Roger Kemble is head of crop genetics research for Syngenta. Here he’s being interviewed by AgDay TV.
After they were done, I got to ask Roger a few questions. One of the things we talked about was the facilities and investment Syngenta makes in R&D each year. He called the facility we visited the “discovery engine” for the biotechnology business.
You can listen to my interview with Roger here: 
Roger Kemble Interview (6 min MP3)
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.
First up is Bruce Howison who we met earlier today. Bruce is head of marketing for Syngenta Seed. I asked him to give us an overview of the current work being done in the seed business. Once he mentioned amylase corn we got right into the whole ethanol production discussion since it’s a hot topic and one Syngenta is very excited about.
You can listen to my interview with Bruce here: Bruce Howison Interview (9 min MP3)
After lunch we had two final presentations. The first one was done by John Salmeron, Group Leader, Applied Genomics.
John gave us an overview of both GM and Non-GM genomics work being done by Syngenta. His research group supports seed product development.
Last but not least on the program was Scott Valentine, Project Leader, Corn and Soy Traits. Scott provided some specifics and focused on drought tolerant corn. When asked about when we should expect to see that corn on the market he said that his bosses ask him that all the time. Sometime, “soon.”
We couldn’t get out of the research area without talking about bugs. Particularly bugs that chew on corn plants.
In this picture a scientist is performing an insect bioassay. They’re continuing to perfect traits in corn plants that will kill harmful insects while not causing harm to beneficial insects.
We got to view comparisons of plants with the traits and without after exposure to harmful insects. It was very easy to see the difference in root mass, leaf damage and size of the plants overall.
After visiting the greenhouses we toured into a lab where we got an enzyme lesson. We also got to watch a real time demonstration.
In the picture a scientist is performing a simple iodine test on ground corn amylase to demonstrate the presence of starch. Amylase is an enzyme currently added to the ethanol making process. Syngenta researchers are working on a trait in corn that will produce a high content of the enzyme. This will make ethanol plants more efficient and hopefully create new opportunities for growers.
If I understand it correctly, the amylase helps convert the starch in the corn into sugars more quickly, which speeds up the processing time. I’ve got an interview coming up soon in which this is explained in more detail.
The longest part of our tour was in the greenhouses. Our host here was Dawn McNamara.
She says they have 50,000 square feet of space here. About half of the greenhouse space is 20 years old and half was built around 2000. The newer green house areas have taller roofs so they can grow taller plants. We saw some corn that was about 16 ft. tall! It was very jack-in-the-beanstalk like.
They have 10 full time workers in this area. All the plants are color code labelled and bar coded. This allows them to very easily control the plants and the data coming from them. All their seed stock is bar coded too.
Our next stop on the tour today was where plants are being grown which will be transplanted to soil and pots.
These are kept in sterile, light-controlled rooms.
I’m not a scientist so you’ll have to contact a Syngenta representative if you want the exact term to describe what you’re seeing in these dishes. The label is “callus culture.” If you know what that means please post a comment.
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.
The plant analysis group has 24 members who are analyzing for things like dna and protein. It’s a high throughput facility. They literally deal with hundreds of thousands of plants at a time.
In order to get this done they’ve developed some robotic sample handlers that help get this job done. Our presenter in this area was Mary Fielder.
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.
We had two tours going on at the same time and timed out together perfectly without crossing paths. That’s some precise planning.
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.
Mary is whom the building is named after. I look forward to talking with her.
I’ll be conducting interviews during and after lunch so look for a lot more to come.
