Sciences of Life Academy Highlights from July 10, 2007

Biotechnology: Laboratory to Marketplace

Professor of Food Science Azlin Mustapha showed students how to properly prepare samples for analysis.

This is the first step that scientists use to determine what microbes are present in our food.

The students first prepared samples of friendly versions of E. coli and Staphylococcus.

The samples react to the stain and turn pink or purple depending on the shape of the cell walls.

Under the microscope, E. coli appears like pink rods and Staphylococcus appears like purple balls.

All foods have microbes in them, and some, like sauerkraut, which is fermented cabbage, are dependent on bacterial action.

Students went on to examine samples of baker's yeast, bacterial spores and beef.

The beef is put in a device called a stomacher that homogenizes the material so that it can be tested.

Mustapha says that in the past five years that she has been doing food testing for producers she has found salmonella, a mild pathogen, but she has never found E. coli, the most common culprit in cases of fatal food poisoning, especially in children.

Insect Diversity

At the Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center, students collected insects from a variety of habitats demonstrating insect ecology and diversity.

Tour of the Yeckel and Glen Smart Collections

Walter Wehtje, Ph.D., curator for MU's School of Natural Resources, showed students specimens from the extensive collections.