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Research that's down to earthAgricultural facility involved in 400 projects Tuesday, May 30, 2006 Wooster - Growing airplane tires on farmland may be stretching the imagination just a bit too far. But, growing the rubber for those tires is anything but an Ohio pipe dream. Ohio scientists believe that it might take only another decade of genetic research to turn "Russian dandelions" into an Ohio cash crop that could reduce the country's dependence on Southeast Asia for rubber. Research into these plants is just one of the 400 projects that take place at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, which claims to be the "largest and most comprehensive research facility in the United States." On its 7,400 acres in 13 Ohio locations, the agricultural research arm of Ohio State University studies diseases that threaten soybeans and crabapple trees, the use of Ohio crops in the manufacture of automobile parts and even the rubber that jets will land on at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The center's 260 scientists are working on some 400 research projects that result in more than $1 billion in annual impact and cost savings, according to spokesman Mauricio Espinoza. While the center's staff can serve as a resource for Ohio's winemakers, landscapers and farmers, some of its researchers are important to the fight against diseases deadly to animals and humans. Wooster researchers Mo Saif and Chang-Won Lee are part of a nationwide team of scientists studying avian flu. Saif, who works with sterile turkeys and pigs, is an expert on the viruses that leap from one species to another. Lee specializes in the development of vaccines using "reverse genetics." Saif's wife, virologist and immunologist Linda Saif, is working with the National Institutes of Health, using her work with pig viruses to help understand the dynamics of SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome. The center is working on raising the $45 million it will cost to build a federally approved secure research building that will allow for more in-depth research on deadly viruses. Mo Saif said about $10 million from the state and federal governments has been promised for the project. The high price tag on the building is all about security - keeping bad guys out and the things the scientists are studying inside. But, agriculture is the center's bread and butter. Some of that bread is made from soybeans, Ohio's leading crop, which generates $837 million a year for growers, according to the center's 2004 annual report. Genetic researchers are working on ways to fight a soybean root fungus that costs the state more than $120 million a year. Finding new uses for soybeans and other agricultural products is a goal of the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center. Center director Stephen Myers said the OBIC, a partnership between the state and its industries, works with businesses to expand the role of agriculture in their products. Some of the research has focused on fuel produced from crops to replace petroleum and the use of soybeans and corn in the production of plastics that will be less harmful to the environment. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: © 2006 The Plain Dealer |
