Utah Science Vol 61 Number 1

UtahVolume 61 Number 1

A PUBLICATION OF THE UTAH AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION AT UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY

UTAH

A Publication of the Utah AgriculturalExperiment Station at Utah State University

Volume 61 Number 1

CONTENTS

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DEPARTMENTS

8 HOTLINE

10 RECENT GRANTS

23 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

24 EDITOR'S FOOTNOTE

19 WEAPONS OF WAR

16 TEACHING I N TROUBLED TIMES

Identifying the bio in bioterrorism.

An online tool helps Utahns manage their irrigation.

12 WATER, WATER,EXACTLY WHERE

2 CELL SIGNALS

Breaking the code could keep cancers in check.

Moving the land grant philosophy to the West Bank.

6 ADOLESCENTS + BEVERAGES ≠ CALCIUM

Are teens more interested in bubbles than in their bones?

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T he signals move almost imperceptiblyfrom senders to receivers in justmilliseconds, delivering orders to speed

up production, slow down or maintain currentlevels of activity. The process isn’t a factory’smethod of managing production, it’s the commu-nication going on among cells in plants andmammals — including many cells in your body.

Biologist Daryll DeWald and members of theresearch team he heads are working to decipherhow the cryptic messages of a family of mol-ecules called phosphoinositides regulate somevery important activities in cells. The answersmay help researchers understand a surprisingvariety of things about the inner workings ofcells, ranging from how plants react to variousstresses to how some cancers are able to spread.

Currently, with support from the UAES and theAmerican Cancer Society, DeWald and col-leagues Hiroko Hama at Utah State, GlennPrestwich at the University of Utah and JeremyThorner at University of California-Berkeley arefocusing their intellectual energy and micro-scopes on how phosphoinositides regulate theamount of protein cells secrete and how theproteins move around, a process called proteintrafficking.

“We’ve found that one of the key regulatorscontrolling protein trafficking in cells is a lipidkinase enzyme, PI4-kinase,” DeWald said. “If itsactivity is blocked, or you knock out that enzyme,proteins cannot move to various sites inside andoutside the cell, and the cell dies.”

Cell

The Utah Agricultural Experiment Station 3

Hama deciphered that information about the roleof PI4-kinase by studying it in bakers’ yeast,Saccharomyces cerevisiae. And though yeast andhumans don’t seem to be very much alike, theprotein trafficking going on in our cells isprobably not very different. Yeast is also a goodmodel for the study because its cells are compart-mentalized, much like our own, and the entireSaccharomyces cerevisiae genome has been se-quenced, giving scientists important informationabout its inner workings. Protein secretion andtrafficking are critical for cell survival, but incancer cells — especially some breast, ovarian,and uterine cancers — levels of protein secretionare much higher than they are in normal, healthycells.

Signals

Electron micrographs of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.A: wild type yeast. B: Pik1 temperature sensitive yeast.

123412341234P

Pik1p is a PtdIns 4-kinase.

A B

will be the same in mammalian cells. Some of theproteins cells secrete are capable of movingoutside the cells, digesting the matrix that bindsthem and releasing cells from the tissue. It couldbe that in cancer cells with very high levelsof protein secretion the matrix connecting thecells gets dissolved, allowing the cancerous cellsto spread.

If that proves to be the case, learning to controlprotein secretion and trafficking could be a key tokeeping cancers from spreading.

“We hope the information gained from ourstudies will uncover molecular sites that aresuitable as targets for novel anticancer drugs,”DeWald said. “That will be a long way down theroad. The American Cancer Society and the

“In some cancers protein secretion is altered —apparently, up-regulated,” DeWald said. “PI4-kinase activity in these cells can be as much as50-fold higher than in noncancer cells.”

It’s what some of those proteins do that may allowcancers to spread, a process called metastasis.

“Mammalian cells in tissues are held together byan extracellular matrix,” DeWald explained. “Thecells are stuck together because they secretethings that help form the matrix that is not reallypart of the cells per se, but is part of the tissue.They need the matrix to keep them ordered andcommunicating with each other.”

The team has demonstrated in yeast how proteinsecretion is controlled and think the mechanism

Daryll DeWald

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❂MORE INFO

Daryll DeWald (435) [email protected]

Courtesy of Dr. R

ungrach Wangspa

Laser scanning confocal micrograph of bakers’ yeast,Saccharomyces cerevisiae.


Experiment Station fund research for a lot ofapplied science, but also recognize opportunitiesto solve important problems even when theyrequire some very basic research. My colleaguesand I are very grateful because these are basicquestions of science we’re trying to answer.” LH

Yeast cells stained with amembrane dye (red)containing greenphosphoinositides.

One of Daryll DeWald’s students is featured in ourstudent profile on page 23.

Website: http://bioweb.usu.edu/pipncells/

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Adolescents +

D espite all those milk-mustachedcelebrities in the “Got Milk?” ads, softdrinks seem to be winning the beverage

popularity contest against milk.

Fluid milk consumption among youth aged 11-18years has decreased 40 percent over the last 20years, and soft drink consumption has nearlytripled. One of the biggest concerns over thattrend is how calcium consumption and subsequentbone health is being affected. To better under-stand these concerns, we need more informationabout which foods kids eat to get their calciumand how much they are consuming. In particular,very little is known about the calcium intakehabits of non-Caucasian youth. That informationwill help define strategies to increase calciumintake among youth in the United States and buildhealthy bones.

Deborah R. Gustafson, a USU nutrition scientist,and colleagues from nine other western states arecreating better tools to measure calcium intakeand identify what motivates and what inhibitsadolescents of various ethnic backgrounds in theirchoices about consuming milk and other dairyproducts. The researchers are focusing on youthin two age groups, 11-12 and 16-17 years, who areCaucasian, Asian and Hispanic.

“Declines in calcium intake occur most dramati-cally between the ages of 11 and 19 years,” shesays. “Dairy foods are major sources of calcium, anutrient that is essential for protection againstosteoporosis, and potentially against other chronicdiseases including colon cancer and hyperten-sion.”

Got


Nationally, there is great interest in measuringdietary and health behavior patterns of youth inrelationship to their current and future health, shesays. It’s important information because youngpeople’s decisions about what and when to eatinfluence their health during adolescence and alsoset patterns that may put them at greater risk fordiseases of later life, such as heart disease andcertain cancers.

There are very few dietary surveys available formeasuring intakes of American youth, particu-larly youth of various ethnic backgrounds,Gustafson says. The goal of this project is toformulate a computerized dietary survey that usespictures of foods to measure calcium intake. Thissurvey is designed for youth ages 10-18 years andwill be used to accurately and reliably assessintake of dairy foods and nutrients important to

❂MORE INFO

Deborah R. Gustafson (435) [email protected]

Beverages ≠ Calciumbone health among Caucasian, Hispanic, andAsian youth in Utah and the western UnitedStates. This new software will also be used inanother recently funded project to promotehealthy calcium intake patterns amongmultiethnic youth using a nutrition educationintervention program.

The projects are sponsored by U.S. Departmentof Agriculture and State of Utah Mineral Leasegrants. Nutrition doctoral students Keith Jensenand SiewSun Wong will compile data from theseprojects, and are designing the computer-baseddietary survey for youth, which should becompleted by Spring 2002. DH

Bones?

HOTLIN

E USU PROFESSOR NAMED EDITOR OF JOURNAL

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Keith Mott, professor of Biology atUtah State University, has been namedchief editor of the journal Plant, Celland Environment.

The monthly journal, based in Oxford,England, is internationally recognizedas one of the leading journals in plantbiology. As editor-in-chief, Mott willoversee the scientific direction andquality of the research published,mediate disputes between reviewers and authors, and appoint theeditorial board composed of scientists from around the world.

The publication reviews and publishes current research on all as-pects of plant science related to the environment and is consideredone of the premier vehicles for plant physiology research. Among themeasures of a journal’s importance to the scientific community arehow many papers it selects for publication and how fre-quently the articles are cited by other research-ers. Plant, Cell and Environment accepts just 35percent of the papers submitted and its articlesare cited an average of 3.5 times, making it oneof the most competitive and frequently refer-enced journals in the field.

“It is a great honor and career highlight to beselected for this chief editor position consideringthe hundreds of other top scientists that couldhave been selected,” Mott said.

The UAES supports a portion of Mott’s researchinto responses of plant leaf stomata — microscopicopenings on the surface of leaves — to environmen-tal changes and stresses.

More infoKeith Mott (435) [email protected]

Dennis Hinkamp has joined the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station’sinformation staff. Hinkamp is a native of Missouri with a BS and MSin Journalism from the University of Missouri. Hehas written for various university publicationsincluding Utah State University Magazine since1980. He recently served as visiting sciencewriter for the Oregon State University Extensionand Experiment Station Communications office.He is the recipient of a Agricultural Communica-tors in Education Writing Excellence award, and isregularly invited to participate in national andregional writing groups reporting on Extension/Experiment Stationactivities.

HINKAMP JOINS EXPERIMENT STATION

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More infoDennis Hinkamp (435) [email protected]

USU RESEARCHERS RECOGNIZED NATIONALLY


More infoBarbara Rowe (435) [email protected]

Utah State University researchers Yoon Lee, Jeanette Arbuthnot,Barbara Rowe, Marion Bentley, and Goog-Soog Hong have been namedwinners of the Northeastern Regional Agricultural Experiment StationDirectors Research Award for Excellence. The USU researchers are partof a larger national team of Experiment Station researchers at 15universities studying family-owned and home-based businesses for thepast 13 years.

The group has examined in detail not only the economic impact offamily businesses but also the relationships among the family, thebusiness, and the community. They have developed Extension materialsfor business owners, their families, and policy makers and producednumerous academic publications on family functioning, management,and business viability. The focus of the project is to quantify the eco-nomic and social contributions of family businesses to their local, state,and national economies and communities.

“These businesses are vital to Utah’s economy and communities,” Rowesays. “Family-owned and home-based businesses hire people in theircommunities, they pay taxes on their income, they purchase goods andservices from their immediate neighbor’s businesses, and they allowpeople who are already established in a community to remain in thatcommunity when they might otherwise have to move to follow otheremployment. They also fill a range of market niches within localeconomies.”

The project, Family Business Viability in Economically VulnerableCommunities, received this award from the northeast regional researchdirectors. The award is from the Northeast district because that iswhere the project originated 13 years ago.

DIABETES EDUCATION

[email protected]

More infoNedra Christensen (801) 484-9374

Nutrition and Food Sciences reports that education on diet and medicationmanagement for people with diabetes can help reduce the incidence andcost of hospitalization. After surveying 102 diabetic patients, researchersfound that special diet education provided on an outpatient basis canprevent or postpone complications from the disease that affects 6 percentor 15.7 million people in the United States. Diet and self-managementtechniques that were taught by a dietitian proved to be effective inimproving insulin levels regardless of gender, age, type of diabetes, andlevel of education. Patients in the study were receiving ongoing medicalcare by their physician in addition to nutrition education by the dietician.

RECENT GRANTS

AND CONTRACTS

Richard Koenig investigates spacial distributioninduced by manure spreading and its relationshipto soluble phosphorous in soils. His research isfunded by the USDA/NRCS.

Deborah Gustafson, in collaboration withresearchers at Purdue University, studies improv-ing bone health in adolescents through targetedbehavioral intervention.

Next Proteins International funds researchconducted by Marie Walsh on comparisons ofingredient sources on the production of texturedwhey protein burgers.

Improving pastoral risk management on EastAfrican rangelands is the focus of work conductedby Layne Coppock, in collaboration withresearchers at the University of California-Davis.

Jeff Hall investigates the potential bioavailabilityand toxicity of the iron in processed organicfertilizers.

In collaboration with researchers at WashingtonState University, John Evans conducts studies onmanagement practices to control jointed goatgrassin winter wheat.

DeeVon Bailey investigates the economicfeasibility of a soybean crushing facility in Utahwith funding from the Utah Department ofAgriculture and Food.

Adoption and the well being of adolescents is thefocus of research conducted by Brent Miller,with funding from the U.S. Department of Healthand Human Services and the National Institutesof Health.

Research conducted by Don Jensen and the UtahClimate Center staff is supported by the SevierRiver Water Resource Management Network.

Albion Labs supports research conducted by DeloyHendricks on regulating the fate of zinc aminoacid chelate in rats.

FACULTY ON THE MOVE

Professor Gong-Soog Hong is head of theHuman Environments Department. Her researchinterest is consumer economics. She earned abachelor’s degree in pharmacy and a master’sdegree in public health from Ewha Women’sUniversity in Seoul, South Korea. She received amaster’s degree in household economics fromUSU and a doctoral degree in consumer econom-ics from Cornell University.

The Animal, Dairy and Veterinary SciencesDepartment added new faculty member RyanMass to its ranks.

Mass is assistant professor of dairy cattle nutri-tion. He earned a bachelor’s degree in animalscience at Iowa State University and completedmaster’s and doctoral degrees at University ofNebraska-Lincoln. His research interest is forageand protein utilization by ruminants.

Daniel Hubert is assistant professor in Agricul-tural Systems Technology and Education. Hisresearch interests are agricultural safety andhealth education, technology education andevaluation and assessment. He earned a bachelor’sdegree in range and wildlands science and his

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secondary education certification at Universityof California-Davis. He received master’s anddoctoral degrees in agricultural education atOklahoma State University.

Kelly Kopp is assistant professor in the Plants,Soils and Biometeorology Department andExtension specialist for water conservation andturfgrass science. She earned a bachelor’s degreestudying renewable natural resources at TexasA&M University. Her master’s and doctoraldegrees are in hydrology and agronomy from theUniversity of Connecticut.

With a calendar full of meetings with administra-tors — including a new university president —department heads, students, law makers and stateagriculture leaders, Donald Snyder has barelymanaged to find time to unpack the boxes ofbooks and papers that accompanied him to dean’soffice in Utah State’s College of Agriculture.Snyder became interim dean in January, servingin that position while Dean Rodney Browntemporarily fills a joint post in Washington, D.C.with the National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration and the United States Depart-ment of Agriculture, bringing NASA technologyto agriculture and presenting agriculturalquestions to NASA.

“For example, soil types, moisture levels, insectpopulations and locations, and many otherconditions on Earth can be analyzed from space,”Brown said. “This and much more informationneeds to be put into forms that farmers andranchers can use to improve their operations.

NASA has a lot of data that can be of value tofarmers and ranchers, but they struggle to get it tothem. My job is to help them link up, allowingNASA to get the most out of their satellites whilehelping America’s farms and ranches becomemore productive and efficient.”

Snyder, a professor of economics, served as headof Utah State’s Economics Department from1989-96, is a member of the Governor’sAgribusiness Council and former chair of theWestern Agricultural Economics Council.

“Utah State University’s College of Agriculturehas a long tradition of helping to provide a safeand secure food and fiber system to U.S. andinternational consumers,” Snyder said. “I amdelighted to work with the excellent scientists andsupport staff of this college as we continue toteach our students and conduct research thatbenefits people in Utah and beyond.”

ADMINISTRATORS ON THE MOVE


College of Agriculture’s Interim Dean,Don Snyder.

College of Agriculture’s Dean,Rodney Brown, currently in

Washinton, D.C. serving in a joint postwith NASA and the USDA.

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Don Jensen, director of the Utah Climate Center, shows off the new onlinecolor-coded map of Utah that will show people just how much water the soilin their area has lost and how much water will need to be replaced throughirrigation and rainfall.

he combination of drought conditions, a finite supply of water and a growing popula-tion is prompting pleas for more efficient wateruse throughout the state. Ask water resourcemanagers and researchers and they’ll tell you thatUtahns, in general, have a knack for overwatering.Perhaps we come by it honestly, a remnant of thetime when pioneers settled this high desert andthe choice was between irrigation and starvation.

Fewer Utahns now irrigate to sustain life, butmany irrigate to sustain a lifestyle that includesgreen lawns and lush gardens. But calls toconserve water often leave those who irrigatehome landscapes and those who irrigate fieldcrops asking the same question: How much wateris enough water?

The Utah Climate Centerhas created a new online toolto help people in all partsof Utah answer that questionby showing them just howmuch water the soil in theirarea has lost in the past weekand how much water needsto be replaced throughirrigation or rainfall.

Each weekday the UtahClimate Center staff updatesan online, color-coded mapof the state created usingdata on the temperatures,precipitation and windrecorded at between 50 and 90 of the Center’s

WATER,WATER,EXACTLY WHERE

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weather stations scattered throughout Utah. Users seeby color and by number an average of how muchwater has been lost from their soils and plants in thepreceding seven days. A blue patch at your spot on themap means the soil has enough or even a surplus ofwater, while a dark orange area means turn on thesprinklers! The map does not take soil types intoaccount, but still provides a good way to gauge howmuch water to apply, said Utah Climate CenterDirector Don Jensen.

Data from each automated station is averaged for thepreceding seven days to create each new editionof the map because daily readings would fluctuate toowidely to provide a good assessment of what’s goingon in the soil, Jensen said.

The new web-based tool includes a forecast for thenext several days to help users anticipate precipitationthat may reduce the need to irrigate. Users also find atable accompanying the map where they can look uptheir city, or a neighboring one, by name and see howmuch water to apply that week.

The map can be viewed at http://climate.usu.edu. andthrough links from the Utah Agricultural ExperimentStation (http://www.agx.usu.edu,) or Utah StateExtension Web sites (http://www.ext.usu.edu).

“This map really puts our data to good use to helppeople in the state use water more efficiently,” Jensensaid. “We will keep the information updated daily andhope this Web site will get a lot of use this summer.”

An example of the new online maps created by the Utah Climate Center.Data from each automated station from around the state is averaged for thepreceding seven days to create each new edition of the map. The top mapshows how much water has been lost through evapotranspiration. Thebottom map shows how much water is needed for replacement, taking intoaccount other factors such as rainfall.

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Kelly Kopp, a new USU Extension water conservation and turfgrassspecialist demonstrates a soil moisture probe.

Kelly Kopp, Utah State Extension water andturfgrass specialist, said the new map will be animportant part of helping people use water moreefficiently. She teaches people to think of soils asplaces that need a proper balance of water and airin order to support healthy plants. Applying toomuch water is not just wasteful, it also makesturf and other plants more susceptible to pestsand diseases, she said.

Kopp urges people caring for home landscapes tocontact the Extension office in their county to geta simple, plastic gauge (see page 24) that will helpthem measure how much water is being appliedalong with tips on how to irrigate more efficiently.

“Very often people don’t really know how muchwater they apply with their sprinklers,” Kopp said.“Another problem is that people with automaticsprinkling systems program them at the beginningof the season and they water all spring, summer,and fall without adjusting the settings. Your lawndoesn’t need as much water in the spring and fallso it isn’t efficient to use as much water in June asyou do in August.”

Kopp said information that accompanies the watergauge helps people determine how to bestprogram their sprinklers or time the use of otherirrigation methods.

Beyond helping people determine water needs forhome landscapes, Jensen adds that the ClimateCenter’s online map is also a useful tool foragencies that must monitor areas for public safetyreasons, such as dry areas that are susceptible towildland fires and wet areas that become havensfor breeding mosquitos. LH

❂MORE INFO

Don Jensen (435) 797-2190

Kelly Kopp (435) 797-1523

[email protected]

[email protected]

Website: http://climate.usu.edu


Utah State University’s 14th president is a new-comer to Utah, but a veteran of the land grantuniversity system and philosophy. Kermit L. Hallassumed his administrative duties on January 1 andhas rarely sat still since. Hall’s early meetings withfaculty, staff, and students in all eight colleges andvisits to other campus facilities, including theBiotechnology Center, helped prepare the newpresident for his role as an advocate of Utah State’speople and programs during the legislative session.

Hall told legislators, “I see Utah State Universityrising alongside Iowa State, North Carolina State,Virginia Tech, Purdue and Washington State – allland grant universities with a strong history inengineering, science, technology, teacher training,business, agriculture, and natural resources. Theyare benchmarks Utah State University is capableof reaching. But choices must be made and madenow.”

Hall emphasized the need to set priorities andmake choices that will make Utah State’s areas ofstrength areas of greatness.

“Utah State University has been and will be evenmore a university of the people of Utah,” Hall said.“The opportunity to work with colleagues to set anagenda for increasing excellence and access in thenew millennium is a distinct pleasure and a greatopportunity.”

In an effort to learn more about the people ofUtah and the ways in which Utah State servesthem, Hall is traveling the state and making goodon his promise to “milk a cow in every county.”

Utah State’s new first lady, Phyllis Hall, is also aneducator and most recently served as an elemen-tary school library and media specialist in North

NEW PRESIDENT FOR USU

Carolina. She recently accepted an invitation tojoin the Utah Botanical Center AdvancementBoard.

More information about President Hall, includingthe schedule for his tour of the state, is availableonline at the president’s page link on the UtahState University home page [www.usu.edu].

New USU President, Kermit L. Hall.

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J im Thomas spends a lot of time answering the question “Is it safe?” It’s not a questionmost university administrators have to concernthemselves with. Of course, most administratorsaren’t working in the West Bank — one of themost disputed parcels of land in the world. Theshort answer is, “Yes, it is safe.” But only in thesame way being in many of the United States’major cities is safe.

There are some roads you don’t take and someborders you don’t cross. You carry your passport.You have Israeli license plates so you can go fromthe West Bank to Israel, but you put a Palestinianflag on your dashboard when you are in Palestin-ian controlled areas. You wear a baseball cap or atie to make yourself look more American becausethe disputes are between the Israelis and thePalestinians. Most of the disputes come whenPalestinians throw rocks at the Israeli DefenseForces (IDF) troops and the troops shoot back.

So it is safe if you are Jim Thomas, senior advisorto the president of the Arab American Universityin Jenin, and you are used to crossing borders inthe name of education. Thomas has lived andworked in Bolivia, South Africa, Iran, Egypt andIndia and has made professional visits to about 25countries. He is associate dean for internationalprograms in Utah State’s College of Agriculture,and has spent half of his USU career workingabroad. He travels on both U.S. and Canadianpassports and his current work permit is issued bythe IDF.

The West Bank is about 65 miles long and 20miles wide and home to about two million people.The University is safe because it is built on landthat is self-governed by the Palestinians under the1993 Oslo Accord. The vision is that this land willsomeday become the country of Palestine. But fornow the land is divided. The map of the country

Teaching inTroubled Times

The approach to the new Arab American University in Jenin, Palestine.

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that Thomas shows at presentations is pock-marked with patches of different colors repre-senting areas of the country that are Palestiniancontrolled, under dispute or contain Israelisettlements.

The West Bank is a small area of biblical propor-tions, where old cities are thousands, not justhundreds, of years old. Though the campus isnew, the surroundings are old. Old as in ancient.Not far from the campus are the remains ofRoman structures.

Despite all the cultural differences, Thomas saysthe Arab American University-Jenin will eventu-ally look and feel much like a land grant univer-sity in the United States.

“That’s why the group of Palestinian investors inthis private university approached me four yearsago,” he says. “They wanted someone with landgrant and international agricultural experience tohelp build a university that teaches courses inEnglish so its graduates can be more competitivein the world economy.”

USU was given a half-million dollar research anddevelopment grant issued through the Agency forInternational Development (AID). Most of thefunding will help establish the university’sacademic programs through consultants, visitingprofessors and professors on sabbatical. By nextyear, Thomas expects 400 more students inaddition to the 300 attending now, and within 10years the university should be complete and willserve an area with about 250,000 people.

The university’s initial degree programs aredesigned to meet current needs of people in thearea — arts and sciences, administrative andfinancial sciences, allied health sciences anddentistry.

“Because medicine is such an esteemed professionamong Palestinians, there are many doctors in thearea but not many health support professionalssuch as nurses, paramedics, and hospital adminis-trators,” Thomas says. “There is also a shortage ofdentists. Colleges of law, agriculture, engineering,pharmacy, information technology, and veterinarymedicine will follow.”

The university’s first four buildings are completeand the campus is starting to take shape on 10acres of rocky knoll. The university’s 300

Jim Thomas, associate dean for international programs inUSU’s College of Agriculture and presently senior advisor tothe president of the Arab American University in Jenin,Palestine, gets used to his new office and a more cautious wayof life in the volatile Middle East.

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Palestinian and Arab-Israeli students completedtheir first semester in December 2000.

“The students are great except that they are allfreshmen, and like freshmen anywhere in theworld, they like to play a little too much,” he says.

An all-freshman student body is not the onlyunusual thing about this university. The work-week is Saturday through Wednesday.

“We use Friday as the Sabbath because that is theday Muslims use all over the world. In somecountries the ‘other’ weekend day is Thursdayand in some places it is Saturday. Here is itThursday, so our ‘weekend’ is Thursday andFriday. We do have problems working around thevarious Sabbath days. Muslims have Friday, Jewshave Saturday along with the Seventh DayAdventists, and Christians who use Sunday,”Thomas says.

Thomas and his wife Marilyn live in Zebabdeh, atown of 2,500 people just a mile from campus. Hisneighbors pass on the legend that Zebabdeh, is“two donkey days from Nazareth” — referring tostories from biblical times that Mary and Josephstopped here on their way to Bethlehem.

The most recent Intifada (an Arabic wordtranslated roughly as awakening, insurrection,shudder or uprising) has cut tourism to the areaby 95 percent.

“It’s too bad,” Thomas says, “Because you couldgo to spectacular historic sights every weekendfor years while you live here.”

You’d think that after all the globe hopping,Thomas might want to settle down. But thatseems unlikely.

“I’m already 65 so I could retire right now, but Ihave promised to stay here for three moresemesters,” Thomas says. “My last child graduatesfrom USU in May. After that we will probablycontinue to travel and find places to help and giveservice. Maybe South Africa, maybe SouthAmerica.”

For Utah State’s Jim Thomas, the world really ishis campus. DH

❂MORE INFO

Jim [email protected]

The administration buildingof the new Arab AmericanUniversity in Jenin, Palestine.

Rod Brown, dean of the USU College of Agriculture, accepts thanks forUSU’s assistance in establishing the new Arab American University onthe West Bank.

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Website: http://www.aauj.edu


WeaponsA terrorist posing as a food service worker

blends easily into the clattering activity in a large kitchen where each mealtime

means feeding hundreds or thousands of people.He quietly goes about adding Salmonella to saladingredients that are subsequently eaten byunsuspecting: a) soldiers, b) Olympic officials andathletes, c) embassy personnel, d) fill-in the blankwith any group that might attract the attention ofterrorists looking to gain media attention for theircause, disrupt an event or compromise thestrength of the military.

It’s not a far-fetched plot from a spy novel, and it’sjust one scenario Robert Micelli, adjunct facultymember in Nutrition and Food Sciences and abiochemist with Defense Group, Inc.’s operationsat Dugway Proving Grounds, studies withcollaborators Bart Weimer and Marie Walsh.

Micelli discussed bioterrorism in a guest lectureat USU’s Biotechnology Center, describing someof the threats that could be aimed at people andthe environment, including agricultural targets,and some of the ways bioterrorism might bebattled with biotechnology.

“Bioterrorism has many faces,” he said. “It may bestate sponsored or carried out by a small group oran individual. The motives may be ideological,religious or political, and the goal could be todisrupt a public event and get attention, to gaineconomic power or to cause mass casualties.”

WANTED

For Acts ofBioterrorism

ofWar

E. Coli

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It is a threat with many components that themilitary and other agencies are exploring, and itposes a variety of complex problems. For ex-ample, intelligence work can provide someinformation about where biological weapons areproduced and by whom. But unlike nuclearweapons that require carefully regulated compo-nents and large manufacturing facilities, Weimersaid biological weapons could be created by “anycompetent microbiologist” in a kitchen doublingas a laboratory, using ingredients obtained at alandfill.

USDA knows economic motives could prompt abiological attack aimed at agriculture, Micellisaid, and considers several agents to be possibleweapons: rice blast, capable of causing 60% croplosses; stem rust, a fungal disease of cereal crops;Asperigillus, a threat to poultry production; andhoof and mouth disease. Among the biologicalagents considered threats to humans are anthrax,smallpox, plague, Giardia, encephalitis viruses andfoodborne pathogens such as Salmonella, Shigella,Listeria, and E.coli 0157:H7.

While bioterrorism is regarded as a worldwidethreat, local interest in the topic has intensified assecurity preparations for the 2002 WinterOlympic Games in Salt Lake City point out thatwelcoming the world means anticipating thatsome may view the high-profile, internationalevent as a target for terrorism.

While some research is aimed at identifying howbiological agents could be spread and how toclean them up once they are, other importantwork is focused on detecting them in air, water,soil, and food. That’s where the expertise andtechnology in USU’s Center for Microbe Detec-tion and Physiology (CMDP) come into play.

Weimer and Walsh co-direct the center andcollaborated with Micelli and others at Dugwayin a program to test concepts and a wide array ofequipment meant to restore normal operations toa military base following a biological or chemicalattack. The project included evaluating anddeveloping methods of protecting people,sensitive equipment and the environment, andtools to use following an attack. Researcherstested technologies for sensing pathogens,methods of containing contamination, and toolsfor decontaminating skin, equipment and theenvironment. In all, the Dugway group and itscollaborators tested 60 existing technologies injust six months and conducted a mock field

Robert Micelli, adjunct faculty in Nutrition andFood Science and a biochemist with Defense GroupInc.’s operations at Dugway Proving Grounds.


exercise at an air base in Korea. In the end, 15 ofthe 60 technologies passed the test.

Among the technologies tested were rapidmicrobe detection systems developed at theCMDP, one of which is now licensed for com-mercial production for use in food processingplants.

“What we have developed at the center are newmethods to detect microbes in near real time,”Weimer said. “That has a lot of importantapplications because time is critical in the eventof a biological attack because you have to be ableto identify the microbes before you can treatpeople and clean up equipment and the environ-ment. It also has huge economic implications forfood processors because they currently have tohold food for several days while they wait for testresults to tell them whether it is safe to ship.”

The CMDP’s patented device, dubbedImmunoFlow, detects the presence of E. coli

0157:H7 in just 15 minutes and the researchersare working on the bio part of the technology todetect Salmonella and Listeria with similar speedand accuracy. To put that in perspective, considerthat current tests for those pathogens requirebetween eight and 96 hours. The device — aboutthe size of a laser printer — forces liquified food,like meat samples, through a filter of glass beadscoated with antibodies that bind to specificbacteria. Chemicals in the filter fluoresce, makingthe bacteria visible to the instrument.

The speed of the test is a function of its sensitiv-ity. Other tests require enough time to allow anybacteria in the samples to have multiplied to1,000 to 10,000 cells. The ImmunoFlow candetect just 10-100 cells in a sample.

“If you have to treat people it is critical to findout as soon as you can what the pathogen is,”

Weimer said. “And while you wait for results fromother tests the bacteria have been multiplyingrapidly.”

Weimer said the CMDP’s detection work largelyfocused on creating tools for use in food process-ing plants and restaurants that would increasefood safety and save processors millionsof dollars in storage costs. He pointed out thatwhen we eat at restaurants most of us trust thatthe people there and at processing plants aredoing their best to provide us with good, safe

A close-up of the USU Center for Microbe Detectionand Physiology’s patented device, the ImmunoFlow,which detects the presence of E. coli 0157:H7 in just15 minutes.

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❂MORE INFO

Bart Weimer (435) 797-3356

Marie Walsh (435) 797-2177

Website: http://www.usu.edu/~realtime/

[email protected]

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[email protected]

food because if they didn’t they would be shutdown and suffer huge losses. The military has tolook at a darker side of human nature and thedeliberate use of pathogens.

Weimer said the scenario of a terrorist taintingfood for military personnel is not just hypotheti-cal, it really happened when salad laced withSalmonella took its toll on troops in the MiddleEast just after the Persian Gulf War. Weimerexplained that although many food bornepathogens wouldn’t kill people, it doesn’t takemuch imagination to see that a military divisionsuffering from a serious bout of food poisoningwould not be in any condition to defend itself orothers very effectively.

“This isn’t just a military issuethough,” Weimer said.“Bioterrorism and detectingpathogens crosses a lot ofdisciplines and involves suchagencies as the National Institutesof Health, the USDA, and Centersfor Disease Control and Preven-tion in addition to the Departmentof Defense. We have a Memoran-dum of Understanding withDugway and they are promotinggreat progress in detection scienceand technology.” LH

The staff of the Center for Microbe Detection and Physiology: Front row, left toright- Marie Walsh (associate professor and director), Lan-Szu Chou (post-doctoral fellow), Brad Taylor (Ph.D. candidate), Mihir Vasavada (M.S. candi-date). Back row, left to right- Marsha Hellquist (technician), Bart Weimer(associate professor and director), Wim Lippens (M.S. candidate).

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Kelly Manabe

S t u d e n t S p o t l i g h t

Kelly Manabe, a junior from West Jordan majoring inbiology, can only reminisce about the times in highschool when she skipped classes to paint. Now mostof her time is spent in the lab or studying. However,she hasn’t neglected her artistic side, and, as a result,she has become a well-balanced, level-headed student.

Working with Assistant Professor Daryll DeWald,Kelly is studying signaling molecules in mammaliancells that play a part in cell growth. The researchKelly works on is supported by a grant from theAmerican Cancer Society.

“This is an exciting project,” Kelly explained. “Notonly will it lay the foundation for cancer research butit extends to all types of cell growth.”

“No one has a cooler job,” she said with conviction.“It’s fun. I go to work every day, pop in a CD andwatch live images of cells changing and moving on thecomputer screen.”

However, the computer Kelly works on is no simplepiece of machinery. It is connected to a large confocalmicroscope which examines specimens with a laser.Kelly is one of the few undergraduate students whouse the microscope.

In her work in DeWald’s lab, Kelly deliversphosphoinositides, a specific group of molecules, tocells and then observes how they enter and relocateinside cells.

Kelly is motivated by her desire to learn and likesworking in labs because it makes biological complexi-ties a little more comprehensible.

“It’s fundamental to understanding the world,” Kellysaid. “It’s one of the main reasons I chose biology as amajor. And having an interest in what you’re studyingcounts more than intellect. Biology is interesting

because it involves problem solving. Sometimesstudying is a painful process, but it is exciting to applywhat you learn and then find a solution to a problem.”

Working in DeWald’s lab has enhanced Kelly’s biologystudies and been instrumental to her success at UtahState University.

“Working in the lab, I’ve learned a lot of new things;things I could never learn in class.”

Laboratory experience has also helped Kelly focus onwhat she wants to do once she finishes her bachelor’sdegree.

“I’ve learned what it is like to be a graduate student orprofessor working in the lab,” she said. “I’ve learned alot from the graduate students and discovered what Ilike to do and what I don’t.”

Kelly has worked in several labs — each one creatingnew experiences and opportunities and opening a lotof doors. With numerous options available, shecurrently plans to attend graduate school and possiblystudy bioinformatics.

Kelly said she is not pursuing a career in science simplyto discover or achieve. She wants her research to benefitsociety.

“I want to make the world better, not more complex,”she said. “I think the biology field needs more peoplelike me!” — Mica McKinney

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Answer to last issue'sphotoquiz (below): This isa glassine bag used incrossing wheat and barley.The bag is placed over thewheat head after theanthers have beenremoved to protect it fromforeign pollen.

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PHOTOQUIZClue: Something every home-owner should have.

Lynnette Harris (LH), Editor(435) [email protected]

EDITOR'S FOOTNOTE

At least you’ve got your health. It’s the thing people say to console you when it seems everything else in

your life is falling apart. Truth is though, when you don’thave your health, not much else matters. It’s a cliche thatbecomes startlingly less trite when you discover that youmight not have your health after all.

I’m no poster child for healthy lifestyles – I go to the gymsporadically, my 10-pound free weights are gathering dustunder the bed, I have a weakness for Coke and onionrings, and when I run it’s usually because I’m chasing my3-year-old. I suspect though that I’m not alone in thinking(rationalizing) that I’m doing alright if nothing reallyaches, I don’t smoke, don’t consider french fries andketchup the most important members of the fruit andvegetable group, and can climb a few flights of stairswhile breathing normally.

When I went for a routine check-up awhile back I didn’texpect a gold star from my doctor, but I didn’t expect anyproblems either. Then a letter arrived asking me to makeit my “first priority to have additional tests done to helpmake a definitive diagnosis.” It was just one line in theletter, but a line that quickly makes the phrase “healthscare” more meaningful.

I thought about what can happen to people with breastcancer, tried to focus on positive things and called mybrother, a cancer survivor, and his wife, a nurse. We talkedabout all the reasons I’m not a good candidate for breastcancer— no family history, under age 50, under 30 duringmy first pregnancy—and about the importance of tryingnot to worry too much until I had more tests.

Still, it became much more important to me that aresearch team at Utah State, lead by biologist DaryllDeWald, is working to discover how cancers start andspread. My mental Rolodex kept flipping to the AmericanCancer Society statistics I looked up as background forthat story: This year about 182,800 women in the UnitedStates will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,800will die from breast cancer; skin cancer is the mostcommon cancer in women, followed by breast cancer, butheart disease is the leading killer of women.

DeWald is careful to point out that his research is verybasic and that the process of discovery is slow andmethodical. His team’s work in the lab may not lead tonew ways to block the spread of cancer, but it might.Some may wonder why an Agricultural ExperimentStation is involved in cancer research. The short answer isthat the work DeWald’s group does is so basic that it ishelping scientists understand some of the complexities inour cells and even in the cells of other animals and plants.

Other projects the UAES supports investigate howchemical compounds in some foods may help preventcancer, how new drugs may help fight hepatitis, influenzaand other viruses, how nutrition affects the bones ofteenagers and senior citizens, and how nutrition duringpregnancy may relate to incidence of cleft palate inbabies.

We humans are good at focusing on the crisis of themoment, and it seems that nearly every day since moretests found that I do not have breast cancer I’ve still beenthankful that there are people working long hours andpursuing all kinds of theories in an effort to understandand treat cancer. I suppose antiviral research will gainnew importance in my world the next time I get the flu.For now, I’ll just try to stay fired up about healthier eatingand exercise instead of wishing I could do it retroactivelythe next time some diagnosis rearranges my priorities.

The Experiment Station’s vision statement says our workis about “the science of survival” and “down-to-earthresearch that has the lofty mandate of improving humanlife.” Improving people’s health is crucial if we’re going tohelp improve their lives. So the next time someone triesto cheer you up by reciting, “At least you’ve got yourhealth,” remember, that ain’t half bad.

FEATURED RESEARCHERS

Kelly Kopp

Jim Thomas

Don Jensen Bart Weimer

Deborah GustafsonDaryll DeWald

H. PAUL RASMUSSEN

DIRECTOR

UTAH AGRICULTURAL

EXPERIMENT STATION

KERMIT L. HALLPRESIDENT

UTAH STATE

UNIVERSITY

UTAH SCIENCE is a quarterly publication devoted pri-

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Equal Opportunity in employment and education isan essential priority for Utah State University, and one

to which the University is deeply committed. In

accordance with established laws, discrimination based

on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age,

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MEDIA SPECIALIST

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Utah Science Vol 61 Number 1