppk1 and ppk2 have been identified in mammalian and avian species. Therefore, PPK1 and PPK2 represent potential targets for anti-C. jejuni therapeutic innovations.

Gireesh Rajashekara

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Impact of Food Intake on the Rapid Emergence of Antibiotic Resistance in the HostsHua Wang, Food Science and TechnologyTimothy Buckley, College of Public Health

Due to antibiotic resistance, the rapid loss of the power of antibiotics in treating infectious diseases is causing at least 23,000 deaths annually due to hospital-acquired infections alone. Resistance threatens the life and health of human beings and animals, and poses a potential multi-billion-dol-lar financial loss. Despite efforts and investments in the past decades, the problem has accelerated. The lack of effective control strategies exemplifies the complication of the problem and demands a thorough investigation of major pathways and molecular mechanisms involved in the origination, dissemination, maintenance and circulation of antibiotic-resistant (ART) bacteria in both the natural envi-ronment and the host.

The recent discoveries on the prevalence of ART-commen-sal (nondisease-causing) bacteria in various food products and in fecal samples of healthy humans suggest that con-ventional food intake might be a major avenue leading to antibiotic resistance in humans. Therefore, the objectives of this project were to examine the impact of ART bacteria from conventional food intake on the emergence of ART bacteria in the host gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and to exam-ine the impact of antibiotic residues on the development of ART bacteria in the host GI tract.

This project examined risk factors potentially involved in the dissemination and circulation of ART bacteria

across humans, animals, food and the environment. Both pathogen-free and regular mouse model systems were used in the study. Mice were inoculated with a mixture of tet(M)-carrying Enterococcus spp. or blaCMY-2-carrying Escherichia coli, and were treated with different dosages of tetracycline hydrochloride (Tet) or ampicillin sodium (Amp), via either feed or intravenous injection. The mouse study revealed the broadly used oral antibiotics in both humans and animals as a critical risk factor leading to rapid increase and spread of antibiotic resistance. It also provided a logi-cal explanation for the rapid emergence of the antibiotic re-sistance problem worldwide — especially since the 1980s, during which common antibiotic administration switched from injection to oral drugs. Meanwhile, no resistance gene pools were detected in control mice without oral ingestion of resistant bacteria, demonstrating the critical role of the food chain in the spread of the resistant bacteria to hu-mans, animals and the environment, and ultimately, within the global ecosystem

In addition, houseflies have the potential of disseminat-ing ART bacteria to humans. Houseflies were captured with flytraps from three locations (i.e., inside, outside of a concentrated animal feeding facility and a residential area) and plated on antibiotic-containing media. The prevalence of resistance determinants varied among houseflies from different locations, indicating the impact of environmen-tal contaminants on the microbiota associated with the insects.

Findings of the study will lead to changes in antibiotic resistance mitigation approaches — from medical guide-lines to food animal production to new drug development — toward control of one of the biggest challenges in public health, food safety and production.

Hua Wang

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Development of a Habitat-Specific Microarray for the Analysis of Ruminal MicrobiomesZhongtang Yu, Animal Sciences

Cattle and sheep are important food animals that provide high-quality proteins to human consumption. These animals, collectively referred to as “ruminant animals,” all depend on a forestomach (the rumen) to digest ingested feed; without the rumen, these animals cannot digest feed themselves. Inside the rumen resides a complex community of microor-ganisms that have the capability to digest feed components into nutrients that can be absorbed and utilized by the animal host.

Tremendous efforts have been made to productively alter the rumen microbial community using dietary interventions to improve ruminant nutrition. To support development of new feed additives and formulation of rations and to un-derstand how the dietary interventions and feed additives function, the rumen microbial community needs to be ana-lyzed in a comprehensive and comparative manner. Howev-er, few of the existing methodologies permit such analysis. As a result, feed additives and rations cannot be effectively evaluated in a mechanistic manner. The objective of this study was to develop a microarray (a gene chip) specifically for comprehensive and semiquantitative analysis of the rumen microbial community.

Microarray is a technology that allows simultaneous semi-quantitative analysis of thousands of genes for microbial species. Specific microarrays have been developed for

analysis of health and disease for humans and animals, in-cluding cattle. However, no microarray has been developed specifically for analysis of the rumen microbial community. As a result of this project, a rumen microarray (referred to as rumen PhyloChip) was developed. This rumen PhyloChip enables simultaneous detection and semiquantification of most bacteria, methanogens (methane-producing microor-ganisms), protozoa and fungi. In addition, the rumen Phylo-Chip allows analysis of the rumen microbial community with respect to its metabolic activity. The rumen PhyloChip has been evaluated by analyzing various samples.

The development of the rumen PhyloChip has helped obtain a NIFA grant (which was funded as the Number 1 proposal in the Animal Nutrition and Growth program). A new grant proposal will be submitted to NIFA to seek funding to support development of another microarray that supports analysis of the metabolic activities of the rumen microbial community. Future plans include combining the rumen PhyloChip with the new microarray to be developed into a complete microarray specifically for rumen microbial analysis. This rumen microarray will join the cattle genomic microarray (a microarray to support analysis of the genetics) and SNP microarray (a microarray to support analysis of cat-tle genetics and breed) to complete the microarray toolbox for cattle.

Zhongtang Yu


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Student Projects

The Director’s Undergraduate Research Competitive Grants Program, funded to a maximum of $3,300 per award, provides undergraduate students with a professional grant-writing, research and reporting experience. Projects are designed, submitted for review and carried out with a faculty mentor. Once a project is completed, students take an independent study class to write their research report in the form of a scientific journal article, using their faculty advisor as an editor. Some of these reports get published, and many students present their research at professional meetings and competitions.

The Graduate Research Competitive Grants Program offers two categories of funding. Doctoral students may receive up to $5,000 per award, and master’s students up to $3,000 per award. Graduate students who receive awards are asked to serve on a panel to review applications in the following year’s competition. This experience provides students with the opportunity to develop their grant-writing and reviewing skills, which are essential to their careers.

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Determining Maintenance Energy Requirements of Rumen Protozoa to Improve Ruminant Livestock Feed EfficiencyLeanne Diese, Animal SciencesJeffrey L. Firkins (Advisor), Animal Sciences

The long-term goal of this research project was to improve understanding and prediction of how ruminant animals such as cows, sheep and goats digest and absorb protein. This is difficult to do because microbes such as bacteria and protozoa in the rumen (forestomach) of these ani-mals convert feedstuffs into energy and account for large amounts of protein absorbed by the animal. As such, ruminants are fed excess protein in order to ensure that requirements are met, which results in significant amounts of nitrogen being excreted into the environment. Feeding excess protein is also expensive for farmers. Improving understanding of microbial activity would allow less protein to be fed, resulting in lower amounts of nitrogen excretion and reduced feed costs for farmers.

While bacteria in the rumen have been studied extensively, the same is not true for protozoa, although they make up a significant proportion of rumen microbes. Protozoa do not grow with perfect efficiency, but rather divert some energy to the maintenance of their own cells and waste, some via a process called “energy spilling.” Because of this, it is difficult to predict their activity and their contribution to the protein absorbed in the small intestine of the ruminant an-imal. Additionally, less work has been done with protozoa because it is difficult to maintain them in laboratory cultures and to separate them from feed particles and bacteria required for growth.

The purpose of this project was to determine the mainte-nance energy requirements of rumen protozoa by mea-suring the amount of heat (using a microcalorimeter) they produce at different growth rates. By using this correlation to find the heat produced at a growth rate of zero, mainte-nance energy requirements could be determined. This is a small part of understanding how microbes function in the rumen, but determining specific values for maintenance energy would help improve the prediction equations and models used to determine how much protein is required by ruminants. A new method was designed to separate pro-tozoa from feed particles and bacteria using two filtration steps and nylon screens of decreasing aperture. One spe-cies of protozoa, Entodinium caudatum, was cultured. Also, heat production from mixed protozoa filtered directly from the rumen was evaluated. The filtration procedure resulted in protozoal samples with 50% recovery, 70% viability and less than 2% contamination with bacteria. Measured heat production of E. caudatum was much lower than expected based on estimated maintenance requirements calculated from data for bacteria and current models for protozoa. Additionally, there was a lot of baseline noise relative to the signal from the calorimeter, and heat measurements are not statistically significant. However, heat production of starved protozoa from the rumen was closer to estimated values and provides a starting point for further quantifying protozoal maintenance requirements.

Future directions will likely include continued work with mixed rumen protozoa to definitively establish maintenance energy requirements, as well as studying requirements of single species such as E. caudatum. While the filtering procedure worked well and can be used for virtually any size of protozoa, improvements can be made with regards to recovery of cell numbers. In the future, this work will contribute to improving prediction equations and models used by groups such as the National Research Council to determine protein requirements for ruminant animals.

Leanne Diese

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Attachment, Internalization and Dissemination of Human Norovirus in Leafy GreensAnastasia Purgianto, Food Science and TechnologyJianrong Li (Advisor), Food Science and Technology

Human norovirus is the major cause of nonbacterial gastro-enteritis worldwide, contributing to more than 95% of the nonbacterial acute gastroenteritis and more than 60% of all foodborne illnesses reported annually. During 1999–2008, an average of more than 5 million cases were reported annually, resulting in more than 100 deaths. An estimated loss of more than $2 billion was reported, accounting for hospitalization costs and losses of productivity. The virus is highly infectious, resistant to common disinfectants and has a low infectious dose. It is also highly stable in the envi-ronment, which contributes to its presence and persistence in food commodities. High-risk foods for human norovirus infection include fresh produce, berries and food that is ready-to-eat.

Although extensive studies have been done to increase the understanding of the interaction of human norovirus in foods, the attachment, internalization and dissemination of human norovirus in vegetables and fruits are poorly understood. The understanding of the virus interaction to fresh produce would be useful in developing preventive measures of the spread of human norovirus infections.

In this study, the effects of environmental stresses on the internalization and dissemination of human norovirus surrogates, murine norovirus (MNV-1) and Tulane virus (TV), in romaine lettuce grown in soil were determined. The virus surrogates were used because human norovirus cannot be grown in cell culture, while surrogates can. The plants were maintained under both normal conditions and ex-treme weather conditions (drought and flood) to determine whether abiotic stresses affect virus internalization. The soil was measured for moisture content, pH, conductivity, salinity and total dissolved solids.

Both MNV-1 and TV were internalized and disseminated in lettuce. Although inoculation was done on the soil, infec-tious virus was detected in the aerial portion of the plants (shoots and leaves). MNV-1 was less efficiently internalized. Drought and flood conditions increased virus internaliza-tion and dissemination. However, for plants inoculated with TV, drought conditions decreased the rate of internaliza-tion and dissemination. Flood conditions did not have a significant effect on the internalization and dissemination, compared to those in normal conditions.

The difference in the effect of environmental conditions on MNV-1 and TV internalizations might be caused by different characteristics of the viruses. Various factors can affect vi-ral transport in the soil, including soil type, water saturation, pH, water conductivity and organic matter. Loose soil ma-trix and high water saturation would enhance viral move-ment within the soil. The presence of charged particles can bind to virus and inhibit virus uptake by the plants.

This study showed that human norovirus surrogates can be internalized in romaine lettuce grown in soil. Further studies will be done on the persistence of human norovirus in the environment. Internalized viruses would be protect-ed from all surface decontamination practices, and hence pose a significant risk to public health. Because it is difficult to control virus contamination on fresh produce, effective treatments to deactivate internalized virus will be devel-oped to reduce human norovirus infections.

Anastasia Purgianto


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Evaluating the Pesticide Contamination of the Common Eastern Bumblebee and Its Effects on Foraging Behavior Across an Urban-to-Rural GradientScott Prajzner, EntomologyMary Gardiner (Advisor), Entomology

This project is the first to study relationships between land-scape composition and pesticide contamination of pollina-tors. Results of this research will inform the conservation of native bees within urban, suburban and rural landscapes of Ohio. Ohio produces vegetable and fruit crops valued at more than $135.4 and $45.4 million per year, respectively, which benefit from pollination services rendered by man-aged and nonmanaged bees alike.

Recently, pollinator declines have had global repercussions on bee abundance, diversity and the critical pollination services they provide to agriculture. Pesticide exposure is a major factor linked with bee decline, yet we know little about the contamination risk pollinators face. In order to understand how landscapes, varying from urbanized to agricultural, influence the exposure of bee species to pesticides, this project was designed to determine how landscape composition influences the diversity and con-centration of pesticides collected by the common eastern bumblebee.

Research was conducted along a landscape gradient extending from Cleveland, Ohio, south to rural Wayne

County, Ohio, where each site housed a colony of the common eastern bumblebee. Bees were allowed to forage within the local environment for 21 days and were subse-quently collected and frozen to be analyzed later for 300 pesticides. A radio frequency identification (RFID) system is being developed in collaboration with The Ohio State Uni-versity Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to track the effects of pesticide exposures on foraging bumblebees.

Researchers expect to find differences in pesticide expo-sures of bees in urban, suburban and rural environments and reduced foraging abilities and hive growths in hives exposed to pesticides. Data analysis is ongoing.

The diversity and concentration of pesticides collected by pollinators within a site will be compared to the com-position of the surrounding landscape at the spatial scale, which encompasses the foraging range of bumblebees (3 km radius). In addition, RFID tags will be used to track bee foraging activity. This method will gather information critically needed on how bumblebees forage, and how pesticide exposure influences these behaviors in Ohio.

Scott Prajzner

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Cultivation of Microalgae in Anaerobic Digestion Effluent Under Simulated Seasonal Climatic ConditionsJohnathon Sheets, Food, Agricultural and Biological EngineeringYebo Li (Advisor), Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Concerns about declining petroleum reserves, high fuel prices and greenhouse gas emissions have led to the development of renewable transportation fuels. One of the most promising renewable fuels is biodiesel from microal-gae biomass — due to its high cellular growth rates, high lipid (oil) content and suitability for growth in wastewater nutrients without requiring cropland for growth. Anaerobic digestion (AD), a process that converts organic waste to biogas, produces a nutrient-rich effluent (byproduct) that is typically applied to cropland but is also suitable for microal-gae growth. This alternative use of AD effluent as a nutrient source for controlled microalgae cultivation systems could reduce the risk of nutrient runoff from cropland and limit the need to purchase commercial nutrients. As a result, this microalgae production method has the potential to reduce environmental impacts and microalgae fuel production costs.

Open raceway ponds are considered to be the lowest cost option for cultivation of microalgae for biodiesel. They have low depth channels and a large surface area that is open to the natural environment, and they use mixing and flow con-trol devices. Many researchers have attempted to culture freshwater algae strains in open ponds in ideal culturing climates using commercial nutrients. Most of these cultiva-tions have shown limited viability due to massive nutrient and freshwater use. Additionally, to meet potential fuel demand, cultivations in nonideal climates with fluctuating light and temperatures may be necessary. Ohio represents a viable state for microalgae production due to the gener-ation of high amounts of wastewater suitable for meeting nutrient requirements. However, prior to scale-up in open ponds, microalgae strains need to be analyzed for their response to seasonal climatic conditions.

This project evaluated the effects of light and tempera-ture on the growth rate of the marine microalgae strain, Nannochloropsis salina, using an optimal dilution of AD effluent for nutrients. Light exposure and temperature were varied to mimic the levels experienced in an open raceway pond exposed to the dynamic Ohio climate. An additional experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of illumi-nation on N. salina lipid and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) content to determine its biodiesel production potential. All experiments were also conducted using commercial

nutrients at the same initial conditions to study the effect of the nutrient source.

The research team demonstrated that light exposure was the most critical factor affecting growth rate. Decreasing light availability from 24 to 12 hours and from 12 to 6 hours reduced growth by 57% and 64%, respectively. Tempera-ture had little impact, indicating this strain may survive temperature fluctuations in Ohio. Low illumination caused an increase in unsaturated fatty acids, products that can be used for high-value nutritional supplements. Cultures using AD effluent for nutrients compared favorably to those using commercial nutrients, indicating that the use of this wastewater could reduce costs in open raceway pond cultivations.

Although this study indicated that microalgae can grow under the light and temperature variations found in Ohio, this needs to be evaluated in open raceway ponds under real-world conditions to determine this strain’s large-scale production potential. Future research focusing on modeling large-scale open raceway ponds will help further deter-mine the environmental and economic sustainability of microalgae for biodiesel.

Johnathon Sheets


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Development of Novel Black Raspberry Confections as a Potential Targeted Delivery System for Oral CancerJunnan Gu, NutritionYael Vodovotz (Advisor), Food Science and Technology

The prevention of oral cancer requires effective and novel strategies. Although decreased incidence and mortality of oral cancer have been observed in the U.S. over the past three decades, there were increases in recent years among Caucasian males and African American females in eight states, one of which is Ohio. Epidemiology studies in-dicated that diets rich in vegetables and fruits are associat-ed with decreased oral cancer. Black raspberries (BRB) are considered effective chemopreventive agents due to their high antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activi-ties. Although black raspberries showed promising effects in oral diseases prevention, there is significant concern that many of the bioactive components consumed from fruits and vegetables are poorly absorbed, which is an obstacle to systemic bioactivity. In order to enhance the long-term tolerance of BRB in human clinical trials, to improve the bioavailability and bioaccessibility of BRB phytochemicals and to obtain specific release of bioactives to target oral tissues, a sustained and controlled food delivery system

needs to be developed. A soft confection consisting of fruit phytochemicals may be a desirable delivery vehicle due to its popularity, easy portability and longer shelf life. Ohio is the second biggest state for BRB production. Applying black raspberry to oral cancer prevention will improve the cooperation between berry agriculture and food science and nutrition.

In this study, confectioneries containing freeze-dried BRB were optimized in order to obtain sensory acceptability, to obtain maximum BRB dosage and to obtain an ideal BRB bioactive delivery rate to the oral cavity. Varied confections from glassy state (hard candy) to rubbery state (gummy) were developed, and the in vitro dissolution of bioactives from BRB was to be determined. This in vitro study served as a preliminary selection step for future human clinical trials. So far, this is the first study to focus on the effects of a prepared food matrix on the bioactive delivery rate in the oral cavity of a human.

Three different confections were optimized: hard candy, a pectin-based gummy confection and a starch-based gum-my confection. The BRB concentrations were 21%, 22% and 40%, respectively. The pectin- and starch-based confec-tions retained higher percentages (>93%) of anthocyanins, the major bioactive compounds in BRB, after processing. The percentages of the total phenolics released reached 93.5% for the hard candy, 94.5% for the pectin gummy and 78.7% for the starch gummy in a sodium phosphate buffer after complete dissolution. These results indicate that a phytochemical release rate from BRB confection could be modulated by the delivery matrix. Also, the pectin-based confections showed the highest retention of anthocyanins and final release of total phenolics.

So far, with the bioactive analysis and in vitro dissolution tests, it is shown that pectin confections have better bioac-tive delivery property. For future study, sensory evaluation needs to be done to determine the highest overall accept-able confection. A clinical study will start at the beginning of August 2013 to select the confection with the highest delivery of bioactives from BRB to the oral cavity. After this in vivo selection, the selected confection will be used in an oral cancer-prevention clinical study. This current study provides a food product development model for the com-mercialization of later products and for human clinical trials.

Junnan Gu

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Why Are Pathogens More Successful in Drought-Stressed Trees? A Case Study of Mechanisms of Enhanced Susceptibility to Diplodia Tip Blight in Drought-Stressed Austrian PinePatrick Sherwood, Plant PathologyPierluigi Bonello (Advisor), Plant Pathology

Trees are indispensable elements of forest ecosystems. They provide food and habitat for animal species, reduce soil erosion and nutrient loss and help store carbon while removing greenhouse gases. However, the stability of forests is threatened by rising global temperatures and the increasing occurrence of severe weather events such as droughts. Prolonged periods of drought weaken trees, making them more vulnerable to diseases and attacks by insect pests, which can often be the direct cause of a tree’s death. Tree mortality can be devastating to forest ecosys-tems, homeowners and municipalities alike, because of the high cost of removal, dangers to the public and losses of ecosystem services. Drought stress is an important and common phenomenon, yet oddly, it has not been well studied in terms of how it can lead to greater disease susceptibility. This study was conducted to investigate why droughted trees are prone to infection. Understanding why this occurs may lead to the development of trees that are more tolerant to drought and pathogens. This study utilized Austrian pine trees, which are widely planted in the Midwest and northeastern U.S. as ornamental trees, and a common and damaging fungal disease, Diplodia tip blight.

This project involved comparing the chemical responses of healthy and droughted trees to see if changes resulting from the water stress made the plant tissues more condu-cive for the fungal pathogen. In droughted trees, there was a significant increase in several chemicals known as amino acids; the amino acid proline had the largest accumulation. Interestingly, when trees were both droughted and infect-ed, proline levels rose even higher than in the droughted treatment alone. This indicated that the fungus was actively forcing the plant to accumulate proline. Proline serves many functions in plants, but when levels get too high, it becomes toxic to the plant cells and can cause them to die. Proline is also a great nitrogen source, which is a nutrient the pathogen must extract from the plant, and so the high proline levels may be providing the fungus with an excel-lent food source. When the fungus’s ability to consume various nitrogen sources was examined, proline was a preferred source, resulting in greater growth. Droughted Austrian pine trees are more susceptible to pathogens be-cause the high level of proline is providing a food source to

fungi and is killing plant cells when it accumulates to toxic levels.

With this knowledge, future research will explore how other environmental factors affect the drought-induced suscep-tibility of trees. For instance, urban trees and agricultural plants are often fertilized to provide nitrogen to plants. This increased nitrogen may allow for greater accumulation of amino acids, which could cause even worse disease symptoms. Investigating the molecular mechanisms of the proline-induced plant cell death should also be pursued. This project brought new insight into a common problem in plant health and should foster future studies that will help the development of practical management strategies for dealing with drought stress in trees.

Patrick Sherwood



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Publications, Presentations and Graduate Students

Sharing knowledge through publications and professional meetings is an important part of research, as is training graduate students for careers in research. Using data from SEEDS projects, OARDC scientists have reported the publications of 844 peer-reviewed articles, bulletins, abstracts and popular press articles. More than 1,458 presentations have been made in locations throughout the world. A total of 155 graduate students have been supported on SEEDS projects, thus being provided with the skills needed to move forward with scientific research in the future.

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Presentations, Posters, Conference ProceedingsBonnin, M., Mason, M.R., Kamonpatana, K., Failla, M.L., Kumar, P. Inhibition of Coaggregation Among Oral Bacteria by Anthocyanin-Rich Extracts. International Association of Dental Research (IADR) General Session and Exhibition. Seattle, Washington. 2013.

Bowen, W.S., Swank, V.A., O’Diam, K.M., Eastridge, M.L., Daniels, K.M. Jersey Calf Performance in Response to High-Protein, High-Fat Liquid Feeds with Varied Fatty Acid Profiles. 2012 Joint Annual Meeting (ADSA-AMPA-ASAS-CSAS-WSASAS). Phoenix, AZ. July 18, 2012.

Cai, T., Li, Y.B. Cultivation of Lipid-Rich Microalgae Nannochloropsis Salina in Anaerobic Digestion Effluent for Biofuel Production. 2012 ASABE Annual International Meeting. Dallas, TX. July 30–August 2, 2012.

Cai, T., Li, Y.B. Cultivation of Lipid-Rich Microalgae Nannochloropsis Salina in Anaerobic Digestion Effluent for Biofuel Production. Second International Conference on Algal Biomass, Biofuels and Bioproducts. San Diego, CA. June 10–13, 2012.

Cai, T., Li, Y. B. Cultivation of Lipid-Rich Microalgae Nannochloropsis Salina in Anaerobic Digestion Effluent for Biofuel Production. UCEAO Annual Conference. Columbus, OH. April 2–3, 2012.

Chandrashekhar, K., Heisler, L., Gangaiah, D., Wijeratne, S., Wijeratne, A., Meulia, T., Nislow,C., Rajashekara, G. Identification of PPK-1 and PPK-2 Dependent Transcriptome Responses in Campylobacter jejuni. Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD). Chicago, Illinois. December 5, 2011.

Chattha, K., Vlasova, A., Siegismund, C., Chen, N., Saif, L. Preliminary Investigation of B Cell Immune Responses to Rotavirus in Vitamin A Deficient Piglets. Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD). December 5–7, 2010.

Chattha, K.S., Vlasova, A.N., Siegismund, C.S., Saif, L.J. Vitamin A Deficiency Affects Serum Antibody Responses to Rotavirus Vaccination and Challenge in a Gnotobiotic Piglet Model. International Congress of Mucosal Immunology (ICMI). July 5–9, 2011.

Daniels, K.M. Fatty Acids in Milk Replacer. Fifth American Dairy Science Discovery Conference. Itasca, IL. May 28, 2013.

Diese, L., Hackmann, T., Firkins, J. Determining Maintenance Energy Requirements of Rumen Protozoa to Improve Ruminant Livestock Feed Efficiency. Denman Undergraduate Research Forum. Columbus, OH. March 28, 2013.

Gangaiah, D., Liu, Z., Arcos, J., Kassem, I.I., Sanad, Y., Torreles, J.B., Rajashekara, G. Polyphosphate Kinase 2 Mediates Poly P-Dependent GTP Synthesis and is Important for Stress Responses and Virulence in Campylobacter jejuni. 110th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

Giusti, M.M., Kamonpatana, K., Failla, M.L., Kumar, P. Anthocyanin Degradation in Human Saliva. 2011 International Workshop on Anthocyanins. North Carolina. 2011.

Goebel, P.C. Prioritizing Riparian Restoration Efforts. U.S. Forest Service Science Office. Pittsburgh, PA. 2013.

Goebel, P.C., Goss, C.W. Prioritizing Forest, Riparian and Watershed Restoration Efforts Using a Holistic Approach That Incorporates Ecosystem Services: Lessons Learned From Eastern North America. European Land Institute. Catania, Sicily. 2013.

Goebel, P.C., Holmes, K.L. Prioritizing Riparian Restoration by Integrating Ecological Function and Management Objectives Across a Landscape of Northeastern Ohio, USA. 16th Annual Conference of the International Association of Landscape Ecology (UK Chapter). Edinburgh, Scotland. 2009.

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Holmes, K.L., Goebel, P.C. A Functional Approach to Riparian Restoration and Management in Complex Landscapes. Society of American Foresters National Convention. Portland, OR. 2009.

Holmes, K.L., Goebel, P.C. Functional Delineation and Restoration Priority Model for Riparian Areas of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. 34th Natural Areas Conference. Cleveland, OH. 2009.

Kamonpatana, K., Chitchumroonchokchai, C., Giusti, M.M., Failla, M.L. Anthocyanins from Chokeberry and Strawberry Are Metabolized in Saliva. 2010 EHE Student Research Forum. Columbus, OH. 2010.

Kamonpatana, K., Chitchumroonchokchai, C., Giusti, M.M., Failla, M.L. Anthocyanins from Chokeberry and Strawberry Are Metabolized in Saliva. 2010 Russell Klein Memorial Nutrition Research Symposium. Columbus, Ohio. 2010.

Kamonpatana, K., Chitchumroonchokchai, C., Giusti, M.M., Failla, M.L. Ex Vivo Degradation of Chokeberry Anthocyanins in Human Saliva. Institute of Food Technologists IFT Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA. 2011.

Kamonpatana, K., Chitchumroonchokchai, C., Giusti, M.M., Failla, M.L. Metabolism of Chokeberry Anthocyanin in Saliva. Experimental Biology Annual Meeting. Anaheim, CA. 2010.

Kamonpatana, K., Chitchumroonchokchai, C., Riedl, K.M., Giusti, M.M., Schwartz, S.J., Failla, M.L. Metabolism of Anthocyanins in Human Oral Cavity. First Annual Summer Research Workshop on Food-Based Cancer Prevention. Bozeman, MT. 2010.

Kamonpatana, K., Giusti, M.M., Moreno Cruz, M., Kumar, P., Failla, M.L. Anthocyanin Structure Affects Extent of Degradation in Human Saliva. 2011 OARDC Annual Conference. Columbus, OH. 2011.

Kamonpatana, K., Moreno Cruz, M., Kumar, P., Giusti, M.M., Failla, M.L. Differential Susceptibility of Anthocyanins to Degradation in Human Saliva. Institute of Food Technologists IFT Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA. 2011.

Kamonpatana, K., Giusti, M.M., Moreno Cruz, M., Kumar, P., Failla, M.L. Effect of Anthocyanin Structure to the Ex Vivo Degradation in Human Saliva. Russell Klein Memorial Nutrition Research Symposium. Columbus, OH. 2011.

Kamonpatana, K., Moreno Cruz, M., Kumar, P., Giusti, M.M., Failla, M.L. Metabolism and Epithelial Cell Uptake of Chokeberry and Grape Anthocyanins in Human Oral Cavity. Russell Klein Memorial Nutrition Research Symposium. Columbus, OH. 2011.

Kamonpatana, K., Moreno Cruz, M., Kumar, P., Giusti, M.M., Failla, M.L. Metabolism and Uptake of Anthocyanins in Human Oral Cavity. Institute of Food Technologists IFT Annual Meeting. Las Vegas, Nevada. 2012.

Kamonpatana, K., Moreno Cruz, M., Kumar, P., Giusti, M.M., Failla, M.L. Metabolism and Uptake of Berry and Grape Anthocyanins in Human Oral Cavity. 2011 EHE Student Research Forum. Columbus, OH. 2011.

Kawatra, K. Prevalence of Bacteria Carried by House Flies in Proximity to a Poultry Concentrated Animal Feeding Preparation. College of Public Health Seminar. Columbus, OH. February 17, 2011.

Kim, M., Morrison, M., Yu, Z. Development of a Phylogenetic Microarray for Comprehensive Analysis of Ruminal Microbiome. 111th General Meeting American Society for Microbiology. New Orleans, LA. May 21–24, 2011.


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Kim M., Morrison, M., Yu, Z. Development of Rumen Array for Comprehensive Analysis of Ruminal Bacteriome. INRA-Rowett Symposium on Gut Microbiology, Gut Microbiota: Friend or Foe. Clermont-Ferrand, France. June 17–20, 2012.

Lee, C., Lee, C.S., Park, E., Merrick, N., Dick, W., Moore, R., Lee, J. Impacts of Land Use on Microbial Contamination Patterns in Water Revealed by Host-Specific Multiple Bacterial and Viral Genetic Marker Approaches. American Society for Microbiology 113th General Meeting. Denver, Colorado. May 20, 2013.

Lewis Ivey, M.L., Miller, S.A. Identifying Seed Treatments for Two Globally Emerging Seed Trends: Pelleted Seed and Human Pathogen-Free Seed. 27th Annual Tomato Disease Workshop. Wooster, OH. October 2012.

Macedo dos Santos, P., Pereira-Filho, E.R., Rodriguez-Saona, L.E. Application of Handheld and Portable Infrared Spectrometers in Bovine Milk Analysis. SciX 2010. Kansas City, KS. September 2012.

McSpadden Gardener, B. Discovery and Development of Microbial Biopesticides and Biofertilizers. OSU-Rutgers-U Sao Paolo Tripartite Workshop. Columbus, OH. June 2012.

McSpadden Gardener, B. Plant Microbial Ecology and Biopesticide Development Lab. Valent Biotech OARDC Innovation Visit. Wooster, OH. April 19, 2012.

McSpadden Gardener, B., Kleinhanz, M., Taylor, C., Blakeslee, J. Microbial Bioproducts Scale-Up and Applications Team. Scotts Team Meeting. Marysville, OH. December 3, 2012.

Modi, S., Koelling, K., Kornish, K., Vodovotz, Y. Bio-Polymer Blended with Natural Rubbers for New Material Applications. OSU-Rutgers-U Sao Paolo Tripartite Workshop. Columbus, OH. June 15, 2012.

Park, S.Y., Cai, T., Li, Y.B. Growth and Triglycerol Production of Nannochloropsis spp. Using Anaerobic Digestion Effluent as a Growth Medium. 2011 ASABE Annual International Meeting. Louisville, KY. August 7–11, 2011.

Park, S.Y., Li, Y.B. Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Algae Biomass Residue and Carbon-Rich Waste: An Effective Method to Improve the Sustainability of Microalgal Biodiesel. First International Conference on Algal Biomass, Biofuels and Bioproducts. Kansas City, KS. July 18, 2011.

Paul, S., Yu, Z. Development of an Oligonucleotide Microarray Chip for Analysis of Community Composition and Dynamics of Archaea, Anaerobic Fungi and Protozoa in Rumen. 2013 Greenhouse Gas and Animal Agriculture. Dublin, Ireland. June 23–26, 2013.

Rodriguez-Saona, L.E. Applications of Portable FT-IR Spectrometers for the Food Industry. Research and Development Division. Valhalla, NY. September 2013.

Rodriguez-Saona, L.E. Application of Portable FT-IR Spectrometers to Authenticate Raw Materials. 104th AOCS Annual Meeting and Expo. Montreal, Canada. March 2013.

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Sheets, J., Li, Y.B. Cultivation of Nannochloropsis Salina in Diluted Anaerobic Digester Effluent Under Simulated Seasonal Climatic Conditions and in Open Raceway Ponds. 2013 ASABE Annual International Meeting. Kansas City, KS. July 21–24, 2013.

Swank, V.A., Bowen, W.S., O’Diam, K.M., Eastridge, M.L., Daniels, K.M. Jersey Calf Blood Metabolites in Response to Liquid Feeds with Varied Fatty Acid Profiles. 2012 Joint Annual Meeting (ADSA-AMPA-ASAS-CSAS-WSASAS). Phoenix, AZ. July 16, 2012.

Swank, V.A., Bowen, W.S., O’Diam, K.M., Eastridge, M.L., Daniels, K.M. Jersey Calf Blood Metabolites in Response to Liquid Feeds with Varied Fatty Acid Profiles. 2012 OARDC Annual Research Conference. Wooster, OH. April 26, 2012.

Swank, V.A., O’Diam, K.M., Bowen, W.S., Eastridge, M.L., Daniels, K.M. Jersey Calf Blood Metabolites in Response to Liquid Feeds with Varied Fatty Acid Profiles. Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. Fort Wayne, IN. April 24, 2012.

Towers, B.N., Rodriguez-Saona, L.E. Quality Assurance Division: Food Chemistry Posters. 077-07. Assessing Quality Differences Between Organic and Conventional Cornmeal Using Portable Ft-Ir Spectroscopy. Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo. Chicago, IL. June 2013.

Vora, U., Kaletunc,G., Guo, J. Optimization of Alginate-Pectin Particle Production Parameters for Encapsulation and Controlled Release of Anthocyanins. International Food Technologist Food Expo. Chicago, Illinois. July 14, 13.

Wang W., Kawatra K., Buckley, T.J., Wang, H.H. Houseflies as Potential Vectors for Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria. American Society for Microbiology General Meeting. 2012.

Wang, W., Kawatra, K., Buckley, T.J., Wang, H.H. Houseflies as Potential Vectors for Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (manuscript in preparation). American Society for Microbiology, Ohio Branch Annual Meeting. Ashland, OH. April 13, 2012.

AbstractsKandasamy, S., Chattha, K.S., Vlasova, A.N., Siegismund, C., Saif, L.J. 2011. Vitamin A deficiency impairs antibody responses to human rotavirus vaccines and protection in a neonatal gnotobiotic piglet model. 11th International Symposium on Double-Stranded RNA Viruses. San Juan, Puerto Rico. November 27–December 1, 2012. p. 46 (P1–18).

Kim, M., Morrison, M., Yu, Z. 2011. Development of a phylogenetic microarray for comprehensive analysis of ruminal microbiome. 111th General Meeting American Society for Microbiology.

Kim, M., Morrison, M., Yu, Z. 2013. Development of rumen array for comprehensive analysis of ruminal bacteriome. INRA-Rowett Symposium on Gut Microbiology, Gut Microbiota: Friend or Foe? P-94.

Kumar, A., Gangaiah, D., Arcos, J., Torrelles, J.B., Rajashekara, G. 2012. Exopolyphosphatase/Guanosine Pentaphosphate Phosphohydrolase (PPX/GPPA) enzymes of Campylobacter jejuni. North Central Avian Disease Conference (NCADC).

Kumar, A., Gangaiah, D., Chandrashekhar, K., Arcos,J., Torrelles, J.B., Rajashekara, G. 2012. Role of Exopolyphosphatase/Guanosine Pentaphosphate Phosphohydrolase (PPX/GPPA) enzymes of Campylobacter jejuni. Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD).

Lewis Ivey, M.L., Miller, S.A. 2012. Identifying seed treatments for two globally emerging seed trends: Pelleted seed and human pathogen-free seed. Proceedings, 27th Annual Tomato Disease Workshop. oardc.ohio-state.edu/sallymiller.


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Mercer, K.L., Perales, H.R. 2012. Patterns of adaptive variation in landrace crops: Implications for climate change. Program of the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Meeting.

Paul, S., Yu, Z. 2013. Development of an oligonucleotide microarray chip for analysis of community composition and dynamics of archaea, anaerobic fungi and protozoa in rumen. 2013 Greenhouse Gas and Animal Agriculture.

Pina-Mimbela, R., Arcos, J., Torrelles, J.B., Rajashekara, G. 2013. Contribution of outer material to Campylobacter jejuni virulence. Public Health Preparedness for Infectious Diseases (PHPID) Meeting.

Pina-Mimbela, R., Torrelles, J.B., Rajashekara, G. 2013. Modulation of Campylobacter jejuni outer material by polyphosphate kinases: Impact on invasion and survival in human epithelial cells. Center for Microbial Interface Biology (CMIB) retreat.

Swank, V.A., O’Diam, K.M., Bowen, W.S., Eastridge, M.L., Daniels, K.M. 2012. Jersey calf blood metabolites in response to liquid feeds with varied fatty acid profiles. Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference Proceedings. 2012.

Swank, V.A., W.S. Bowen, O’Diam, K.M., M.L. Eastridge, and K.M. Daniels. 2012. Jersey calf blood metabolites in response to liquid feeds with varied fatty acid profiles. Journal of Dairy Science. 95(Suppl. 2): 112.

Vlasova, A.N., Chattha, K.S., Siegismund, C.S., Kandasamy, S., Saif, L.J. 2012. Vitamin A deficiency alters innate immune responses to human rotavirus in gnotobiotic pigs. 11th International Symposium on Double-Stranded RNA Viruses. San Juan, Puerto Rico. November 27–December 1, 2012. p. 62. (P2–08).

Zhang, L., Wang, H.H. 2013. Current antibiotic administration practice may be a significant contributor to antibiotic resistance development in microbial ecosystem. American Society for Microbiology General Meeting. 2013.

Bulletins or Technical ReportsFilipic, M. 2013. Researchers: Widespread use of oral antibiotics could be a significant cause of antibiotic resistance. extension.osu.edu/news-releases/archives/2013/May/researchers-widespread-use-of-oral-antibiotics-could-be-a-significant-cause-of-antibiotic-resistance. Columbus.

Holmes, K. L., Goebel, P.C. 2008. Prioritization model for riparian areas of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Final Project Report to National Park Service. School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University: Wooster, OH. 187 pp.

Miller, S. A. 2012. Bacterial spot: An old new problem in processing tomatoes. The Tomato Magazine. 16(2): 4–5.

Rein, A., Rodriguez-Saona, L.E. 2013. At-site screening and measurement of adulterant levels in bovine milk by mid FTIR spectroscopy. Agilent Application Note. 5991–1953EN.

Articles, Peer-ReviewedBowen Yoho, W.S., Swank, V.A., Eastridge, M.L., O’Diam, K.M., Daniels, K.M. 2013. Jersey calf performance in response to high-protein, high-fat liquid feeds with varied fatty acid profiles: Intake and performance. Journal of Dairy Science. 96(4): 2494–2506.

Brown, D., Li, Y. 2013. Solid state anaerobic co-digestion of yard waste and food waste for biogas production. Bioresource Technology. 127: 275–280.

Brown, D., Shi, J., Li, Y. 2012. Comparison of solid-state to liquid anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic feedstocks for biogas production. Bioresource Technology. 124: 379–386.

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Cai, T., Ge, X.M., Park, S.Y., Li, Y.B. 2013. Comparison of Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 and Nannochloropsis salina for lipid production using artificial seawater and nutrients from anaerobic digestion effluent. Bioresource Technology. 144: 255–260.

Cai, T., Park, S., Racharaks, S., Li, Y.B. 2013. Cultivation of using anaerobic digestion effluent as a nutrient source for biofuel production. Applied Energy. 108: 486–492.

Cai, T., Park, S.Y., Li, Y.B. 2013. Nutrient recovery from wastewater streams by microalgae: Status and prospects. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 19: 360–369.

Cui, Z., Shi, J., Li, Y. 2011. Solid-state anaerobic digestion of spent wheat straw from horse stall. Bioresource Technology. 102: 9432–9437.

Fu, G., Cai, T., Li, Y. 2011. Concentration of ammoniacal nitrogen in effluent from wet scrubbers using reverse osmosis membrane. Biosystems Engineering. 109: 235–240.

Gangaiah, D., Kassem, I.I., Liu, Z., Rajashekara, G. 2009. Importance of polyphosphate kinase 1 for Campylobacter jejuni viable-but-nonculturable cell formation, natural transformation and antimicrobial resistance. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 75(24): 7838–7849.

Gangaiah, D., Liu, Z., Arcos, J., Kassem, I.I., Sanad, Y., Torrelles, J.B., Rajashekara, G. 2010. Polyphosphate kinase 2: a novel determinant of stress responses and pathogenesis in Campylobacter jejuni. PLoS ONE. 5(8).

Holmes, K.L., Goebel, P.C. 2011. A functional approach to riparian area delineation using geospatial methods. Journal of Forestry. 109: 223–241.

Jiang, L., Qu, F., Li, Z., Doohan, D. 2013. Inter-species protein trafficking endows dodder (Cuscuta pentagona) with a host-specific herbicide-tolerant trait. New Phytologist. 198(4): 1017–1022.

Jiang, L., Xu, X., Li, Z., Doohan, D. 2013. Grafting imparts glyphosate resistance in soybean. Weed Technology 27(2): 412–416.

Kamonpatana, K., Giusti, M.M., Chitchumroonchokchai, C., Moreno Cruz, M., Riedl, K.M., Kumar, P., Failla, M.L. 2012. Susceptibility of anthocyanins to ex vivo degradation in human saliva. Food Chemistry. 135: 738–747.

Kassem, I.I., Rajashekara, G. 2011. An ancient molecule in a recalcitrant pathogen: The contributions of poly-P to the pathogenesis and stress responses of Campylobacter jejuni. Future Microbiology. 6: 1117–1120.

Li, Y., Park, S.Y., Zhu, J. 2011. Solid-state anaerobic digestion for methane production from organic waste. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 15: 821–826.

Li, Y., Zhu, J., Wan, C., Park, S.Y. 2011. Solid-state anaerobic digestion of corn stover for biogas production. Transactions of the ASABE. 54: 1415–1421.

Liew, L.N., Shi, J., Li ,Y. 2011. Enhancing the solid-state anaerobic digestion of fallen leaves through simultaneous alkaline treatment. Bioresource Technology. 102: 8828–8834.

Liew, L.N., Shi,J., Li,Y. 2012. Methane production from solid-state anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic biomass. Biomass and Bioenergy. 46: 125–132.

Park, S.Y., Li, Y.B. 2012. Evaluation of methane production and macronutrient degradation in the anaerobic co-digestion of algae biomass residue and lipid waste. Bioresource Technology. 111: 42–48.

Santos, P.M., Pereira-Filho, E.R., Rodriguez-Saona, L.E. 2013. Application of hand-held and portable infrared spectrometers in bovine milk analysis. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 61: 1205–1211.

Santos, P.M., Pereira-Filho, E.R., Rodriguez-Saona, L.E. 2013. Rapid detection and quantification of milk adulteration using infrared microspectroscopy and chemometrics analysis. Food Chemistry. 138: 19–24.

Sheets, J.P., Ge, X., Park, S.Y., Li, Y.B. 2014. Effect of outdoor conditions on Nannochloropsis salina cultivation in artificial seawater using nutrients from anaerobic digestion effluent. Bioresource Technology. 152: 154–161.

Swank, V.A., Bowen Yoho, W.S., O’Diam, K.M., Eastridge, M.L., Niehaus, A.J., Daniels, K.M. 2013. Jersey calf performance in response to high-protein, high-fat liquid feeds with varied fatty acid profiles: Blood metabolites and liver gene expression. Journal of Dairy Science. 96(6): 3845–3856.

Vlasova, A.N., Chattha, K.S., Kandasamy, S., Siegismund, C.S., Saif, L.J. 2013. Prenatally acquired vitamin A deficiency alters innate immune responses to human rotavirus in a gnotobiotic pig model. Journal of Immunology. 190: 4742–4753.

Xu, F., Shi, J., Lv, W., Yu, Z., Li, Y. 2013. Comparison of different liquid anaerobic digestion effluents as inocula and nitrogen sources for solid-state batch anaerobic digestion of corn stover. Waste Management. 33: 26–32.


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Xu, F., Li, Y. 2012. Solid-state co-digestion of expired dog food and corn stover for methane production. Bioresource Technology. 118: 219–226.

Zhang, L., Huang, Y., Zhou, Y., Buckley, T., Wang, H.H. 2013. Antibiotic administration routes significantly influence the levels of antibiotic resistance in gut microbiota. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 57(8): 3659–3666.

Zhu, J., Wan, C., Li, Y. 2010. Enhanced solid-state anaerobic digestion of corn stover by alkaline pretreatment. Bioresource Technology. 101: 7523–7528.

Graduate StudentsBrown, D. Master’s. Comparison of Solid-State to Liquid Phase Anaerobic Digestion of Lignocellulosic Biomass for Biogas Production. 2012.

Burkman, C.E. Master’s. The Influence of Habitat Management and Landscape on Spider Assemblages within Urban Greenspaces of Cleveland, Ohio. 2013.

Cai, T. Master’s. Cultivation of Nannochloropsis salina and Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 in Anaerobic Digestion Effluent for Nutrient Removal and Lipid Production. 2012.

Holmes, K.L. PhD. The Ecology and Management of Headwater Riparian Areas in the Erie Gorges Ecoregion of Northeastern Ohio. 2008.

Kamonpatana, K. Ph.D. Metabolism and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Anthocyanins in Human Oral Cavity. 2012.

Kawatra, K. Master’s. Prevalence of Bacteria Carried by House Flies in Proximity to a Poultry Concentrated Animal Feeding Preparation. 2011.

Liew, L.N. Master’s. Solid-State Anaerobic Digestion of Lignocellulosic Biomass for Biogas Production. Spring 2011.

Milligan, A. Master’s. Determination of Trans-Fat in Bakery Products Using a Portable Infrared Spectrometer. 2014.

Modi, S. PhD. A Novel Use of Bio-Based, Natural Fibers, Polymers and Rubbers for Composite Materials. 2014.

Towers, B. Master’s. Rapid Quality Assessment of Corn-Based Products by Infrared Spectroscopy and Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectroscopy with Multivariate Analysis. 2013.

Wahl, M. PhD. Identifying Key Influences on the Hydraulic Efficiency of Treatment Wetlands. 2013.

Wang, W. Master’s. Houseflies as Potential Vectors for Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria. 2013.

Zhang, L. PhD. Establishment and Development of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Host Gastrointestinal Tract. 2011.

Invention DisclosuresKim, M., Morrison, M., Yu, Z. Rumen Microbiome Microarray (Rumen Array). May 2, 2011. Patent Applied for: 0.

Li, Y., Zhu, J., Wan, C. Combined Liquid to Solid-Phase Anaerobic Digestion for Methane Production from Municipal and Agricultural Wastes. October 1, 2009. Patent Applied for: 0.

Li, Y.B., Cai, T. An Innovative Method for Algae Culture in Polluted Lakes. November 14, 2011. Patent Applied for: 1.



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