Rao describes his reasons for coming to UNCP's
Dr. Rao is a Ph.D. microbiologist from India's Central Institute
of Fisheries Technology, an arm of the giant Indian Council of
Agriculture Research in the Ministry of Agriculture. India is a
huge hungry nation with advanced agricultural and fisheries
technologies.
"India, through the National Agricultural Innovation
Project, is sending its scientists to different parts of the world
to get advanced training," Dr. Rao said. "I came here for the
fermentation technology in this lab."
Dr. Rao is the fourth international scientist to work in UNCP's
Biotechnology Center at COMtech, said Dr. Len Holmes,
director. "Their fees help support our labs and the undergraduate
research we do here. The international scientists come here to
use the fermentation technology, and we learn from them."
After a three-month stay, Dr. Rao returned home with a new
UNCP lab coat and some new findings regarding his specialty
field. Dr. Rao studies the production of byproducts from shrimp
shells, which are used for medical and other purposes.
"I came to learn how to culture the microorganism on a large
scale for enzyme production using bioreactors in this lab," he
said. "Here, we have done it."
The enzyme Dr. Rao is seeking to produce is used to break
down shells into valuable compounds more efficiently and with
less environmental impact than current methods.
"Everybody eats the shrimp meat, but we want to use the
entire shrimp," Dr. Rao said. The uses of the compounds chitin
and chitosan from shrimp shells are many, including antibacterial
and antifungal compounds and treatments for cancer, arthritis
and malaria.
There was a bonus to studying in Pembroke. Dr. Holmes,
a biochemist and Dr. Rao's host scientist, is an expert in
bioluminescence research, and these organisms that produce
their own light also produce shells similar to shrimp.
knows why. It is something in nature," Dr. Rao said. "I studied the
bacteria that produces bioluminescence, and we thought when
the bacteria levels are growing, the organism produced more
chitinase."
They were wrong; it was the opposite. Science was pushed
one step further.
"I had a good three months," Dr. Rao said. "I gained
knowledge; there was a good learning curve."
Dr. Rao has been followed by Dr S.K. Purbey, who is also
funded by India's National Agricultural Innovation Project. He is
studying the uses for byproducts of litchi fruit cultivation.
Dr. Holmes expects several published papers from Dr. Rao's
work, which will cite UNCP scientists. "He did some really good
work here," Dr. Holmes said. "One of the ways we measure the
progress of our lab is through published papers.
"This is truly an international exchange," he said.
"In December, I will travel to New Delhi
to teach a two-week seminar on
fermentation technology. It's a good
opportunity for me."