First expirience in the CRAG

The Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) has been very kind with me,and has decided to help me in my research work. Montse Martín, a renouned scientist, leader in the investigation group plant virus, they recieved me with the open hands and hostesd me inside the investigation group, so I could document myself with first hand information so I can develop my Batxillerat final work. She will be my orientator in this agrifood work.

Image 1.1. Logo CRAG

CRAG is an independent investigation center associated with the Consell Superior d'Investigacions Científiques (CSIC), Institut d'Investigació i Tecnología agroalimentaria (IRTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), and the Universitat de Barcelona (UB).

Image 1.2. CRAG building situated on the UAB

CMV virus inoculation, let's make it slay

Before doing this experiment, it has to be done in a crop plant, in a controlled atmosphere (temperature of 22 degrees, humidity, containment), of Cucumis melo during 7 to 10 days so you dispose of a large number of youth individuals. Then you choose between most healthy melon plants.

Image. 5.1. Montse Martin working on the
selection of healthy melon plants

Image 5.2. Mixing green
shots in the mortar

After doing the selection with everything prepared, you proceed to extract a huge amount of virus contained in a pumpkin plant which has been yet infected with CMV, as it grants more efectiveness in the inoculation. To extract the Cucumovirus, you have to cut with an scalpel the green shoots (that contain most of the virus) and letting it sit in a mortar, you mix this part of the plant with coal and a phosphate buffer, and finally we grind it all together.

Image 5.3. Rubbing the Cucumis melo crop

We rub the youth plants, which had been before treated with an abrasive, with our fingers in an slowly way, the finger is wet with the virus solution, hence it is absorbed into the Cucumis melo from the scars (made by the rub of the abrasive).

Image 5.4. Watering melon
plants after being rubbed

When this is finished you wait for more or less thirty seconds and water it so CMV that has not entered in the plant, and is remaining in the superficial part of the melon plants goes away.

Outstanding expirience at the Festival of Cience

Last 19th of June I had the pleasure to visit the Festival of Cience celebrated in the Parc de la Ciutadella, a really big park in Barcelona. This event apart from being really amazing, conmemorated its tenth birthdy.

Image 7.1 Addvertisement of the Festival of the Cience

I went to the Festival not only to deep a little bit more inside the agrifood and how people have selected differents kinds of vegetables to satisfy their own needs. But also to see in first person the continious evolution of cience applicated in a wide variety of research branches, as sport, medicine, physics, chemistry, biology,... As you can chech the photos below.

But what really caught my attention was CRAGs' exposition about agrifood and human selection of vegetables among ages, hence selecting some plants that benefit ourselves, and reporting really losts in vegetables biodiversity, as we selected some plants to make it grew up and others we leave it at their fate and leave apart making them disappear.

Image 7.2 Montse Martin 
exposing "the evolution 
of plants with virus 
and humans

I really got impressed about Montse Martin exposition as made me open the eyes in sense of importance of human acts, and virus in a profitable way. 

We see virus as something that conferes a bad effect on the host, and hurts it. However, we are completely wrong, as there are some viruses that allow the host survival in different ambients and exposures. 

The presentation also made me realize about the power of ignorance, that is blinding the transgenic world, as it is seen for poeple who don't deep inside the subject as something innatural against the nature, that also damage it, but this view is completely wrong as it has been proved that transgenic plants cannot damage humans. This transgenic plants are only resistance, and tolerant to an abiotic or a biotic agent. This demands of the individuals are making it advance really slowly the way law allows the sell of a concrete agrifood product. For example, gold rice has never been comercialized because of the amount of laws stablished in terms of transgenics, there are so many impediments that it is really difficult to commercialize gold rice, or whatever transgenic plant, although it has a lots of benefits in terms of proteins (vitamin A), and would safe a lot of lives around asiatic world. But some people don't understand that above all should be the people.

She ended the presentation explaining his own life, telling us why did she passed from studing SIDA (VIH) to study virus in plants. I really get shocked about his answer she gave at that moment, as I was not conscious of this since she said it:

"MOST DEATH IN ANIMALS OR PEOPLE IS NOT AIDS BUT HUNGER"