This past week working for SRO has been a busy one. I had the privilege of helping out with a joint experiment that was being held at the Colorado State University ARDEC farms. These are the agricultural fields where much of the USDA experiments are done in conjunction with the CSU campus. This specific study was used in order to determine if the electrobiocide would be a suitable candidate for the field decon of agricultural equipment. Dr. Craig Ramsey was the head of the study who is the direct link between the university and the USDA. Myself along with John mixed different concentrations of the biocide to be used for the study. These concentrations were then sprayed onto different farming equipment that was infected with Bacillus subtilis, a very hardy bacteria closely related to Bacillus anthracis or anthrax. The biocide was sprayed in different concentrations from different distances onto surfaces containing the bacteria. This test was then done with other anti-bacterial products in order to determine the effectiveness of each.
These three days were interesting and eye opening to how USDA experimentation is conducted and to be honest I was a little disappointed. I guess I expected that experiments such as this would be performed by top notch scientists all wearing specialized white suits like the ones used to take ET in the movie. Instead I was confronted with seemingly normal guys in a cornfield pressure washing tractors. Besides how the experiment appeared that data collected will be able to be sent to lab and the effectiveness of the biocide in this type of application will be determined. This was a very interesting experience and I am looking forward to many more.
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