Speaking of Mol Bio - Unsung heroes of food health and safety

Unsung heroes of food health and safety

04/15/24 • 32 min

When you buy chicken or turkey from the grocery store, you might not give it much thought, but there is an entire network of people working to ensure the health of the animals in our food supply chain and your health. In this episode, we talk with an unsung hero, Beverly Wood, supervisor of the molecular diagnostics lab at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, who works tirelessly to ensure the health and safety of poultry and livestock animals in our food supply chain.

Our conversation delves into the types of samples and volume of testing that Beverly and her team do on a routine basis uncovers how their work changes as they move between surveillance and outbreak modes of operation, and gets into the molecular testing workflows they use. Given that her lab analyzes more than 30,000 samples a year, the discussion also touches on advancements in sample preparation and PCR that help enable this level of throughput, while delivering the rigor and reliability their lab requires.

Join us to learn about the unsung heroes, both people and molecular methods, that deliver food health and safety.

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Visit the Invitrogen School of Molecular Biology to access helpful molecular biology resources and educational content, and please share this resource with anyone you know working in molecular biology.

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Join us to learn about the unsung heroes, both people and molecular methods, that deliver food health and safety.

Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Previous Episode

Molecular Biology for hire – the CRO experience

Contract Research Organizations (CROs) are a resource that most scientists know about but relatively few have first-hand, internal experience with. In this episode our hosts speak with Saboor Hekmaty, Director of Laboratory Operations at Avrok Biosciences, who pulls back the curtain to illuminate what CROs do, and the skills required for them to be successful in supporting diverse projects for their customers.

We hear about the work Saboor and their team do in biospecimen processing, biobanking, clinical studies, and lots of sample analysis, all tailored to meet the unique needs of the challenges they face each day.

Join us for a casual, insightful, and educational conversation that will leave you with a deeper understanding of CROs and what it’s like to work for one customer. Saboor highlights the importance and ubiquity of molecular biology in their projects and the personal traits required for him and his staff to be successful and enjoy the diverse work

Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Next Episode

Cheers to molecular Biology

While the end product is quite different, brewing beer is not all that different than many other bioproduction processes used in the lab and industry. Both require skills, experience, and the right QC/QA methods to control and monitor the starting materials and the entire process, all the way to that bottle of suds you might be thirsty for.

Steve and Gabriel talk with Kelly Tretter, a microbiologist with more than 30 years of experience in the brewing industry, to discuss brewing at the molecular level. The passion of all three for beer is evident in the conversation, which spans from the basics of the brewing process all the way into the use of molecular methods (e.g., PCR, sequencing, HPLC, GC/MS, ICP, etc.) used to test and monitor starting materials and in-process samples.

You’ll leave with an elevated appreciation of what brewers do, and you’ll likely be ready for another pint too!

Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.