ARS molecular biologist Christopher Sommers is
part of a team honored for designing a technique that uses bursts of steam to
improve the safety of hot dogs and sausages. Click the image for more
information about it.
The iBMC Consortium-an ARS, university and
corporate collaborationis being honored for their "BovineSNP50"
genotyping assay for improving the genetics of dairy and beef cattle. Click
the image for more information about it.
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Inventors Win ARS Technology Transfer Honors
By Marcia Wood
February 11, 2009 WASHINGTON, Feb.
11--Delicious new apricots, a better way to keep hot dogs and sausage
safe to eat, and simpler ways to produce catfish are among the innovations that
have garnered technology transfer awards for Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
scientists at laboratories nationwide. ARS is the principal intramural
scientific research agency of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
For moving their research-based technologies out of the laboratory and into
the marketplace, 15 ARS experts and their university and corporate
co-investigators were honored yesterday by the agency at a ceremony here.
"Agricultural research is fundamental to the strength of our farm
sector, and holds the key to improving nutrition, fostering the development of
new sources of renewable energy, and creating new sources of revenue for our
farmers and ranchers," said Agriculture Secretary
Tom
Vilsack.
"Americans everywhere benefit from this research," said ARS
Administrator
Edward
B. Knipling.
Top honors for outstanding technology transfer went to:
- The Flash Pasteurization Research Group, for a technique that uses bursts
of steam to improve the safety of hot dogs and sausages. Microbiologist
Christopher
H. Sommers, chemical engineer
David
J. Geveke, mechanical engineer
Neil M.
Goldberg, and Michael F. Kozempel (retired) with the ARS
Food
Safety Intervention Technologies Research Unit, Wyndmoor, Pa., shared the
honor with corporate collaborator ALKAR-RapidPak, Inc., of Lodi, Wis.
- The iBMC Consortium, for discovering and commercializing their
"BovineSNP50" genotyping assay for improving the genetics of dairy
and beef cattle. Geneticists
Curtis
P. Van Tassell and
Tad S.
Sonstegard of the ARS
Henry
A. Wallace Beltsville (Md.) Agricultural Research Center, and chemist
Timothy
P.L. Smith and biological science lab technician
Renee
A. Godtel of the agency's
Roman
L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb., teamed
with Marylinn Munson and Cindy Taylor Lawley of Illumina, Inc., in San Diego,
Calif., and collaborators from George Mason
University, Manassas, Va.; the University of Missouri-Columbia for this
research.
Teams and individuals commended for superior efforts in technology transfer
are:
* The AGWA team, with hydraulic engineer
David
C. Goodrich and hydrologist
Carl
L. Unkrich of the ARS
Southwest
Watershed Research Center in Tucson, Ariz., for helping water districts,
homeowners and others across the country conserve water by using the team's
computer-based "Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment"
technology. The Tucson scientists’ AGWA teammates are from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency in Las Vegas,
Nev.; the University of Arizona-Tucson;
the University of Wyoming-Laramie; the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and
CH2M Hill in Albuquerque, N.M..
* Ulrich R.
Bernier, a chemist with the ARS
Center
for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, Fla.,
for procedures that ensure soldiers’ uniforms are properly insect-proofed
to protect against mosquito-transmitted disease.
* Joe W.
Dorner, a microbiologist with the ARS
National
Peanut Research Laboratory in Dawson, Ga., for enabling the peanut industry
to use ARS' Afla-Guard technology to protect the crop against aflatoxin, a
contaminant.
* William A. Dozier III, formerly with the ARS
Poultry
Research Unit in Mississippi State, Miss., for quickening transfer of new,
science-based technologies to the U.S. poultry industry.
* Craig A.
Ledbetter, a geneticist at the ARS
San
Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center near Parlier, Calif., for
developing "Apache," "Helena" and other superb apricots.