ARS Scientists Honored for Tech Transfer Efforts

WASHINGTON, May 17—Six individual and team awards were presented today to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists for "Excellence in Technology Transfer" by the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC), a nationwide network of more than 700 federal laboratories. The awards were made at the FLC's annual meeting in Arlington, Texas. ARS is the chief intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Our scientists continue to demonstrate their ability to not only solve significant problems facing American agriculture, but also to transfer their research beyond the laboratory into the marketplace for the benefit of farmers and consumers alike," said ARS Administrator Edward B. Knipling.

ARS research leader Luis Rodriguez and microbiologist William Golde, at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center in Greenport, N.Y., and Peter Gollobin, president of MEDIpoint in Mineola, N.Y., were recognized for their invention of a special lancet for drawing blood from laboratory mice. It allows investigators to draw the blood with very little pain to the animal.

Gillian Eggleston, a chemist in the ARS Commodity Utilization Research Unit at the agency's Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans, La., was cited for her work with sugar factories in Louisiana to introduce two improved processes for clarification of sugarcane juice. The technology has been adopted by all of the sugar factories in Louisiana and Texas.

A team of ARS scientists based in Beltsville, Md., showed that the broad-spectrum antibiotic tylosin can be safe and effective in controlling American foulbrood disease of honey bees. The team included research leaders Mark F. Feldlaufer of the agency's Chemicals Affecting Insect Behavior Laboratory, Jeffery S. Pettis of the Bee Research Laboratory, ARS statistician Matthew Kramer, retired ARS chemist Jan P. Kochansky and Margaret Oeller of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine. The team's technology transfer effort resulted in FDA approval for the use of tylosin to control this devastating bacterial disease of honey bees.

Ann Donoghue, research leader of the ARS Poultry Production and Products Safety Research Unit in Fayetteville, Ark.—along with University of Arkansas professors Billy Hargis, Dan Donoghue and Guermillo Tellez at the Center of Excellence in Poultry Science in Fayetteville—discovered, patented and licensed a technology for testing and identifying potentially beneficial (probiotic) bacteria to treat poultry to reduce human foodborne pathogens.

A multilaboratory team of scientists developed an enhancement of the Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) in response to users' requests. RZWQM2 is a model of the root zone processes that influence water quality, soil water storage, efficient water use and crop production. The team included Lajpat R. Ahuja, research leader, soil scientist Liwang Ma, hydraulic engineer James C. Ascough and agricultural engineer Timothy R. Green at the ARS Agricultural Systems Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colo.; engineer Robert W. Malone at the ARS Agricultural Land and Watershed Management Research Unit in Ames, Iowa; Ken Rojas with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Fort Collins; and Saseendran Anapalli of Colorado State University.

Milagros P. Hojilla-Evangelista, a chemist in the ARS Plant Polymer Research Unit, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) in Peoria, Ill., developed a soybean-flour-based foamed plywood adhesive that is being used commercially by a major plywood manufacturer. The technology was made possible by a Trust Agreement between the USDA, ARS and the United Soybean Board, with the board funding the study as an intermediary facilitating cooperative research efforts between the NCAUR and industry collaborators.

Two other ARS employees received FLC awards today. David E. Swayne, director of the ARS Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, Ga., received one of the FLC's "Director of the Year" awards.

Donald A. Nordlund was named FLC's "Laboratory Representative of the Year." He is the technology transfer coordinator for ARS' South Atlantic and Mid-South Areas.