BARC Scientists Receive Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer

Three BARC scientists were honored in Little Rock, Ark., this spring as winners of 2002 Federal Laboratory Consortium Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer. There were only 26 FLC awards given across all of the government.

Microbiologists L. David Kuykendall (center), Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory, Beltsville, Md., and William J. Hunter, Crops Research Laboratory, Fort Collins, Colo. standing with Beltsville Area Director Phyllis E. Johnson. Kuykendall and Hunter developed a superior strain of bacteria used to inoculate soybeans. The new strain improves nitrogen fixation, crop yield and the amount of organic nitrogen left for succeeding crops. With the new inoculum, soybean yield increases have averaged about 2.2 bushels per acre.

Thomas E. Devine, research geneticist, Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory, Beltsville, Md. Devine bred three forage soybean cultivars for use as livestock feed. These soybean cultivars are the first soybean cultivars bred for use as forage in North America. The soybean plants grow twice as high as conventional soybeans and are adapted to different regions of the country. Devine obtained plant variety protection on the cultivars for ARS, and worked with the agency's Office of Technology Transfer in licensing rights to seed production and marketing.

Mark C. Jenkins, research leader, Parasite Biology, Epidemiology and Systematics Laboratory, Beltsville, Md. Jenkins' lab developed therapeutic methods for people and animals afflicted with cryptosporidiosis, a parasite disease for which there is no known effective drug treatment. Three biotechnology companies have been licensed to develop vaccines based on the research from Jenkins' lab.