The final stage of our media day at Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc. was an opportunity for interviews. A couple of the guys escaped me but I have several for you.
Getting Into Genomics
After lunch we had two final presentations. The first one was done by John Salmeron, Group Leader, Applied Genomics.
Bug Resistent Corn
We couldn’t get out of the research area without talking about bugs. Particularly bugs that chew on corn plants.
Making Corn For Ethanol
After visiting the greenhouses we toured into a lab where we got an enzyme lesson. We also got to watch a real time demonstration.
Seeing The Greenhouses
The longest part of our tour was in the greenhouses. Our host here was Dawn McNamara.
Cultures To Plants
Our next stop on the tour today was where plants are being grown which will be transplanted to soil and pots.
Scientists Working With Samples
The first stop on our tour was the area where plant analysis is being done. We couldn’t take pictures at this point so I’m using some from the ones provided to us. We actually received some pens in our media kits that contain a built-in memory stick. Pretty cool.
My Tour Leader
When it was time for us to conduct our tour here at Syngenta I was in group two. Our leader was Mike Willits who seemed to have a comprehensive knowledge of everything we would see.
History From Mary-Dell Chilton
Our tour is now finished and we’re listening to Mary-Dell Chilton talk about the work she did prior to what we know as biotechnology today.
Getting The Global Research Perspective
Our second speaker this morning is Roger Kemble, who welcomed us earlier. Roger just finished up and now we’re in a Q&A session with him and Bruce Howison.