A World Away in Mexico: Week 3
Best thing I learned in week 3: Corn can glow
As a continuation of last week’s escapade to the local tortillerias, the challenge was now to test the samples of grain we collected for aflatoxin(later we will test the tortillas to see if processing the corn decreases the toxin level). The hope was that the levels of toxins would be very low because these tortillas were being bought and eaten by everyone in Texcoco, and the goal is not to get sick.
To see if aflatoxin is present in the corn, you can put it under a UV light. If it glows (green or blue depending on the type of aflatoxin), there is toxin present, but you can’t tell the amount without a chemical analysis. There are so many more elements to the chemical analysis than I could have imagined. We first had to mill the grain, basically turning it into corn flour. This sounds like a simple enough task, but nothing in the lab is ever simple. The machines are extremely touchy and loud, and the grain kept getting stuck. The process was very long because we were constantly stopping to clean the machines, and with 13 samples there was a lot of cleaning. By the end, I was covered head to toe with a layer of corn dust.
Next, there was a whirlwind of weighing the samples, mixing solutions, lots and lots of waiting for reactions, and an insane amount of pipetting (I’m now a pro). The results showed mostly low levels of toxin, except for one sample that was way above the regulated limit, so that’s probably not the best place to get your tortillas.
This whole process from milling to testing took 2 days, but I really enjoyed learning about new methods to test for food safety and all the problem solving involved in each step.
All around CIMMYT there was a bustling of activity this week. Everyone was getting ready for Science Week, a yearly conference for CIMMYT employees held at the headquarters in Mexico (luckily where I am staying). CIMMYT has many regional offices around the world, like in India, Nepal, Kenya, Bangladesh, and many other locations all working on food security. The lead scientists and employees from all those locations travel to Mexico for a week to collaborate and share yearly reports. This week was the annual meetings of all the departments, and I was given the opportunity to sit in and listen to the Maize meetings. I learned about the current projects regarding maize around the world, the details and importance of biofortification, how CIMMYT manages the large amounts of data that are collected, and the areas of need. I also met and talked to the scientists working on these projects from the different regional offices. I was blown away by the passion and commitment these scientists have to their work, and the impact they have had individually and collectively. It’s insane to think of how much has been accomplished since CIMMYT was founded in 1943 by Norman Borlaug.
Next week the presentations of Science Week begin, and I am incredibly excited to meet other people working at the CIMMYT regional offices, learn more about the other programs, and learn about all the impacts of the work being done at CIMMYT.
Molly
