The Biotechnology Center For Agriculture and the Environment at Cook College enriches lives of students — and the state
Archived article from Oct 6, 2003
By Joseph Blumberg
The Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the Environment at Cook College stands at the crossroads of biology and technology. Scientists at the center look inward, peering into the diminutive universe of microbes and molecules to explore the mysteries and mechanisms of life. At the same time, their attention is directed outward, seeking opportunities to enrich the lives of New Jerseyans and improve their environment.
The mission of the center is twofold as well. On the one hand, the focus is on research in agricultural and environmental biotechnology, and educating Rutgers students in these promising fields. On the other, the goal is to translate its discoveries into products and processes that can benefit New Jersey agriculture and industry.
Researchers conduct a wide range of investigations, probing the smallest components of living systems, while trying to understand how fully developed complex organisms interact with their environment. Their research has netted some important developments. Among other innovations, they’re turning weeds into anticancer drugs, making food crops more nutritious, identifying bacteria that clean up polluted soils and groundwater, and teaching farmers to milk plants for pharmaceutical proteins. Previously known as the Center for Agricultural Molecular Biology (AgBiotech Center), its name was officially changed to the Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the Environment (Biotech Center) in 1997 to more accurately reflect the scope of the research conducted.
From Day to Z
The center was founded in 1987 by Professor Emeritus Peter Day, a research pioneer and international authority on agricultural biotechnology, now enjoying retirement. This semester begins with a new director at the helm — molecular biologist, biochemist, reputed workaholic and sci-fi enthusiast Gerben Zylstra. Of Dutch extraction, Zylstra notes that he was born into the Dutch community of North Jersey, went to a predominantly Dutch college in the Midwest and now works at a university originally founded by the Dutch.
Zylstra, one of Day’s first hires at the center, has assumed the directorial mantle with enthusiasm and a clear vision for the future.
“I think Peter Day set up a really good outfit — the infrastructure, the organization and the people,” Zylstra said. Today the Biotech Center occupies a wing of Foran Hall on the Cook campus making it a “hard-walled center,” as Zylstra describes it — with a core faculty of about a dozen scientists.
“Everybody here is also in an academic department, but there aren’t really any hard walls separating us; there is a conduit between us and the departments,” explained Zylstra. “What I want to do is deepen our ties with the Cook College departments, and we’ve already started.” One new faculty member recently came aboard as a joint hire with the department of biochemistry and microbiology with plans for joint research initiatives in the wings.
Zylstra’s vision embraces an emphasis on education, undergraduate in particular. The center has 25 to 30 undergraduates at any one time, doing research with its 14 faculty members. There are plans to integrate center resources, such as the robotics laboratory and new computer facility, into instructional programs.
Here are some of Zylstra’s energetic researchers and a small sample of their ongoing pursuits at the center.
Amino acids: the seeds of more nutritious plants
Tom Leustek’s connection with Rutgers has some history: a bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate from the university where he is now a faculty member. Leustek today works at the molecular level, with amino acids — the building blocks of proteins. An understanding of how amino acids are formed — and how they work — is crucial to understanding how plants develop.
While amino acids are important to plant growth, they also play significant roles in how plants deal with environmental stresses such as toxic metals in contaminated soils and insects or pests that attack food crops, said Leustek
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