Agricultural Research

Innovation

• Community Seafood Initiative: Oregon’s oysters, shrimp, crab, tuna and salmon rank among the finest fresh seafood in the world. But isolation and economic downturns have kept Oregon’s coastal communities from reaping the full benefit of that acclaim. Through the Consumer Seafood Initiative, OSU researchers are creating markets and opportunities for fishermen and their coastal communities, connecting people to capital for new businesses, to scientific expertise for new products, and to research for new and better ways to handle seafood from boat to market.
• Food Innovation Center: The nation’s first urban agricultural experiment station is helping traditional farm production transition into profitable, consumer-driven businesses. Research at the center focuses on innovations that will make the difference between profit and loss for Oregon farmers, food processors, food distributors and retailers. Recent innovations range from carbonated fruit to the next-generation microwave oven.
• Oregon’s wine industry: In less than 40 years, the Oregon wine industry has established itself as a very high end premium producer of a few specific varieties. From its Pinot noir in the north to its Merlot and Syrah in the south, Oregon wines have won international recognition. And Oregon growers are leading the way in sustainable practices.
• Oregon’s microbrew industry: Oregon not only has the most microbrews per capita, Portland is reputed to have the most microbreweries and brew pubs of any city, anywhere in the world. That’s pretty good for an industry that’s barely drinking age. As one of only two universities with a fermentation sciences degree program, (U.C. Davis is the other), OSU is shaping the quality and development of distinctive Northwest microbrews.
• Weird and wonderful alternatives to chemical anti-microbials: He’s made a disinfectant from wine, a food wrap from egg whites, and a preservative from raisins. No wonder he has five patents under his belt. Oregon State University food science professor Mark Daeschel finds effective, surprising alternatives to chemical preservatives while revolutionizing the food industry.
• High-pressure oyster processing: New technology developed by OSU scientists now processes safe-to-eat shucked-in-the shell raw oysters, the Holy Grail of the oyster industry, and revitalizing an important industry on the Northwest coast.

Managing Natural Resources

• Firing up bio-fuels with Sun Grant: OSU combines the research power of Sun Grant, Land Grant, Sea Grant, and Space Grant to tackle 21st century challenges, one of only two universities in the nation (the other is Cornell) to have all four designations. Through the Sun Grant Initiative, OSU scientists are looking for cleaner fuels that are easier on the environment and new ways to convert agricultural crop materials into useful fuels.
• Oregon researchers are saving the nation’s hazelnuts: Oregon accounts for 99 percent of the hazelnuts grown in the United States and is the third largest producer of hazelnuts in the world. Yet in the northern part of the state, entire orchards have been lost to eastern filbert blight, and the disease has been heading south. OSU hazelnut breeders have now developed blight-immune varieties, culminating a 30-year battle against a disease that threatened to wipe out the nation’s hazelnut industry.
• Irrigation by satellite: SensorWebs developed by NASA for planetary exploration are now being deployed in potato fields in eastern Oregon, tested by OSU AES scientists. The sensors provide up-to-the-minute measures of soil temperature and moisture to precisely tune irrigation, saving water and producing better potatoes.
• OSU Plant Disease Clinic gears up against bioterror: The plant disease detectives at OSU Extension’s Plant Clinic are sleuthing for homeland security as part of a new nationwide network to safeguard America’s food supply from bioterrorist attack. The network of diagnostic labs are equipped for surveillance and rapid detection of plant pests and diseases that may be intentionally introduced into food crops, according to Melodie Putnam, the clinic’s director.
• White sturgeon suffer from contaminants in Columbia River: White sturgeon in the Columbia River, among the largest and oldest fish on earth, may be declining due to the presence of elevated amounts of foreign chemicals including DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls in their bodies, according to new studies by researchers at Oregon State University.
• Researchers are using new bugs, biology and trickiness to fight invading weeds: A new sort of land war is raging across Oregon. Invasive plants that landed like aliens from the outer spaces of Asia, Europe and South America are taking over entire ecosystems. Many of them are pretty; some are poison. With no natural enemies and few climatic or geographic controls, these plants can aggressively crowd out native flora, potentially unraveling the dense tapestry of plants and wildlife into the ecological equivalent of a parking lot.

Advancing the Life Sciences

• Research is finding cancer-fighting micronutrients in vegetables and fruits: Here’s why you should eat your fruits and vegetables. OSU researchers at the Linus Pauling Institute’s Cancer Chemoprotection Program are working to identify cancer-fighting agents inside plants and develop dietary supplements that people can use to help prevent cancer. Related story...
• An OSU scientist seeks a drug to fight the greatest serial killer in human history: A researcher with OSU’s Agricultural Experiment Station, Dennis Hruby is on the front lines of those preparing the nation for a possible outbreak of smallpox. No one has been vaccinated in the U.S. for more than 30 years, and the vaccinations of older Americans may have lost some potency. The population has become immunilogically naïve and vulnerable to a bioterror attack.
• In cell wars, it's microRNA calling the shots: Researchers at OSU’s Center for Gene Research and Technology have discovered the role of little known and under-appreciated genetic material in the war against invading viruses. With molecular missiles and cellular smart bombs, viruses invade and plants fight back.
• Winning the war against liver cancer in the developing world: Scientists at OSU studying the relationship between diet and cancer were among the first to isolate the toxins responsible for the plague of liver cancer in developing countries. That same research has now led to the discovery of a simple, inexpensive compound that can block the ability of those toxins to cause cancer in thousands of people around the world.
• OSU scientist creates humane environments for animals in pastures, pens and zoos: There is growing public concern about the ethical treatment of animals, whether those animals are exotic species in zoos, companions such as dogs and cats, or agricultural livestock grown for food production. Candace Croney, a scientist in Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, specializes in bioethics and animal behavior research to improve the lot of the animals around us.

Understanding the Planet

• Taking terns: understanding salmon from the bird’s eye view: OSU researchers studying fish-eating seabirds are gathering information with important economic, ecological and social implications about recovering wild salmon populations.
• Microbial observatory peers into the world beneath our feet: Scientists at Oregon State University have developed a microbial observatory at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, using tools such as biochemical tests and DNA analysis to gaze down into the universe of microscopic bacteria, fungi and other creatures living, reproducing, and dying beneath our feet.
• Juniper is spreading throughout the West: Western juniper now covers 10 times more area across the West than it did in the 1880s. It has both ranchers and ecologists worried, as it causes increased soil erosion, reduced forage production, altered wildlife habitat, and reduced biodiversity in the high desert.
• For 28 years, OSU researchers have documented the return of the bald eagle: Continuous monitoring in Oregon and parts of Washington by OSU researchers has created one of the longest-term datasets on bald eagles in North America. Their work documents that populations of the national symbol continue to soar.
• Toxic wind is carrying contaminants to the world’s most pristine places: High in mountain lakes and far north in Alaskan wilderness, researchers from Oregon State University are finding some of the world's most toxic chemicals, possibly from sources as far away as Europe and Asia.

Arts and Sciences

• Art About Agriculture: 25 year retrospective: “Agriculture is about people, families, communities, their pleasures and heartaches and hard work. And it’s about beauty,” says Thayne Dutson, dean of OSU’s College of Agricultural Science. For 25 years, the college has sponsored a juried, traveling art show that celebrates all aspects of Oregon agriculture. Now the best of the collection goes on exhibit across the state as a 25-year retrospective.
• Bringing university-level science education to small rural schools: Backed by a generous grant from Toshiba America Foundation, OSU’s Rural Science Education program brings a year-long curriculum of university-level biotechnology, genetics, and environmental science to rural schools in Oregon.
• OSU Extension promotes healthy aging: The OSU Extension Gerontology Program works to help people stay healthy as they age with programs on nutrition, exercise, even family finances for the elderly.
• The changing face of 4-H in Oregon: Facilities-rich and staff-poor schools across the nation are looking to 4-H youth programs to teach technology to students. OSU Extension 4-H programs are bringing university-level expertise to technology programs in school, after school, and beyond school for Oregon kids from kindergarten through high school.
• Master Gardeners improve everyone’s quality of life: Last year, OSU-trained Master Gardener volunteers donated 144,446 hours of service to Oregon communities, equivalent to an additional 69 full-time employees, at a dollar value of $2.3 million. They are helping to create gardens in parks, schools, nursing homes, and backyards across the state.