We will start a new biotech service

Welcome on-board Macarena. Here are some general guidelines for the new blog. We might expand it to Wiki and some other social networking applications.

We're about to start a new BIOTOUCH communication channel to present new possibilities in the field of biotechnology and microbiological applications.

1. Paper and board
2. Biorefineries
3. Water
4. Food
5. Health Care

BIOTOUCH is intended for executives, decision makers and the general public. The style of the communication channel will be:

1. Personal diary based on discussions with specialists
2. Personalized style to evolve during the next week
   
3. Global point of view
4. Generic presentation
5. Conversational
   

The idea is to take out the complexity from biotech and microbiology.

Juha Mentu's Microbiology Blog

Dear Mr. Helge,

Thanks for your mail and introducing me to Mr. Juha and Elias. I have noted down the url. Let me go through it fully and comment on your activities in the future. Hope we could someday come out with new projects on Green energy or social media which can be implemented globally or something like a enterprise. Thank you..

On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 11:21 PM, Helge V. Keitel wrote: Hello, we learned about each other through Twitter and would like to introduce a new blog.

About Juha Mentu: Experiences of environmental and paper industry microbiology since 1983.

Pulp, Paper, Board and Packaging Microbiologist

Rapid incubation of process samples is needed to show potential hazard, caused by process population. Biocide testing is also better to do in original samples from beginning to the end.

The most promising method to perform these kind of "mini-fermentations" today is PMEU incubation (Portable Microbiological Enrichment Unit; FINNOFLAG Oy; Kuopio, FINLAND) which gives results of microbial activities and effects of biocides in hours (compared with days when cfu methods are applied). No protecting, stimulating, inhibiting or other selecting effects of nutrient media are also totally excluded in process sample incubations.

One of the main ideas of microbiology is: Both the counts and activities of microbes shall be taken into account. Populations with relatively high colony counts can have slow metabolic activity - and in opposite.

As a summary: microbial activity, not the count of colonies, causes problems in paper industry processes. http://industrymicrobiologist.blogspot.com/

We would like to build an International network and would like to have you commenting. Juha's blog is new but there is a lot of new information that we want to co-create with like minded people around the globe. My Twitter: http://twitter.com/digitalvillages

Br
Helge


Terveisin, Best Regards, Med Vanliga Halsningar, Mit Freundlichen Grüßen, A Bientot,

Helge V. Keitel
KK-Net
Kuningattarenkatu 13 B, 07900 Loviisa, Finland
Skype: visualradio

Phone: + 358 50 309 2021
Home: http://wwww.kknet.fi
Blog: http://digitalvillages.blogspot.com/
Wiki: http://www.digitalvillages.net/global.htm

Interactive | Innovative | International | Networking | Operations | Collaboration | Web 2.0 | Open Source Methodology | Social Intelligence

Ever Biotechnologically yours, A.K.Ravishankar

• Ambassador-i-Genius India (www.i-genius.org)
• GKP-Young Social Entrepreneurship Fellow
• www.biotechnologist2020.com -The First Indian Bio Weblog... !
• www.jaridindia.wordpress.com
• www.jatropha2020.blogspot.com

MDBP | Safewater Home | Water | US EPA

Helge: We have a case at the Nokia municipality with the mixture of water from a water treatment plant mixed with drinking water. A big number of the population had to visit hospital duer to infection.

There are a variety of bacteria, parasites, and viruses which can cause health problems when humans ingest them in drinking water.

Testing water for each of these germs would be difficult and expensive. Instead, water quality and public health workers measure for the presence of bacteria in dinking water using coliform bacteria as an indicator.

* Indicator, I see...

The presence of any coliforms in drinking water suggests that there may be disease-causing agents in the water.

* More extensive testing starts...

The Total Coliform Rule (TCR), which was published in 1989, set both health goals (MCLGs) and legal limits (MCLs) for the presence of total coliforms in drinking water.

* How about PMEU?

The rule also details the type and frequency of testing that water systems must undertake. The rule applies to all public water systems.

MDBP | Safewater Home | Water | US EPA: "

This site provides information about microbial pathogens and disinfection byproducts as related to drinking water.

Introduction

In many cases, source water from a lake, river, reservoir or ground water aquifer needs to be disinfected to inactivate (or kill) microbial pathogens.

Microbial pathogens include a few types of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and other organisms. Some pathogens are often found in water, frequently as a result of:

• Fecal matter from sewage discharges
• Leaking septic tanks
• Runoff from animal feedlots into bodies of water

To protect drinking water from these pathogens, water suppliers often add a disinfectant to drinking water such as chlorine. However, disinfectant practices can be problematic because:

• Certain microbial pathogens, such as Cryptosporidium, are highly resistant to traditional disinfection practices.
  
  
• Disinfectants themselves can react with naturally-occurring materials in the water to form byproducts, such as trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids, which may pose health risks.

A major challenge for water suppliers is how to balance the risks from microbial pathogens and disinfection byproducts. It is important to provide protection from microbial pathogens while simultaneously minimizing health risks to the population from disinfection byproducts.

There are several existing and future rules that are designed to achieve these goals.

This web site is designed to provide you with information about microbial pathogens, disinfection byproducts, existing and future rules, as well as guidance materials and background information."

Products - Microbiological Control

Helge: This is just one example...

Products - Microbiological Control: "AmCide™ 5801

Controls bacteria, fungi, and yeast in paper mills, metalworking fluids containing water, and enhanced oil recovery systems.

Controls bacteria, fungi, and algae in industrial recirculating water cooling towers and in once-through fresh and sea water industrial cooling water systems.

Controls slime-forming bacteria and fungi in air-washer systems.

ACTIVE INGREDIENT:
2,2-Dibromo-3-nitrilopropionamide: 20.0%

INERT INGREDIENTS: 80.0% TOTAL: 100.0%

Chocolate invented 3,100 years ago by the Aztecs - but they were trying to make beer | the Daily Mail

Helge: Wonders of biotechnology happens by accident. We set a goal and end up somewhere else. The point with innovation is to keep on trying. Inventions don't happen, they are made.

Chocolate invented 3,100 years ago by the Aztecs - but they were trying to make beer | the Daily Mail: "Chocolate invented 3,100 years ago by the Aztecs - but they were trying to make beer Last updated at 11:40am on 13th November 2007 Comments Comments Scientists have discovered that chocolate was invented at least 3,100 years ago in Central America and not as the sweet treat people now crave, but as a celebratory beer-like beverage and status symbol."

Helge: The age of new inventions isn't over. But innovation centers have been around for a while.

This pushed back by at least 500 years the earliest documented use of cacao, an important luxury commodity in Mesoamerica before European invaders arrived and now the basis of the modern chocolate industry.

Helge: The volume of biological knowledge has grown and continues to grow phenomenally.

Cacao (pronounced cah-COW) seeds were used to make ceremonial beverages consumed by elites of the Aztecs and other civilizations, while also being used as a form of currency.

Helge: Chocolate Money. I've seen pics of contemporary chocolate money. There seems to be a long tail.

The Spanish conquistadors who shattered the Aztec empire in the 16th century were smitten with a chocolate beverage made from cacao seeds served in the palace of the emperor.

Helge: Fashion trends used to start at the top. Today an inventor has to be street or Internet smart to embrace the crowd, the masses, millions of users.

"The earliest cacao beverages consumed at Puerto Escondido were likely produced by fermenting the sweet pulp surrounding the seeds," the scientists wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Helge: There is virtually no limit to the number of applications. Some days ago I blogged about an UK plant using chocolate waste products to produce biofuel.

One of the researchers, anthropologist John Henderson of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said cacao beverages were being concocted far earlier than previously believed - and it was a beer-like drink that started the chocolate craze.

Helge: Chocolate was the drink for kids when I was young.

We are what we eat

For all of us, the most important thing about our daily food is that it should be safe. In recent years we have seen an increase in the number of food scares across Europe.

1. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
2. Transmissible spongiform ecephalopathies (TSEs)
3. Dioxins
4. A whole host of microbial horrors as listeria and salmonella
5. Avia flu

All these shake the confidence of citizens in the ability of the food industry to guarantee food safety.

Several factors influence the rise. An increased globalization of supply provides for a wider variety of produce on our shelves, but also increases the risk of poorer control over the quality and the safety of goods.

Moreover, bulk buying and selling of produce places large sections of the population at risk when there is a threat of contamination at any stage of the food chain, from farm to processing to transportation and storage.

Another factor is the human exposure to chemical elements contained in food, whose source is much more difficult to trace.

This includes natural toxic products, such myotoxins, or a whole range of contaminants, originating in pesticides, mercury, lead, and radionucleides.

We work with a mobile biotech microbiology service unit

This is a global product and service unit:

1. The mobile unit will cost about 200 000 to 250 000 euros
2. There is a global need of 100 units
   
3. The mobile team consists of two specialists
4. They are supported by a central command control
5. They are serving 10 x 20 plants
   
6. The yearly service contract is 100 000 euros per plant
7. The annual costs are 300 000 350 000 euros per units
8. The global business model will produce 100 x 1 000 000 = 100 000 000 €
9. Operational costs are 35 000 000 to 40 000 000 € for 100 units
   
10. Globally 250 employees
    
11. Finland employs 15 to 30 while the Internation Bitoechnology Microbiology SOF C5 is located here

Change Management for International Biotech Microbiology

Generic models for:

1. Paper Mill / Machine biocides control
2. How to optimize biorefinery added value down stream
3. Waste water treatment
4. Risk Management in food packaging industry
5. Toxity control
   

International Biotechnology Microbiology Engineering Powerhouse

Life has been a blur over the past few months. We are taking important steps towards a bio-based economy. That sounds like a very big statement. The first steps will however be small and incremental.

Working a full-time gig to create an “International Biotechnology Microbiology Engineering Powerhouse” has been very interesting and fuelled much more global attention than we expected. The process has been faster than we predicted.

Even though the tools and the team we have are great, I was doing lots of research to find the right nice for our enterprise. We start from segments that will help us to grow. The national market isn’t big enough. We’ve to think globally, but start locally.

We need to establish:

1. A powerful networking platform
2. Open Global Innovation
3. Project Management tools for distributed Knowledge Workers

NRC Research Press: What's New?

NRC Research Press: What's New?: "Full text in HTML is here! NRC Research Press is proud to announce that, in the February 2007 issue of the Canadian Journal of Microbiology, a full-text HTML version of all articles is available as part of the electronic edition of the Journal (in addition to the PDF version).

Full-text HTML adds many new features and functions to our electronic journals, including enhanced capability to search the material and reference linking to external documents. Other NRC Research Press journals will soon be available in full-text HTML. Visit What's New for more information."

Full text in HTML is here!

NRC Research Press is proud to announce that it is introducing a full-text HTML version of its journals. Full-text HTML adds many new features and functions to our electronic journals, including enhanced capability to search the material and to link references to articles referenced, on the publishers' Web sites. Currently, the following journals are available in HTML:

• Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism
• Biochemistry and Cell Biology
• Canadian Journal of Forest Research
• Canadian Journal of Microbiology
• Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• Environmental Reviews
  
• Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science

Other NRC Research Press journals will soon join these. Visit this site often for more information

Fly me to the moon biotech

The Russians were able to send the first Sputnik to orbit the earth fifty years ago. As a result mankind got into rocket science. The next important step might be to move back from oil dependence to a more balanced bio-based economics.

For that we need to learn more about microbes and the little things that matter in this world. Finland can transform its forestry industry into something more profitable with new process developments and through intelligent application of biotechnological solutions to pulp and paper manufacturing.

• Bio-degradable products
• Cleaner waters
• Using the residuals of pulping for added value products
• Bioengineering
• Waste water treatment with bioreactors
• Transforming waste into energy

We just have to think different. We've big opportunities waiting for industrial leaders that are ready to go from energy intensive production to something new with a lesser ecological footprint.

• Agriculture
• Italy
  

Microbiology as a langugage

Honeywell launches improved BMI activator

Honeywell launches improved BMI activator: "The BMI activator functions in the critical activation step for both large-and small-scale oligonucleotide (RNA/DNA) synthesis instruments.

Oligonucleotides are used for genomic, proteomic and drug discovery technologies. 'This new reagent is the latest solution from Honeywell to meet the ever changing needs of the global biotechnology industry,' said Kalakota Reddy, biopharmaceutical development manager for Honeywell's Research Chemicals business.

'BMI activator is an integral part of the synthesis process and provides a new, improved, higher performing option for customers currently using 1H-Tetrazole or other existing activators,' he added."

Helge: Got curious about what BMI means? We think about "IBM" as International Biotechnology Microbiology" and what kind engineering services can be provided and delivered on a global scale.