Biogem
Here I am with two brilliant scientists at Biogem, Dr. DeLuca on the left and Dr. Raieta at the podium.
On Tuesday, May 17, 2011, we visited Biogem, a genetic research institute in Ariano Irpino, outside of Avellino, Italy. Dr. DeLuca established the facility approximately five years ago. It employs 75 people. He passionately described the work that is being done there. They are determining the genetic make-up of olive trees--essentially mapping the DNA of the different varieties of olives in the hirpinia and sannio subregions of southern Italy. He's excited about this work because, when complete, agriculture will be supported and enhanced due to the ability to specifically identify olives from certain regions. Also, by genetic studies of olive trees, it will be possible to determine (map) the migration of man from Greece; "man" carries olive trees and plants and grows them as he migrates. Besides studying the molecular biology of the olive tree, they are studying physiopathic embryonic thyroid development, physiopathic immune response, molecular oncology, and molecular genetics, mainly on human diseases. They hope to apply the results of their research to curing diseases and/or developing therapies, specifically pharmacology. Dr. Katia Raieta's lecture focused on olives, one of the oldest agricultural crops. The differences in olives is attributed to the different climates. There is a diverse variety of olives in the Campania region of Italy. Some are ortice, ortolana, racioppella, marinese and ravece (my personal favorite!). She spoke of capillary electrophoresis, the technique used to study and determine olive varieties. I found it all very interesting!
600-year-old olive tree
Here I am with a 600-hundred year old olive tree! It was located at the entrance of the facility.