Special 2007 Hatch Funding Allocated
The Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station received additional Federal funding from the CSREES for fiscal year 2007. The one time only allotment came as a result of a continuing resolution that disbanded all “earmarked” funded projects nationwide. Some of the money is being used to support the Minnesota research projects that lost their funding through that continuing resolution. Another portion has been dedicated to research infrastructure support. To date the following individual research projects have been selected by a competitive review process for one year funding:
| Principal Investigator | College | Project Title | Budget Request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fritz, Vince | CFANS | Integrating Agriculture, Medicine, Energy, and Environment in a Changing Rural Landscape | $199,100 |
| Smith, Kevin | CFANS | Illumina Beadstation 500GX | $263,000 |
| Labuza, Theodore | CFANS | Acquisition of a TA.XT Plus Texture Analyzer for Food, Bioproduct and Agricultural Research | $46,100 |
| Murtaugh, Michael | CVM | Protein Biomarker Discovery Laboratory Equipment | $298,519 |
| Bauer, Jean | CEHD | Rural Families Speak: Families in Transition | $76,694 |
| LaBat, Karen | CDes | Personal Protective Technolgies for Current and Emerging Occupational Hazards | $87,646 |
| Ruan, Roger | CFANS | Improvement in Health Benefits of Whole Grains (Wheat and Barley) by Novel Processing Methods | $210,000 |
| Danes, Sharon | CEHD | Impact of Spousal Commitment of Survivability and Sustainability of Family Business Start-ups | $50,883 |
Integrating Agriculture, Medicine, Energy, and Environment in a Changing Rural Landscape
Project Leader: Vince Fritz
Goal
The specific goal of this project is to strengthen the Southern Research and Outreach Center’s research focus on integrating agriculture, medicine, energy, and environment in the changing rural landscape. To help accomplish this goal these funds will be used enhance the Center’s core research capacity to include laboratory analytical capabilities of both plant and animal samples.
Currently, programs requiring basic and analytical laboratory equipment have cobbled together arrangement with colleagues on the St. Paul campus to run samples. The increase in graduate students across the programs at SROC (currently 26) has provided a unique graduate school experience and has allowed many faculty members to serve as advisors to graduate students in their respective graduate programs within the Collfeg of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the University. Increasing the center’s analytical capabilities will further enrich the experience and remove some of the physical barriers to conducting graduate student research at the SROC. In addition, this increased capacity will improve the Center’s competitiveness in attracting both state and federal research funding.
The new analytical capacity will strengthen the Center’s existing collaborations with colleagues on the St. Paul campus and support newly emerging research relationships with colleagues within and outside the University in the southern region of the state. One of the unique collaborations is the partnership between SROC, Hormel Institute, Mayo Clinic, Minnesota State University-Mankato, and the University of Minnesota Extension.
Illumina Beastation 500GX
Project Leader: Kevin Smith
Goal
Purchasing, installing and training staff on the Illumina Beadstation 500GX will allow gene expression studies and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping. The equipment supports studies that require measurement of a small number of genes in many samples. Expression levels of 750 genes can be monitored at once at a cost of $150 per sample. Single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping is useful for a number of applications including: germplasm characterization, association genetics, genetic mapping, and marker-assisted selection in breeding programs.
The Beadstation technology will provide the capacity to conduct large-scale SNP analysis. In addition, the Bead station technology provides the opportunity to conduct small-scale, cost-efficient gene expression analysis. To date, 24 faculty members from eight departments have indicated they will use this instrument. Here is a sample of how the instrument will support research:
- In the analysis and breeding of improved soybean cultivars. Beadstation technology promises toe expand dramatically the number and range of soybean lines that can be assayed. The combination of Beadstation technology and Minnesota’s impressive soybean breeding program is expected to significantly accelerate soybean cultivar development.
- Genotyping of mapping populations, near-isogenic line stocks, barley breeding germplasm, a collection of wild barleys and various other barley genetic stocks. This work will help identity regions of the genome that control important traits and facilitate more efficient crop improvement.
- To help understand disease resistance gene function and evolution in wild relatives of potato.
- To study gene expression in a high oil segregating corn population
- To map quantitative trait loci in pigs and diary cattle.
- To analyze differential gene expression patterns of the obligate intracellular, tick-borne pathogen, Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Transmission via the bite of a deer tick results in human analplasmossis, a potentially deadly disease endemic in the Northeastern U.S. and the Midwest, especially Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Acquisition of a TA.XT Plus Texture Analyzer for Food, Bioproduct and Agricultural Research
Project Leader: Theodore Labuza
Goals
The texture analyzer will be used to enhance research on the physical and mechanical properties of various foods, bioproducts and other agricultural products, and the effects of genetic variation, harvest/handling, processing and storage conditions on the texture of food and agricultural products. It will be used in the following research areas:
- Physical properties of food and nutraceuticals as affected by processing and storage
- Fruit texture (such as apple) as affected by genetic variation, harvest, handling and storage conditions, and
- Mechanical properties of bio-based and bio-degradable polymers.
The new instrument will have the ability to record sound to allow relating crispness to a sensory scoring method. Having this capability will help in pursuing support for research on loss of crispness of dry foods. This instrument will then help in defining process analytical values that can be used in quality assurance. Also, some graduate students have used texture measurement in their research. Many of them take the class Food Analysis, so this instrument will benefit teaching needed techniques for research.
Protein Biomarker Discovery Laboratory Equipment
Project Leader: Michael Murtaugh
Goals
The long-term goal is to establish on the St. Paul campus a dedicated infrastructure to apply mass spectrometry to basic and translational research in food animal health and disease. The immediate need is for equipment to process data and prepare samples that have been or will be run on instrumentation at the existing Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Center in Biodale. The eventual goal is to expand the core instrumentation into a “Biomarker Discovery Laboratory” for St. Paul campus researchers to fully catalog and identify novel markers and signatures of health and disease.
The high resolution fractionation capabilities of these instruments will resolve a current bottleneck in sample processing and substantially enhance data output and quality.
Fractionation methods based on mass spectrometry make it possible to separate complex biological samples into individually identifiable biomolecules. Thus, the composition of serum, urine, saliva and exhaled air, for example, can be characterized and changes in composition can indicate altered states of health and disease. The equipment sill support research solutions that increase agricultural efficiency, improve the health and productivity of livestock and plants, reduce environmental insults, and provide consumers with better choices of safe and nutritious food.
Rural Families Speak; Families in Transition
Project Leader: Jean W. Bauer
Goal
The overall goal of this project is to study the functioning of rural low-income families in the context in which they live. This context contains several over-lapping layers: community, family and child. Within these layers, researchers will examine economic and social aspects along with the macro level policy that influences the way these families live. This project supports the analysis of qualitative and quantitative interview data that was developed with more state involvement than any other rural family study in the nation. Researchers will examine:
- Factors that influence rural low-income family’s employment volatility. This includes work on employment p0atterns including unemployment and the resources and barriers in the family level system, community level system, and the policies that influence the working patterns of low-income families.
- Factors that influence accessible and affordable parenting and child care resources for rural low-income families.
- Similarities and differences within the diverse groups within the datasets specifically the non-Hispanic White, Latino, and African American in relation to the community factors of health, employment, and income.
- Issues that support or challenge building social support networks from the persons in the community and/or the institutions in the communities.
The information will be valuable for Extension staff, rural public school personnel, agencies serving rural families, and policy makers in rural areas.
Personal Protective Technolgies for Current and Emerging Occupational Hazards (North Central Regional Research Project 170)
Project Leader: Karen LaBat
Goals
- Develop methods to improve pesticide protective clothing and equipment (PPE) for agricultural workers; incorporating latest technologies in motion capture and body scan analysis. Protective clothing that incorporates range of motion of workers will make a difference in providing apparel that will encourage consistent and appropriate use of PPE to promote health and safety.
- Incorporate motion analysis and scan data into prototype PPE, test, evaluate and develop for commercial production
- Develop and disseminate outreach programming on improved PPE designs to pesticide applicators.
Current pesticide applicators’ protective clothing restricts movement, is uncomfortable and thus may not provide the best protection from pesticide exposure. The development of effective PPE and training personnel in its use is the goal of this research. The funding for this project supports the purchase of a sophisticated motion capture system that will provide detailed, accurate motion data to incorporate into PPE design. Minnesota researchers will work with the NC-170 research designers to develop and test prototype PPE using new textiles developed by the NC-170 textile scientists. New educational programs and materials will be developed for pesticide applicators.
Improvement in Health Benefits of Whole Grains (Wheat and Barley) by Novel Processing Methods
Project Leaders: Roger Ruan and Daniel Gallaher
Goal
The long term goal of this project is to develop and promote consumption of whole grain-based foods with enhanced health benefits. Specific objectives:
- Develop new processes for processing of whole grains with potentially greater health benefits
- Chemically characterize the processed whole grains for bioactive components and antioxidant activity
- Evaluate whether the processed whole grains have greater health benefi5ts than the whole grains from which they are derived, using an animal model of type II diabetes with associated obesity.
The approach is to process cereals in novel ways that would improve the functionality of the cereals and the bioavalability of micronutrients’ and phytochemicals. The hypothesis is these processed cereals would yield whole grain products with enhanced health benefits and improved consumer acceptance.
Impact of Spousal Commitment on Survivability and Sustainability of Family Business Start-ups
Project Leader: Sharon M. Danes
Goal
Family-owned firms contribute about half of U.S. GDP and total wages, but more than 50 percent of new firms fail during the first five years. Firm failure results in significant family asset loss ($29 trillion used to secure business loans in 1996 and another $57 trillion loaned directly to the businesses, based on National family Business Survey data.) Since family businesses provide a foundation for economic growth and family stability, it is essential to discover factors that increase the survival of newly-formed firms. Spousal support and communication have been shown to influence the formation and performance of new firms, but this research is still in its infancy. The purpose of this study is to examine spousal support impact on business start-up survivability and sustainability and to create an assessment tool based on analyses to be used by Minnesota and Iowa Small Business Development Centers.
The research will aid more effective and realistic decision-making about initiating businesses, thus contributing to the survival of new ventures. The assessment tool resulting from this research will assist business operators to evaluating the family climate and spousal support potential, major components for preparedness in tackling the business initiation decision.