 PCC Biotechnology Department Chair Christina Weeks teaches community college students and faculty across the state about fermentation processes using video conferencing equipment at the BioNetwork Bioprocessing Center. |
GREENVILLE�While state budget cuts resulting from a down economy may have forced BioForum 2009 organizers to alter their plans for a face-to-face conference, they couldn�t limit the creative thinking of BioNetwork Bioprocessing Center officials. Because the State of North Carolina has restricted employee travel as a cost-cutting measure, the Bioprocessing Center, which is hosted by Pitt Community College, used video conferencing equipment to conduct a two-day workshop on �Fermentation and Expression of Green Florescent Protein in Escherichia Coli.� According to Greg Smith, curriculum coordinator of the Bioprocessing Center, the workshop took place Feb. 10 and Feb. 12 and was open to community college administrators, faculty and students statewide via the N.C. Information Highway (NCIH). Even though participants weren�t in the same physical location, he said they were still able to observe, ask questions and take notes. �The exchange of technologies and learning that these types of events create is invaluable to our students all across the state, especially in these difficult times where travel restrictions may be prohibitive to the face-to-face learning we have become accustomed to,� Smith said. The workshop, said Smith, detailed the steps necessary to make proteins through fermentation processes. The proteins that are harvested through fermentation, he said, can be valuable in helping solve everyday problems. They can be used, for example, to make medicines like Insulin that produce a better quality of life, he said. Day One of the workshop consisted of instructors at PCC and Piedmont Community College setting up and calibrating fermentation equipment. The actual fermentation process�in which complex organic molecules are broken down into simpler molecules�took place on Day Two with PCC�s Christina Weeks and Piedmont�s Randy Durren leading the exercise. Weeks and Durren led a similar training session on fermentation via the NCIH in December. Smith said that event was so successful, it was determined �more in-depth training on the actual science of fermentation� would be beneficial to community college faculty and students. Smith said future BioForum sessions will be offered through distance education. In fact, he said there would be six more workshops conducted through some form of distance teaching medium within the next three months.
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