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UNICAL to partner intellectual societies on academic excellence – NIGERIAN TRIBUNE (press release) (blog)

The University of Calabar (UNICAL) has restated its resolve to collaborate with intellectual societies on the promotion of academic excellence.

Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof Zana Akpagu stated this at the institutions Senate Chambers during the 2nd Zonal Annual Conference of the Nigerian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (NSBMEB) with the theme: The Role of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in a Recessed Economy.

Prof Akpagu said the collaboration is one of the cardinal objectives of the institution aimed at promoting academic and intellectual excellence.

The Vice-Chancellor said the institution was already promoting academic excellence by encouraging useful and beneficial exchange of ideas through conferences, seminars and workshops.

According to him, the theme of the conference was apt following the economic recession currently bedeviling the country.

He thanked NSBMB for giving Unical the hosting rights of its 2nd Zonal conference and promised to support them.

The Vice-Chancellor, however, expressed joy that NSBMB was at the verge of assuming the status of an institute, saying it will confer on them the legal status for regulating and controlling their profession.

He also commended the local organising committee for organising the event and urged them to attract the national conference of NSBMB to Unical.

This is even as he congratulated the University of Ilorin for topping the ranks of Nigerian Universities and thanked them for providing the leadership for NSBMB.

Also speaking, National President of NSBMB, Mrs Sylvia Malomo thanked the Vice-Chancellor for providing an enabling environment for the conference.

She also applauded the Vice-Chancellor for his developmental strides in the institution, stressing that the institution has witnessed tremendous transformation since he assumed office.

Malomo commended the South-South and South-east zones of NSBMB for its consistency in promoting the activities of the society.

She said Biochemists have been at the forefront of administration in the country, adding that, we have biochemists as Vice-Chancellors, we have them as governors, we have them as lawmakers, we have them in various high positions in government and private sector.

The NSBMB President also commended the South-South Zonal Coordinator, ProfFridayUboh for working assiduously to promote the activities of the society, describing him as a go-getter.

In his remarks, South-South Zonal Coordinator of NSBMB, ProfFridayUboh thanked the Vice Chancellor for his support towards the hosting of the conference.

He also commended members of the local organizing committee, staff and members of Biochemistry Department of the University of Calabar for their tireless efforts in making the zonal event a reality

The Zonal Coordinator reminded fellow Biochemists that NSBMB is the first and primary society of their own before any other academic society hence the need for them to fight and protect their profession from oppression by other professional bodies.

Prof Uboh disclosed that the struggle to take the society to the status of an institute at the national level has become a reality, adding that it is a thing of joy that this dream is being fulfilled in their time.

He, however, appealed to all Biochemists to be committed to regular payment of dues and participation in all zonal and national conferences.

The Zonal coordinator urged senior colleagues to rise up to their expected responsibility of mentoring the younger ones to become eminent Biochemists.

He solicited for financial support from public spirited individuals and eminent scientists to help in the sustenance of the zonal event on a yearly basis.

Delivering the keynote address, National Secretary of NSBMB, Prof Musa Yakubu described Biochemistry as a unique profession which cuts across all fields of human endeavor.

Prof Yakubu who spoke on the title- the role of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in a recessed economy said Biochemists can contribute immensely in pulling Nigeria out of its present economic woes by diversifying the economy through increase in production of agric produce.

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UNICAL to partner intellectual societies on academic excellence - NIGERIAN TRIBUNE (press release) (blog)

Grey’s Anatomy introduces a ‘controversial’ new doc – EW.com

To celebrate Fall TV and our huge Fall TV Preview issue hitting stands on Sept. 15 EW is bringing you 50 scoops in 50 days, a daily dish on some of your favorite shows. Follow the hashtag #50Scoops50Days on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with the latest, and check EW.com/50-Scoops for all the news and surprises.

Grey Sloan will be rocked by even more family drama when Greys Anatomy returns this fall.

EW has learned exclusively that Italian actress Stefania Spampinato has booked a multi-episode arc as the sister of Giacomo Gianniottis Andrew DeLuca.

Carina DeLuca will actually take up residence as a new doc at Grey Sloan, which becomes a bit of a nightmare situation of Andrew. This year, were going to definitely have DeLucas character a little more fleshed out with the arrival of his sister from Italy, Gianniotti tells EW. Were going to see a new dynamic in the hospital as his sister arrives, and its not exactly good news; hes frustrated by it.

She has a very interesting and controversial some would say profession within the medical field, which makes him uncomfortable, Gianniotti continues. Its a thorn in his side, her being there, but everybody else is quite fond of her. She will be working [at the hospital], and shes going to help tell the story of DeLuca and how he comes from Italy. Theyre going to speak a little bit of Italian, which will be nice for the Italian fans, because [the shows] so big in Italy.

The news comes on the heels of Abigail Spencer joining the cast for a multi-episode arc, replacing Bridget Regan as Owens sister Megan Hunt, who has been presumed dead for the last decade.

Greys Anatomy will return with a two-hour premiere on Thursday, Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Grey's Anatomy introduces a 'controversial' new doc - EW.com

Everything We Know About ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 14 (PHOTOS) – Wetpaint

Whats the prognosis for Greys Anatomy Season 14? Drama, of course.

But its also going to be a lighter, sexier season, the stars say with new faces joining the show and familiar faces coming back for more action.

The season is still weeks away, though, so our prescription for you is to click through the slides of this gallery. Just be warned: Side effects include spoilers.

Greys Anatomy Season 14 premieres on Thursday, September 28, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Season 14 premieres on September 28.

Thats Thursday, September 28, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, to be exact.

In fact, the last time a season of Greys premiered any time other than the week of September 21-28 was Season 1.

Were getting a two-hour premiere

Twice the episode for twice the fun! Shonda knows how to treat us.

The first episode is titled Break Down the House

It was written by new showrunner Krista Vernoff, whos returning to the show for the first time since Season 7, and directed by exec producer/star Debbie Allen.

Season 14 pick up right where Season 13 left off

The docs will still be reeling from the hospital explosion and from now-departed doc Stephanies brush with death.

Theres obviously some damage to the hospital, Kelly McCreary tells Entertainment Weekly.

But it is, in true Greys Anatomy style, a completely surmountable obstacle, because we are superhuman doctors.

It serves more as a metaphor of the transformation that the show is going to go through tonally.

Season 14 wont be as dark as Season 13

Its lighter this season, Kelly McCreary continues.

The hospital definitely is undergoing some changes in the form of a new crop of students coming in.

Itll look a bit different in certain areas, and some relationships have come to an end or are blossoming, so repairing the damage is more of a metaphor.

Season 14 will introduce a spin-off

This spin-off, as of yet untitled, will focus on the firefighters of Seattle and will premiere in early 2018. (Heres everything we know about that show.)

Owens sister will be back, with a new face

Well see more of Megan Hunt now that shes been found, though shell be played by Timeless star Abigail Spencer.

(Bridget Regan, who played Megan last season, couldnt return because shes filming The Last Ship.)

Teddy Altman will be back, too

We last saw the cardiothoracic surgeon in Season 8, when Owen generously fired her so that she could pursue her dream job at MEDCOM in Germany which happens to be the army facility to which Megan Hunt, Owens sis, was transferreden route to Seattle.

Kim Raver is bringing the character back for multiple episodes in Season 14, and we imagine Teddy will help Megan in her recovery and her acclimation to Seattle.

The cast and crew have been filming in Seattle

Its the first time in a decade Greys Anatomy has filmed where its actually based instead of, yknow, a Hollywood soundstage and these exterior scenes will be interspersed throughout Season 14, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Cast members have filmed scenes on a ferry you know how much Greys loves its ferries! and at the real-life house that plays Merediths house.

Camilla Luddington promises a sexy season

Especially because the Alex-Jo-DeLuca love triangle is still a thing, as Camilla tells TV Guide:

This seasons going to be very sexy I can imagine [Jo] maybe feeling a little bit jealous if DeLuca started dating someone else.

But I think she's at a time in her life right now where she has to deal with her own emotional journey and what shes going through in her past ... before she really jumps straight into a relationship with someone else.

Theres some stuff that she has to work through.

Spoiler alert: Alex and Jo will get back together

Footage from the Seattle set shows Alex playfully chasing Jo in a park, and once he catches up to her, they embrace and kiss.

Paul Stadler, Jos abusive ex, will be back

Alex and Jo better watch out!

Glee alum Matthew Morrison said hell be reprising his Greys role.

I have a big role in Greys Anatomy coming up, he told The Argonaut in an interview published on August 2.

Jo is advancing in her career

We will absolutely explore Jos story more, Camilla Luddington told TVLine.

In fact, Camilla heard rumblings that Jo will take her board examinations and find another mentor

This season Jo may feel inspired by someone again, she says.

Well meet DeLucas sister, another medical professional

We are bringing my sister [in] as a new character, Giacomo Gianniotti told ETOnline.

She is going to be a new presence at the hospital. She comes from Italy, as my character is Italian, and you get to see us exchanging some blows in Italian, which will be very interesting

Her profession, although we cant disclose it, is a very interesting one. Its going to keep a lot of the doctors on their toes, make some doctors uncomfortable, [and] some people will be glad about [her coming on]. Shell stir things up with a European background and take on medicine.

Carina DeLuca will be played by Stefania Spampinato

The 35-year-old actress and dancer is Sicilian and had a two-episode arc on USAs Satisfaction in 2015.

Eliza Minnick wont be back

Were one step closer to a Calzona reunion, people!

Eliza, the education consultant that wooed Arizona was fired in the Season 13 finale, and TVLine confirms that Marika Domiczyk wont be returning for Season 14.

Whats the prognosis for Greys Anatomy Season 14? Drama, of course.

But its also going to be a lighter, sexier season, the stars say with new faces joining the show and familiar faces coming back for more action.

The season is still weeks away, though, so our prescription for you is to click through the slides of this gallery. Just be warned: Side effects include spoilers.

Greys Anatomy Season 14 premieres on Thursday, September 28, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Everything We Know About 'Grey's Anatomy' Season 14 (PHOTOS) - Wetpaint

Spin infection enables efficient gene delivery to muscle stem cells – BioTechniques.com

Yusaku Kodaka1,2, 3, Yoko Asakura1,2, 3, and Atsushi Asakura1,2, 3

1Stem Cell Institute2Paul and Sheila Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Center3Department of Neurology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN

BioTechniques, Vol. 63, No. 2, August 2017, pp. 7276

Supplementary Material

Abstract

Viral vectormediated foreign gene expression in cultured cells has been extensively used in stem cell studies to explore gene function. However, it is difficult to obtain high-quality stem cells and primary cells after viral vector infection. Here, we describe a new protocol for high-efficiency retroviral infection of primary muscle stem cell (satellite cell) cultures. We compared multiple commercially available transfection reagents to determine which was optimal for retroviral infections of primary myoblasts. Centrifugation force was also tested, and a spin infection protocol with centrifugation at 2800 g for 90 min had the highest infection efficiency for primary myoblasts. We confirmed that infected muscle stem cells maintain cell proliferation and the capacity for in vitro and in vivo myogenic differentiation. Our new, efficient retroviral infection protocol for muscle stem cells can be applied to molecular biology experiments as well as translational studies.

Skeletal muscle regeneration is mediated by muscle stem cells called satellite cells (1), which are normally mitotically quiescent in adult muscle. After muscle injury or exercise, quiescent satellite cells undergo activation, followed by proliferation. Proliferating satellite cells, which are myogenic precursor cells, eventually exit the cell cycle and fuse with each other to form multinucleated myotubes. Isolated satellite cells from skeletal muscle can be cultured in vitro as satellite cellderived primary myoblasts (2,3). These primary myoblasts are used for in vitro models of skeletal muscle cell differentiation, self-renewal of satellite cells (4), in vivo satellite cell transplantation (5), and multi-lineage differentiation (6). As opposed to immortalized myoblast cell lines such as C2C12 cells, animal or human primary myoblasts can be utilized for cell transplantation as well as studies of stem cell biology (4,7).

METHOD SUMMARY

Here, we compared multiple commercially available transfection reagents with different infection protocols and determined that a spin infection protocol with centrifugation had the highest infection efficiency for primary myoblasts. The infected cells continued to proliferate and retained the capacity for in vitro and in vivo myogenic differentiation.

One drawback of primary myoblasts is that they need more complex culture conditions to maintain their proliferation and differentiation abilities. The use of high serum conditions for cell growth is an example of this. Furthermore, the efficiency of DNA transfection and viral infection for primary myoblasts is lower than for C2C12 cells (8,9). Retroviral or lentiviral infection has been used for obtaining stable foreign gene expression that enables long-term experiments, including in vivo cell transplantation of myogenic cells (2,10-12). However, the viral supernatant normally contains low levels of nutrients and growth factors, which inevitably induces cell cycle exit followed by myogenic differentiation. Therefore, a method for high-efficiency viral infection without the need for culturing with the viral supernatant is critical for maintaining the ability of primary myoblasts to proliferate and differentiate (13).

For efficient retroviral infection, a spin infection protocol has been established for several cell types, including hematopoietic progenitor cells (14-17). To adapt the spin infection method to primary myoblasts, we identified optimal conditions for both transfection reagents and centrifugation time and force.

All animal experimental protocols were approved by Institutional Animal Care and the Use Committee of the University of Minnesota. Satellite cellderived primary myoblasts such as CD31(-), CD45(-), Sca-1(-), and integrin 7(+) cells were isolated from skeletal muscles of 2 month-old mice (C57BL6, Charles River Laboratories, Wilmington, MA) by MACS separation (Miltenyi Biotec, San Diego, CA) as described previously (3). Myoblasts were maintained on collagen-coated dishes in growth medium (GM) [Hams/F10 (Sigma- Aldrich, St., Louis, MO), 20% FBS, 20 ng/ mL basic FGF (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN), and 1% penicillin/streptomycin (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA)] (7). Proliferating myoblasts in GM were defined as Day 0. Myogenic differentiation was induced by replacing GM with differentiation medium (DM) [DMEM (Sigma-Aldrich), 5% horse serum, and 1% penicillin/streptomycin] for 3 days.

Retroviral supernatants were produced by transfection of pMX-GFP (Cell Biolabs, San Diego, CA) or a pMX-mCherry retroviral vector into a 293T Platinum-E Retroviral Packaging Cell Line (Plat-E) (Cell Biolabs). One day before transfection, Plat-E cells were cultured in DMEM with 10% FBS and without antibiotics until they reached 70%90% confluency. Various transfection reagents were used: Lipofectamine (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA), Lipofectamine 2000 (Thermo Fisher Scientific), Lipofectamine LTX (Thermo Fisher Scientific), TransIT-293 (Mirus Bio LLC, Madison, WI), TransIT-2020 (Mirus Bio LLC), TransIT-LT1 (Mirus Bio LLC), PolyJet (SignaGen Laboratories, Rockville, MD), and LipoJet (SignaGen Laboratories). Five microliters of each transfection reagent was suspended in 200 l DMEM without FBS and with 5 g of pMX-GFP or pMX-mCherry plasmid DNA for 20 min at room temperature (RT). PlatE cells (6 105) were plated on collagen-coated 3 cm dishes 1 day before transfection. The next day, the medium was replaced with 800 ml DMEM with 10% FBS and 200 ml DMEM using the transfection complex described above. After incubation for 24 h, the medium was changed to 1 mL new DMEM with 10% FBS. Retroviral supernatants were then harvested 24 h after the medium change. Syringe filters (0.45 mm) (Millipore Sigma, Billerica, MA) were used to remove any cells from the retroviral supernatants. Primary myoblasts (1 105) were plated on collagen-coated 3 cm dishes for 24 h before the viral plating infection. Retroviral supernatants were used for viral infection of primary myoblasts with 10 g/mL polybrene (Millipore Sigma) for 4 h, and cells were then cultured in GM for 48 h. For the spin infection, myoblasts were treated with 0.25% trypsin-EDTA (Thermo Fisher Scientific), and 1 105 myoblasts were then transferred into 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tubes. The cells were centrifuged and then resuspended with the retroviral supernatant with 10 g/ mL polybrene. After the myoblast spin infection was performed at RT under appropriate centrifugation conditions, the cell pellets were resuspended with GM and plated on collagen-coated 3 cm dishes. GFP expression was examined 2 days after spin infection. Dead cells were counted by trypan blue (Thermo Fisher Scientific) staining. 5-ethynyl-2-deoxyuridine (EdU) was added to culture plates 3 h before fixation of the cells. EdU staining was performed using the Click-iT EdU Alexa Fluor 488 Imaging Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific). Immunostaining was performed with anti-GFP (AB3080; Millipore Sigma; RRID:AB_91337), anti-myosin heavy chain (MHC) (MF 20; Developmental Study Hybridoma Bank, Iowa City, IA; RRID:AB_2147781), anti-myogenin antibody (F5D; Developmental Study Hybridoma Bank; RRID:AB_2146602), or anti-phospho-histone H3 antibody (pHisH3) (D2C8; Cell Signaling, Danvers, MA; RRID:AB_10694226), followed by Alexa 488-conjugated anti-rabbit IgG (A-21206; Thermo Fisher Scientific; RRID:AB_2535792) and Alexa 568-conjugated anti-mouse IgG (A10037; Thermo Fisher Scientific; RRID:AB_2534013) or Alexa 488-conjugated anti-mouse IgG (A-21202; Thermo Fisher Scientific; RRID:AB_141607). DAPI (Sigma-Aldrich) was used for counterstaining of nuclei.

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Spin infection enables efficient gene delivery to muscle stem cells - BioTechniques.com

New microscope technique reveals internal structure of live embryos – Feedstuffs

University of Illinois researchers have developed a way to produce 3-D images of live embryos in cattle that could help determine embryo viability before in vitro fertilization (IVF) in people.

Infertility can be devastating for those who want children, and many seek treatment. As the cost of a single IVF cycle can be $20,000, it is desirable to succeed in as few attempts as possible. Advanced knowledge regarding the health of embryos could help physicians select those that are most likely to lead to successful pregnancies.

The new method, published in the journal Nature Communications, brought together electrical and computer engineering professor Gabriel Popescu and animal sciences professor Matthew Wheeler in a collaborative project through the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology at the University of Illinois. Called gradient light interference microscopy (GLIM), the method solves a challenge that other methods have struggled with: imaging thick, multicellular samples.

In many forms of traditional biomedical microscopy, light is shined through very thin slices of tissue to produce an image. Other methods use chemical or physical markers that allow the operator to find the specific object they are looking for within a thick sample, but those markers can be toxic to living tissue, Popescu said.

When looking at thick samples with other methods, your image becomes washed out due to the light bouncing off of all surfaces in the sample. It is like looking into a cloud, said graduate student Mikhail Kandel, co-lead author of the study.

GLIM can probe deep into thick samples by controlling the length of the path over which light travels through the specimen. The technique allows the researchers to produce images from multiple depths that are then composited into a single 3-D image.

To demonstrate the new method, Popescus group joined forces with Wheeler and his team to examine cow embryos.

One of the 'holy grails' of embryology is finding a way to determine which embryos are most viable, Wheeler said. Having a non-invasive way to correlate to embryo viability is key; before GLIM, we were taking more of an educated guess.

Those educated guesses are made by examining factors like the color of fluids inside the embryonic cells and the timing of development, among others, but there is no universal marker for determining embryo health, Wheeler said.

This method lets us see the whole picture, like a three-dimensional model of the entire embryo at one time, said Tan Nguyen, the other co-lead author of the study.

Choosing the healthiest embryo is not the end of the story, though. The ultimate test will be to prove that we have picked a healthy embryo and that it has gone on to develop a live calf, said Marcello Rubessa, a postdoctoral researcher and co-author of the study.

Illinois has been performing in vitro studies with cows since the 1950s, Wheeler said. Having the resources made available through Gabriels research and the other resources at Beckman Institute have worked out to be a perfect-storm scenario.

The team hopes to apply GLIM technology to human fertility research and treatment, as well as a range of different types of tissue research. Popescu plans to continue collaborating with other biomedical researchers and already has had success looking at thick samples of brain tissue in marine life for neuroscience studies.

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New microscope technique reveals internal structure of live embryos - Feedstuffs

Dairies’ fix for souring milk sales: genetics and bananas | Fox Business – Fox Business

Dairy makers are hoping pured fruit and genetically screened cows can help win back consumers who have soured on milk.

U.S. milk sales are down 11% by volume since 2000, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Plant-based milk substitutes have taken some of the remaining market share. And a turn away from packaged foods has sapped sales of breakfast cereal, a key milk accompaniment.

Milk companies are fighting back with products they are billing as an improvement on the original.

"Innovation is the only way out," said Blake Waltrip, chief executive for the U.S. at A2 Milk Co., a New Zealand-based company that sells milk that lacks a protein that may cause indigestion for some.

Big food makers are testing new products, too. Danone SA's Sir Bananas product combines milk with pured fruit, which it hopes will stand out from other flavored-milk drinks and is now available nationwide. Fairlife LLC, a partnership between Coca-Cola Co. and Select Milk Producers Inc., is selling "ultra-filtered" milk it says contains more calcium and protein than regular milk. It is also offering milkshakes containing antioxidants and prebiotic fiber, which is intended to aid digestive health.

A2 uses genetic tests on its cows to make sure they will produce milk that contains only a protein known as A2, not the additional A1 protein that some research suggests could cause indigestion. The company has captured more than 8% of the market in Australia, up from about 3% in 2012, according to Euromonitor International, in one of the few developed markets where milk sales continue to grow.

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In Australia, where agriculture plays a bigger role in the economy than the U.S., "milk is still seen as a staple," said Alice Yu, research analyst at Euromonitor in Sydney. "Everyone has a bottle of milk in their fridge," she said.

A2 Milk hopes to convince U.S. consumers that its milk can help them avoid the indigestion many people associate with lactose intolerance. "Literally within an hour, the consumer knows whether this solves their issue," Mr. Waltrip said. The company, which started selling milk in California in 2015, has struck distribution deals with Whole Foods Market Inc. and Publix Super Markets Inc.

Competitors and some scientists question A2's claim that milk without the A1 protein is easier to digest.

In Australia, A2 Milk sued competitor Lion Dairy & Drinks alleging that the rival's advertising misled customers into thinking Lion's milk didn't contain the A1 protein. Lion filed a countersuit challenging claims that milk without the A1 protein is easier to digest. A2 Milk says scientific studies suggest a benefit.

A2 Milk will also face competition in the U.S. from fast-growing, plant-based milk alternatives. The National Milk Producers Federation and other industry groups are pushing Congress to bar the makers of those products from marketing them as milk.

The dairy companies are fighting over a shrinking pool of milk demand. Milk sales dropped 14% in dollar terms the year through June from that period in 2013, according to Nielsen figures. That is one reason farmers are pouring excess milk into their fields and manure pits. Farmers in parts of the Northeast and Midwest dumped more than 250 million pounds of milk last year, a recent record, USDA data shows. They are on pace to dump even more milk this year.

Dean Foods Co. lowered profit guidance and saw its shares tumble Tuesday as executives with the U.S.'s largest milk producer acknowledged their struggles with declining fluid milk sales, and no end in sight.

"At some point you will see a bottoming in this category, and I'm not sure when you will predict that," Dean Chief Executive Ralph Scozzafava told investors. The company earlier this year launched versions of its TruMoo flavored-milk drinks that it says are free from genetically modified material.

Nate Donnay, director of Dairy Market Insight at INTL FCStone, questioned whether A2 and other companies charging a premium for their enhanced milks can reverse the broader turn away from the beverage.

"The target market is fairly narrow," he said.

--Jacob Bunge contributed to this article.

Write to Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@wsj.com and Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 09, 2017 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)

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Dairies' fix for souring milk sales: genetics and bananas | Fox Business - Fox Business

Genetics takes fight to gardeners’ green foe – Phys.org – Phys.Org

A scientist from The University of Manchester has hit upon an innovative way to control greenflies which infest our gardens and farms.

Dr Mouhammad Shadi Khudr, discovered that living lacewing insects- which are used as a way to biocontrol greenflies are also effective after they have died.

Dr Khudr, an evolutionary ecologist based at the University's Division of Evolution and Genomic Sciences, discovered how genetic variations in greenflies' respond to the fear of predation by lacewing known as aphid lions.

The greenflys' genetic variation and life history influenced how they responded to traces of their predator.

He hit upon the discovery while looking at how different lineages of one species of greenfly responded to lacewings on a crop.

Even though each greenfly line had a distinct way of responding to the exposure to the traces of the aphid lion they all suffered from dramatic reduction in their reproduction, he says.

Dr khudr designed and lead the collaborative research, which was funded by the Freie Universitt Berlin (Free University of Berlin).

The research is published in the journal Scientific Reports today.

He said: "Whether alive or dead, lacewings make it more difficult for aphids to reproduce.

"The smell and visual impact of dead predators reduce the greenflies' capacity to give offspring and the way they clump together on the plants they infest."

He added: "This approach is at the crossroads of agricultural, evolutionary and ecological science.

"It is a unique way of understanding the effect of genetic variability corresponding with the risk of predation and thus should receive much more attention.

"It has organic, easy to produce and affordable applications and thus has a promising potential to help solve an age old problem which frustrates many gardeners.

"And it would be most interesting to see if this approach might also work with other pests and biocontrol agents in other agricultural systems."

Explore further: The genetics of life and death in an evolutionary arms-race

More information: Mouhammad Shadi Khudr et al. Fear of predation alters clone-specific performance in phloem-feeding prey, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-07723-6

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Genetics takes fight to gardeners' green foe - Phys.org - Phys.Org

The Ag Startup Engine Adds Peterson Genetics to Its Efforts – Agriculture.com

As the ninth member to join the Ag Startup Engine (ASE), Peterson Genetics brings education, mentoring, and financing resources to Iowa entrepreneurs and start-ups focused on agriculture technologies.Here at Peterson Genetics, were excited about seeing the seed of a new idea grow into a successful business, says Mike Peterson, president of Peterson Genetics, Inc. Weve been providing soybean genetics to seed companies across the country for over 30 years, and hope that some of this knowledge can be put to use for the fledgling companies involved in the Ag Startup Engine.

The ASE, which is located at the Iowa State University Research Park in Ames, Iowa, was formed to address two fundamental gaps that prevent ag start-ups and entrepreneurs from being more successful in Iowa: early seed stage investment and organized mentorship from successful Iowa and Midwestern entrepreneurs.Launched two years ago, other ASE membersinclude Veridian Credit Union, Hertz Farm Management, Iowa Farm Bureaus Renew Rural Iowa, Next Level Ventures, Summit Agricultural Group, Ag Leader Technologies, Ag Ventures Alliance, and Peoples Company.Peterson Genetics reflects the heritage of seed industry entrepreneurs that have had such profound impact on the shape of modern agriculture, comments Kevin Kimle, director of the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative at Iowa State University. We are very excited to have Peterson join the founding group of the Ag Startup Engine.The ASE works to provide agricultural entrepreneurs with a structured environment to help them move from a start-up concept to a seed-ready business. Working in partnership with ISUs Startup Factory Accelerator, the program is implementing an infrastructure for mentoring, rapid prototyping, product development, financing, and customer acquisition. ISUs Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative assisted in the creation and development of the ASE, which then advanced into a private sector entity governed by its members.Peterson not only brings his business expertise, but also his strong desire to foster entrepreneurship in agriculture, says Joel Harris, codirector of the ASE. If you want to succeed in starting an ag tech-focused venture, there is no better place to get started than the Iowa State University Research Park in Ames.

You can learn by visiting the Ag Startup Engine at agstartupengine.com.

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The Ag Startup Engine Adds Peterson Genetics to Its Efforts - Agriculture.com

Top genetics scientist back for the future – Stuff.co.nz

A push to put the power of discovery science back into livestock breeding as brought home a genetics world achiever, writes Andrea Fox.

Last updated09:20, August 10 2017

Supplied

Top genetics scientist Dorian Garrick has come home to New Zealand to head a new Massey breeding centre.

Returned world-leading Kiwi scientist Dorian Garrick likes to say his research at a US university was funded by the Islamic jihad.

The leader of the newly-launched Massey University Al Rae Centre for Genetics and Breeding has been able to utterthis little showstopperquite a bit lately in response to predictable inquiries about how he will cope with New Zealand's much-lamentedscience funding squeeze after America's comparative largesse.

It's nota word of a lie, says the professor, lured home from a stellar international career to lend gravitas to a venture which aims to build enviable expertise in quantitative breeding, genetics and genomics to benefit agriculture and create the next generation of scientists with these skills for the plant and animal breeding industries.

For the past 10 years, Garrick has held the Jay Lush endowed professorship chair in animal breeding and genetics at Iowa State University. The genesis of that chair was a $1 million donation from alumnus and Hizbollah kidnap victim Tom Sutherland. Sutherland hoped others who had benefited from the university's pre-eminent animal science programme would follow his lead to build the endowed professorship honouring Lush, considered the father of modern animal breeding and Sutherland's major professor.

Sutherland gave away many millions of dollars to charity after receiving $23 million compensation awarded by an American court in 2001 from Iranian assets frozen over Iran's role in financing Hizbollah militants. Sutherland, who died last year at 85, was abducted in Beirut in 1985 while dean of agriculture at the American University of Beirut. He was held for six years, often chained to a wall in darkness, one of dozens of westerners taken hostage in Beirut at the height of Lebanon's civil war.

At his office in AgResearch's Ruakura campus Homestead, Garrick says while it was a boon to be able to tap the fruit of the Iran funds for his research and teaching at Iowa State, there's plenty to be positive about in his new job downunder.

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Ovary scan could lift low calving rates

His salary has dipped a bit but his motivation in coming home was never money, he says. He always intended to return and has kept up his links with Massey, from where he graduated with first class honours in 1981 and which was his first employer. The new job isn't fulltime he's retaining an interest in a genomics software company he co-founded in the US.

But there's no getting away from the fact that the future of new AL Rae Centre, named in memory of another founder of modern animal breeding, Garrick's Massey professor Alexander Lindsay Rae, will depend on cold hard cash as much as the prestige of the Garrick name.

A cornerstone of the new discovery science centre was a $250,000 gift from the Norman FB Barry Foundation which enabled the funding of four PhD scholarships, one postdoctoral fellow, two eminent visiting scientists and funds for workshops.

"It's a small amount in the whole perspective of things but the advantage is it's not dedicated to a particular project. With most of our research grants, by the time you get it, you know where all the money is going to go," says Garrick, who gained his PhD at Cornell in the US.

"That means you don't have the money that if a student walks through the door showing a lot of interest, you can't say sit down, enrol, you're starting tomorrow. Or if we come up with some serendipitous discovery and we want to do a new trial next week, we don't have the funds to do that with research grants.

"Funding an additional student or an experiment can be done with unencumbered funds and that's where donations like the Barry Foundation's are tremendously valuable."

The new centre's co-director and key driver, Massey professor Hugh Blair makes no bones about how important unencumbered cash gifts are to science.

"The country's top students have been enticed away from discovery science in genetics because of greater salaries in banking and other agribusiness areas.

"Low salaries for PhD students in New Zealand have resulted in more attractive opportunities for talented people elsewhere..this has led to under-achievement in discovery science for a number of years, with similar science centres around New Zealand suffering from a lack of resources and a short-term focus driven by an industry keen on solving the issues at hand."

For years, Blair says, there has been a lack of research in quantitative genetics in favour of molecular genetics. "We want to marry these two areas to get a picture of the overall merit of the animal."

Garrick's wasted no time applying to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for "substantial" funds and says some funding is also promised from Beef + Lamb Genetics and DairyNZ. Funding and support conversations are also under way with sector participants such as LIC, CRV Ambreed and the wood industry Crown Research Institute Scion.

Wellington-born Garrick - hardwired for a career in science, his father had a doctorate in shark science - says some things in the New Zealand research science world are looking up since he left the country in 2002 to join Colorado State University, where he stayed for five years before going to Iowa State.

While he supports scientists getting overseas experience and seeking fresh mentors, his exit to Colorado was spurred by a cocktail of negative developments during his time in the AL Rae chair at Massey University, a post he took up in 1994.

"(Initially) I had seven PhD graduates and worked in a range of different industries including forestry. Some students came through our undergraduate ag-science programmes and others from offshore and we did a lot of direct research with industry.

"About that time New Zealand was swinging towards user-pays and capturing intellectual property and keeping ideas secret so they might be patented. The media was portraying agriculture as a sunset industry and the government was funding three year degree programmes rather than four year programmes.

"As each one of my PhD students finished I wasn't able to find a replacement to keep the programme going. I went from seven to zero PhD students. I designed a large experiment for the Dairy Board that would have involved genomics and was hopeful it would allow us to involve a number of graduate students, but Fonterra which inherited the project and created the subsidiary ViaLactica to manage it, wanted it to be kept fairly secret and run on their own properties, not involving graduate students."

The matings for this project had been completed but it would be several years before useful data would be generated for discovery, so it was time to leave, Garrick recalls.

He intended to stay at Colorado university three years but when the time was up New Zealand didn't have the jobs he wanted, which would have involved solving industry problems, publishing the results and bringing in graduate students. He stayed on in America.

"While I've been away the government changed its policy involving graduate students and we've had an increase in the number wanting to do post-grad study. There's been a bit of relaxation over intellectual property and patenting and a recognition that a lot of research is better when it's published or shared than when it's secret."

Garrick says he was approached to return home by parties in the dairy and sheep and beef industries. There was an indication funds might be available for discovery science.

Meantime Massey had met industry stakeholders around the country for feedback on what was required to do a better job on genetic improvement.

"They identified the need for graduate training and for people to work across species and disciplines. All that converged to create the AL Rea Centre."

The Waikato and Ruakura were chosen to host the centre because Massey did not have a direct presence there, it was "neutral" territory, and major industry organisations were headquartered nearby.

Garrick says the first bid for government funding has been made in collaboration with a number of those parties and researchers.

While his statistics mining and computer modelling work on theoretical problems to do with genetic prediction is a foreign language to most of us, his message to NZ Inc and farmers is simple.

"There are fantastic business value propositions for genetic improvement. Many organisations know this already. If they invest in genetic improvement the country will benefit to a much greater extent than the investment (involved).

"But most of them recognise there is market failure in these activities so they need to be partially supported by funding somewhere else. I would like people to recognise that we are here to help. We are here to help train students or perhaps staff already working in those organisations."

Farmers, he says, could encourage their levy funding organisations to invest in genetic improvement activities and to take more of a long-term view.

"I'm always interested in working with ram and bull breeders and have a history of working with them. If they have ideas about doing things differently, we can work with them to help them implement it on their own farms.

"If they see something unusual with a genetic basis, let us know. We have discovered quite a number of genes responsible for diseases in particular because some commercial farmer has contacted us about lambs or calves on their farm with an unusual attribute and we've been able to trace it back and show it comes from a particular sire.

"In many cases we are able to use genomics to find the actual cause or mutation responsible for that effect. Then that allows them to select against that if the attribute is unfavourable. Sometimes if you discover something unfavourable it improves your knowledge about favourable attributes at the same time."

-Stuff

See more here:
Top genetics scientist back for the future - Stuff.co.nz

Sundays at Six features Genetics on August 20 – Valley Courier

ALAMOSA The Alamosa Live Music Association is pleased to present Genetics at Sundays at Six, August 20, in Cole Park, Alamosa. This Denver-based progressive rock band is sure to put on a great show! The concert begins at 6 p.m. and is free.

Genetics consists of four gentlemen from Michigan who decided to move to Colorado with a massive sound, and ready or not, they have hit the ground running. Their complex music with its heavy composition and heavy improvisation, combined with their wide scope of influences shimmering through their dynamic performance, makes for an amazing and unique live music experience.

They have made quite a footprint in the last year alone, not only playing the inaugural Arise music festival but also opening up for acts such as George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Toubab Krewe, Particle, Michael Kang (of SCI), David Murphy (formerly of STS9), Chuck Morris (of Nunchuck and Lotus), Dr.Fameus (Allen Aucoin of The Disco Biscuits), Ultraviolet Hippopotamus, Dopapod, Twiddle, and many more..

Genetics puts their all into every performance, and people are starting to talk. And with a full-length album in the works, and shows at bigger and bigger venues in BOTH Colorado and their home-state of Michigan, Genetics is preparing for a full-scale American brain-invasion.

Genetics is officially unveiling its second full-length album, Beast Mountain. Beast Mountain elaborates on the floaty-with-an-edge composition style, with plenty of unexpected twists and complex melodic layers. But this album also boasts a larger mission: bringing back the glory of the concept album. Evocative soundscapes take the listener on a thrilling journey through the woods, where something dangerous may be lurking amidst the soaring guitar harmonies, linear compositions, and danceable breakdowns. Almost a year in the making, the band recorded and mixed all 10 tracks themselves in their home studio.

ALMA Builds Community through Quality Live Music. For more information like ALMA on Facebook or go to http://www.almaonline.org.

Sundays at Six is generously sponsored by: 1st Southwest Bank, Alamosa Local Marketing District, Alamosa State Bank, Arbys, Body Tune Up, Chilis, City of Alamosa, Comfort Inn & Suites, Crestone Eagle, IHOP, Jay Meyer Insurance, KRZA, KW Farms, Movie Manor, Myers Brothers Truck & Tractor, Partnership Investments, Porter Realty, Rio Grande Savings & Loan, Salazar Natural Meats, SLV Federal Bank, SLV Health, SLV Rural Electric Co-op, Sports Print Plus, Steffens Quality Plumbing, Super 8, Treasure Alley, Valley Courier, Valley Motel, Valley Wide Health Systems, Wall, Smith & Bateman, Xcel Energy Foundation, and 2017 ALMA members.

Excerpt from:
Sundays at Six features Genetics on August 20 - Valley Courier