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THE BATTALION
the
tmosphere.
me is there to drink,re-
ecruiters present opportunities in
iotechnology for science students
ived around quite a bit
had was a radio as.
e said
1 said his favorite singt
eTom Waits, Jim Croc
;r and Elvis Costello,
ts the most requests fo
; in Chains and Waits.
tppy [about being asked WNoni Sriohara
Waits],' he said. "I ve The Battalion
tool this town. •ji Biotechnology is the means or
said his favorite partoi| va y 0 f manipulating life forms to
he ( rooked Path is tk l r0 vide desirable products for the
enefit of humankind. The word
biotechnology" was first used in
e a good time, ■^■1919 by scientist Karl Ereky to refer
‘ :! tl ,! 10 ^ P n >re - r lo the interaction of biology with hu-
Bill Phillips, a hMntedim ,| ogy
uence major, enjoys_B j ac kj Jaskula, quality assurance
uch he tries to attend all c o, \ • a
, , manager lor Stratagene in Austin.
country fanatic, bull,’. MK » vaa m^onty of life science
2 of the best singers fve f tudents think the y have tw0 choic -
Phillips said & ff s akter die y gmduate. They are to ei-
ps said he thinks Good- ther attend graduate school or med-
jld make more monevin [Ca * - sc hool
lofhertown. but Goodin "Almost all students think they
id he likes Brvan-Col- wil1 S° t0 graduate school or med-
2 Station.
I like playing a town
ays the rent," he said,
ither LaMotte, a senior
ng major, said she en-
show because of Good-
g abilities,
a great voice, and 1 love
itar,” LaMotte said. “1
it and listen to him and
everything.”
aid he originally set out
but decided to take upi
back himself up.
icak school,” she said. “The problem
with this assumption is that 30 per-
:ent of those who apply do not get
In, and of those 70 percent that do,
Inot everyone stays in, whether it be
por university reasons or personal
Reasons.”
Jaskula said the science world is
noving away from the “easy sci
ences” and encompassing the fast-
paced world of biotechnology.
Jaskula and Bill Lemons, Gulf
Coast district manager for Kelly
Scientific Resources in Houston,
were Wednesday at Texas A&M
Wednesday to encourage life sci
ences students to enter the field of
biotechnology.
Lemons said that as the baby
boomer generation enters the re
tirement age, there will be a high
demand for skilled workers in
biotechnology to enter the pharma
ceutical industry to develop pre
scription drugs at lower costs for
senior citizens.
Jaskula said that the pharmaceu
tical industry, like almost all other ar
eas of the biotechnology industry, is
moving toward gene technologies.
“One of the main focuses of the
biotechnology companies nowadays
is gene therapy,” she said.
Jaskula added that gene therapy
is a concern not only from a human
perspective, but also from an agri
cultural viewpoint.
“We also want to find ways to
grow drought-resistant and strain-re
sistant crops (crops that are resistant
to harsh weather such as freezes and
snow),” she said.
Jaskula said there are three main
This is a very
good opportunity
for science majors
who do not want
to spend time in a
lab all day”
— Nivin Aziz
senior, biomedical science
buzzwords that have started explod
ing within the biotechnology indus
try. The first is bioinformatics.
“Bioinformatics opens up the
field to people with expertise in
computer applications who may or
may not have background in
biotechnology for the purposes of
analyzing data,” she said.
Another topic is a technique
called DNA microarrays.
“This is where you take a glass
slide which enables you to print 4,000
genes at one time,” she said. “You can
probe with two different color probes
and then you end up with 8,000 data
points with one experiment.
“This is where the bioinformatics
people will come in and analyze all
the datapoints.”
Jaskula said the third and final
word was genomics, which is taking
information from the genes of hu
mans or other organisms and under
standing how the genes function
within the bodies of the organisms.
Jaskula said another key area of
biotechnology is quality control.
“This is a very fast-paced indus
try, which takes a lot of technical
skills,” she said. “We sometimes call
this the ‘short-attention-span theatre'
of biotechnology.”
Tips Jaskula offered to students
were taking as many life sciences lab
courses as possible, do undergradu
ate research to help translate class
room applications, taking a statistics
class and learning how statistics ap
plies to biological experimentation.
Nivin Aziz, a senior biomedical
science major who is planning to go
to medical school, said she would
consider entering biotechnology as a
backup plan.
“I feel this is a very good oppor
tunity for science majors who do
not want to spend time in a lab all
day,” Aziz said. “This will also be a
good opportunity as a step toward
owning my own lab or my own
company.”
Leirlons said it is critical that stu
dents network and keep up with
trends in the industry.
“I know a lot of professors want
their students to go receive their
Ph.D’s, but even fields such as
chemistry are becoming more and
more biologically tuned,” he said.
“Everything is now moving toward
genomics, so there are a lot of op
portunities in biotechnology.”
Lemons added that technical and
bench experience will also be an
added plus when companies are
looking to hire.
h; r k
Biotechnology
■Marketing
■Customer Service
" (sales or technical)
■Research
■Production
^-Quality control
•Agriculture
•Pharmaceuticals
^•■supply :
4’Research and
development
■Medical Diagnostics
DFW airport installs devices to aid heart patients
(AP)—Putting defibrillators in airplanes,
;asinos and other crowded places — and
(teaching people like flight attendants and se
curity guards how to use the devices — can
save dramatic numbers of people in cardiac
'arrest, two studies show.
The new, automated heart-shocking de-
[vices saved nearly half of all victims in the
Stwo studies. That is 10 times the usual sur-
Ivival rate of 5 percent for people who suffer
cardiac arrest outside a hospital.
“These articles prove minimal training is
enough to step in and save someone’s life,”
said Dr. Michael A. Jaker, director of emer
gency medicine at the University of Medicine
and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.
On Wednesday, 30 Automated External
Defibrillators were installed in clearly
marked cabinets at the Dallas-Fort Worth In
ternational Airport. Most of the defibrillators
Equip smart;
are in baggage claim areas, where cardiac ar
rests occur most often.
The cabinets are equipped with an audible
alarm, easy-to-read instructions and pictures
to guide users through the steps.
“Each second counts in medical emergen
cies,” said Jeffrey Fegan, the airport's chief
executive officer. “The placement of AEDs
throughout the airport will provide immedi
ate care for airport passengers and employees
as quickly as possible.”
About 250,000 Americans die each year of
cardiac arrest, which is usually caused by a
heart rhythm disturbance called ventricular
fibrillation. For each minute that passes with
out a defibrillator shocking the heart back into
a normal rhythm, the chance of surviving
drops 10 percent.
The two new studies appear in Thursday’s
issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
In ftjra a’ca
Texas A&M’s Distinguished
Lecture Series will kick off on Oct.
30 with A&M chemistry Professor
John Fackler at the George Bush
Presidential Conference center.
Fackler’s lecture is “Gold: An Ex
traordinary element with Amazing
Properties. The lecture starts at
7:30 p.m. Tickets are free and
available at the MSC Box Office.
A laser printer for
the price of an inkjet?
Cool. Just $199.
Now you can have your very own laser
printer. At a breakthrough price.
Fast. Sharp. Clean. Compact. With a
toner cartridge that should last you all year.
And at a per page cost that's 70% less than
inkjet. Plus a Toner Save button that extends
the life another 30%.
Papers that stand out in a teacher's
grading stack. Professional resumes. Articles
fit to submit for publication. All for the price
of a half-dozen inkjet cartridges.
Better think twice. Everyone in the dorm's
gonna want to use it.
Grab one at your campus bookstore.
Order online. Or by phone at 800-459-3272.
Go to www.samsungusa.com/Xtreme for
more information.
# .
TAMU Career Center
employer workshop series
Attend
The Company Visit
and learn how to set yourself apart during
an on-site visit and interview.
Tues., Oct. 31, 5:30 p.m. MSC 292a
Featured Companies:
Dynegy, Chase Bank
The Samsung ML-4500 Laser Printer. "16-pages-on-1"
print feature and Last Page Reprint button. Microsoft
2000 and Linux compatible.
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