Newsletter of the Central Coast Biotechnology Center

The CCBC serves the central coast region of California biotechnological industries and research institutions along with the following community colleges: Allan Hancock College, Antelope Valley Community College, College of the Canyons, Cuesta College, Moorpark College, Oxnard College, Santa Barbara City College, and Ventura College.

CCBC Provides Assistance to DAKO Corporation

Marc Key, Research Lab Head at DAKO provided a guided tour for CCBC  Director Mary Pat Huxley and Bill Thieman, Special Projects.  DAKO is the world's leading supplier of diagnostic immunohistochemical medical assays.  These assays permit metachromatic visualization of different tissue antigens that are important in disease diagnostics.  One assay shown detects abnormal p53, the gene associated with so many different cancers, making  detection of cancer an earlier possibility.
  Ruth Tremel, Human Resources Director agreed to link DAKO’s job listings to the Center website, adding it to the other company listings already linked.  “We also have internship opportunities for students with the right qualifications” said Tremel. 
  The September 18, 1998 CCBC Advisory Committee meeting was held at DAKO. 

Back to Top of Page

  Marc Taylor, President of Technical Associates works closely with his lab technicians to guarantee that evidence is not contaminated.  He has developed many lab designs that prevent contamination.  “When we do PCR, the whole process and its products remain within the clean room” said Marc.  “We track every chemical and reagent we use in every procedure so we can be certain of our processes.” Technical Associates routinely tests picograms of DNA for unique human markers, often providing   the information to exclude or incriminate suspects in pending cases. 
   The lab expanded to its Market Street Ventura location in 1994, when it grew too large to remain in its former quarters.  Technical Associates has worked on some important cases and has made significant contributions to the scientific procedures of DNA forensics. 
   We hope Marc Taylor will share some of his interesting forensics stories at a future Center Advisory meeting.

Back to Top of Page

The Economic Development Collaborative of Ventura County is a business incubator that fosters development of high tech industries. The CCBC and EDC-VC initially met in August 1997.   Bob Cooper, the Executive Director of the EDC-VC, considered the biotechnology industries as a primary focus in the initial meeting with the Center in August 1997.  After a series of additional discussions and meetings it has been possible to identify specific roles for each agency, and  a memorandum of understanding  was signed. 
  “We think that the EDC has many common interests with the Center,” said Mary Pat Huxley, “and that this agreement will increase the opportunities for Center colleges to participate in economic development.”  Bob Cooper agreed with this opinion, and added “this agreement will streamline the process of cooperation.” 

Back to Top of Page

Student Internship Cooperative Agreement

  “When Santiago Homsi from Kelly Scientific Service called the CCBC and offered to place biotech students in summer internships, we jumped at the chance,” said Bill Thieman, Special Projects Director.  Soon after, Jim Wolf from California Lutheran University called and asked if we wanted to develop a collaborative  internship agreement with Kelly Scientific to utilize their services for placement of interns. 
   Internships provide valuable experience for biotech students, and always add value to resumes.  Industries like internships because they give them an opportunity to evaluate personnel who may be interested in a permanent position.  The Internship Cooperative currently has five members: California Lutheran University, Moorpark College, Ventura College, the CCBC, and Kelly Scientific Services.

Back to Top of Page

Back to Top of Page

In June, the Pacific Agricultural Alliance visited four major Oxnard growers, “and they all indicated a need for pest-resistant plants,” said Bill Thieman, Plant Biotechnology Director at Ventura College.

The anticipated phaseout of most non-specific chemical control agents by the Environmental Protection Agency is seen as providing an opportunity for agricultural bioengineering (and hardier plants). 

Peter Tolley, Production Supervisor, is proud of the plant clones he is showing to Mary Pat Huxley, and he is proud of Twyford.  Starting in 1984, the company has expanded into a number of specialty plant markets, and expects to continue to grow.  One of the current crop plants they clone is a worm-resistant potato  produced under a contract from Monsanto. 
“Our biggest market is in the plant that grows poorly from seed. We can produce thousands of  virus-free plantlets for very competitive prices,” said Peter.  The plants are started from a single cell or mass of tissue, and then transferred in a sterile environment to new growth media.  To maintain a sterile environment workers and visitors must wear lab coats, hair covers, and shoe covers.
 “We are working with Twyford to develop internships where students work on subjects that might be valuable to the company”, said Bill Thieman, Ventura College Plant Biotechnology Program Coordinator.  “We hope that Peter can share some training suggestions with the Advisory Committee” said Mary Pat Huxley. 

Back to Top of Page

When Margaret Shaeffer, Criminalist for the Ventura County Sheriff's Crime Lab called and asked if the CCBC had an interest in forensics, Mary Pat Huxley said “Yes.”  Over 50 attended the meeting, and some of them were hosted to a tour of the biotechnology labs.  “We have a lot in common” said Mary Pat, “and we may want one of them to be speaker at a future event.” 

  Two high school science teachers at Moorpark High School are responding to the demand for more biotechnology by providing a full summer course to Juniors and Seniors. 
 “We extract DNA from wheat germ and testes, digest DNA, transform cells and conduct Polymerase Chain Reaction on cheek cells.  We also do some interesting computer analyses including adding our DNA fingerprinting data to the University of Chicago data base,” said Tieffel. 
Norm and Joel have been collaborating on projects like these for the last five years, and it really has caught on with their students.  “I know that the colleges that receive these students will be impressed with their skills,” said Thieman (on right in photo), Special Projects.

Back to Top of Page

Leticia Zaragoza,  a student graduate of the Ventura College Biotechnology program, was one of only ten community college students chosen state wide to work with scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Center for Science and Engineering and the Human Genome Project.  The one-month long training was paid for by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, and is specifically designed for students who are part of biotechnology training programs.  Leticia  worked on “real problems” and was involved in problem solving, decision making, and various lab techniques.
“We are very proud of Leticia’s accomplishments,” said Ventura College Professors Terry Pardee and Marta de Jesus, “and we know that the national lab benefited from her skills.”  Leticia graduated with a Certificate in Biotechnology last spring.

Back to Top of Page

  When Baxter Healthcare donated a Sun Microsystems workstation to the Center, Jim Wolf arranged to obtain it.  “We have a new faculty member who would like to do some molecular modeling with a class” said Jim.  Although software will be needed, and the equipment is a few years old, the “price is right.”  Molecular modeling is a powerful tool used in rational drug design.  Whether this system is capable of the powerful manipulation that occurs in molecular design, will have to be determined.
The Center receives supplies and equipment from donors on a sporadic basis.  “We will continue to list items as they become available,” said Bill Thieman, Special Projects Director for the Center.  “Some of these items may help in your training program” said Mary Pat Huxley, Center Director (shown in picture with Jim).

Back to Top of Page

Ventura College Biology Class Takes Advantage of Computer Donation

  Students in Dr. de Jesus’ Biology 20A class are analyzing the effects of modifying environmental variables on a hypothetical population of fish with a software program called “Fish Farm.”  The computers needed for this exercise were provided by an equipment donation from Vandenburg Air Force Base. 
“We only had two computers, but we needed twelve.  The donation made it possible for students  to learn the scientific method by identifying dependent and independent variables,” said Dr. de Jesus.
The donation was identified through an exchange process that allows qualifying institutions the opportunity to request used government equipment from lists that are routinely updated.  “All we had to do was arrange for the transport,” said Bill Thieman, the Department Chairman of Biology (who also arranged the transfer). 
“I like Fish Farm because it engages you in making significant environmental changes and predicting the results. It makes biology concepts easier to understand” said Erik Froyen, a student in the class.

Newsletter Editor: Bill Thieman, 
 CCBC. 805 648 8954

Back to Top of Page