Senior Meaghan Donovan, shown recently in a potato field in Freeville, spent the past summer researching the DNA of the potato late blight fungus. Robert Barker/University Photography
It took more than a day for Meaghan Donovan to prepare the DNA gels. One needs patience to handle the laboratory tedium, even in the cool, wet altitudes of central Mexico in the middle of summer.
After long preparation, she finally loaded the DNA gel wells with the pathogenic fungus and turned on the gel box, which separates the DNA and allows microbiologists to identify the different fungal strains. It had been a full day of hard work and her stomach was growling. It was time for lunch.
"¡El gel esta herviendo!" cried Edith Garay Serrano, a lab technician working with Donovan. An unexpected large spike in the electric service had caused the buffer in the DNA gel box to boil, ruining the DNA and spoiling a full day's work. An experiment designed to take only 35 volts had received 260 volts.
Such is life in Toluca, Mexico, a city west of Mexico City that is becoming well-known in scientific circles for its role in the fight against late blight, or Phytopthera infestans, the fungus responsible for the great Irish potato famine in the 1840s. Today annual losses due to potato late blight are close to $200 million in the United States and about $3.5 billion worldwide.
Donovan, a Cornell senior majoring in plant science, spent her summer vacation this year in central Mexico trying to understand if certain wild strains of P. Infestans are immune to the pesticide Metalaxyl, one of the primary chemicals used in the fight against late blight. Donovan was able to identify strains of the pathogen that are resistant to the fungicide, information that will help biologists attack the pathogen in the future.
"Since I was 8, I've always enjoyed getting my hands dirty in gardens," said Donovan. Growing up in northern California, she set her sights on finding a college that offered plant science, and she decided on Cornell. She is set to graduate next June.
Supervised by Cornell Professor William Fry, and working with Nik Grünwald, a Cornell research associate, Donovan was in Toluca working for the International Cooperative Program for Potato Late Blight and the Cornell-Eastern Europe-Mexico program for potato late blight research. Her research was also funded in part by the G. Burke Wright Foundation through the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development.
For Donovan, it wasn't a summer spent entirely in the lab. She stayed in Metepec, a nearby town known for its pottery, where "all kinds of buildings are covered in all kinds of colors," she said. She would take the bus into Toluca a few nights a week to practice tae kwan do, Korean self-defense. In addition to her lab work, Donovan regularly hiked on the slopes of Nevado de Toluca, a dormant volcano, searching for wild species of the potato resistant to the late blight pathogen, to use for further research.
Thanks to her experience, Donovan has developed some firm goals, including plans to make a career of international agriculture. "I'm thinking of joining the Peace Corps," she said.
Donovan is not one to turn down adventure. After a hard day of "playing Charles Darwin" in Mexico, as she puts it, she and friends would head out to eat grasshoppers, considered a delicacy in the eateries of Metepec.
"When I got to Mexico I wanted to try them and see what they tasted like," she said. So a group of friends gathered one night in search of this entomological delight. "You chop up the grasshoppers, then cook them up with lemons and chili. They're kind of crunchy and taste kind of fishy."
Are they now a regular part of her diet? "No," she said. "Once was enough."
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