Team:Tec-Chihuahua/test
May 26th
Meeting with Ing. Manuel Ramírez Salcido
Key team members related to the development of the mathematical model, human practices, legal management, and wet lab traveled southeast from our city to visit Salcido apiaries in Delicias; a municipality that bases its economy fundamentally on the food industry. Since we arrived with Mr. Ramírez, it was amazing how the discussion flowed and flowed, getting a meeting that end-up lasting approximately 3 hours; all were valuable minutes that taught us many relevant aspects for the development of our project.
First, Mr. Ramírez covered the topic of the importance of bees, emphasizing how they have always been considered an essential factor for environmental health and he even showed us a funny cucumber that had not been correctly pollinated; it was very small and thin.
Bee diseases were our next topic. He commented how Foulbrood presence
isn’t that strong in Mexico, however, in Europe and in the USA, this is not the case. Mr. Ramírez took advantage and included implications of other frequent bee diseases like Nosema and Varroa in the conversation. He mentioned a very important point that we had previously started to notice: Most of the serious problems in bees caused by viruses or bacteria, are not correctly detected or even known. As Mr. Rodríguez had previously commented, Mr. Ramírez mentioned how different extracts of plants are used against diseases in bees, in this case, mint and grapefruit were the examples. On another hand it was mentioned how antibiotics are not an option at all for treatment, since the European Union does not accept them, neither does accept the presence of transgenics in the honey; there are rigorous studies exercised and if there is something wrong the EU may return an entire shipment of honey back to the remitter. We discussed the issue of innocuity of honey by highlighting that when there is a new product added to the hive, it should not generate any residue at all or change the expected properties from the consumer.
After talking about our project, a question arose in Mr. Ramírez, an issue that would be asked many times since that day and that we would do everything possible to solve and validate: Our product would actually pass from the food that the nurse bee ingest all through its system until reaching the larva by means of the royal jelly? And regarding the method of application, (initially consisting in applying the final product in the bee bread), Mr. Ramírez explained to us how this bee bread is created, and the fermentation process it goes through in the bee cell.
We also had the great opportunity of listening to some of the concerns Mr. Ramírez has as a beekeeper: He thinks the beekeeping area could be greatly impulsed by receiving more support from governmental institutions and he perceives that the validation of honey innocuousness here in Mexico results complicated as there are not enough tools to endorse the required diagnostics. On another hand, he mentioned how there are no young people able to continue with the job of the current farmers, and this is an alarming situation that requires a prompt resolution.
Mr. Ramírez gave us a lot of priceless information that was essential for the development of our whole project. He was the first to comment us about the beekeeping congress that would take place in the city of Delicias in the coming months, and which we would have the great privilege to attend, he told us that by means of the different sites where he frequently researches information he had noticed another iGEM team that was working with bees, for the month of September we could establish a collaboration with this team (consult collaborations for more information) and on this same point of the media, Mr. Ramírez explained to us how he always tried to receive literature to focus and inform himself, he mentioned the magazine “Bee Culture”, where we successfully managed to make a publication about our project and synthetic biology regarding beekeeping (a href="https://2018.igem.org/Team:Tec-Chihuahua/Public_Engagement">consult public engagement for more information).
He also shared with us the contacts of highly recommended specialists with whom we could consult about our product and with which we would have contact later: Juan Diego Pérez de la Rosa, Efraín Rocha, Felipe Esquivel Díaz.
We were able to share a new perspective on beekeeping in relation to synthetic biology with Mr. Ramírez by explaining him our project, the beekeeper mentioned how he was more than willing to help us, and he even shared some honey and bee bread with us! This meeting was an invaluable experience for us!
Bee Bread
References
- Image retrieved from: Administración. (2018). ¡Conócenos! http://municipiodelicias.com/
Follow us on
social media:
We thank our
sponsors:
