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Canna lilies PHOTOS BY KEVIN MCCROSKEY
iscovering her interest for science at an early age, Dr. Jeanmarie Verchot found herself in love with biology. Now at a milestone in her career, that interest has not changed. As an associate professor in the department of entomology and plant pathology at Oklahoma State University, her research has always included tissue culture in a strategy to control diseases in agriculture. During her career, she has looked at everything from carrots and celery to tobacco, corn and wheat, but her current efforts focus on one of the world’s most widespread landscape plant: canna lilies. She focuses on perfecting the method of tissue culture that converts virus-carrying canna lily tissues
Cowboy Technologies helps propel OSU start-ups to success As the final step in a commercialization program developed to successfully transition ideas from the lab to the marketplace, Oklahoma State University’s Cowboy Technologies LLC is nurturing faculty inventions to commercial success. Associated Material Processing, one of Cowboy Technologies’ first startups, focuses on removing arsenic from water. AMP’s mission is to make safer drinking water supplies and rehabilitate wastewater from manufacturing processes such as computer chip-making. Cowboy Technologies is also working with the Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Scholars program through the Spears School of Business, corporate sponsor AAA Oklahoma and the Office of the Vice President for
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Research at Oklahoma State University • www.research.okstate.edu
Research and Technology Transfer to launch an App Center at OSU. The center will provide a space where students can transition their app ideas into functioning Web and mobile applications. As a funding source for these initiatives and others, Cowboy Technologies has established CT Angels. A member-led investment fund comprised of OSU alumni and supporters, it allows member investors to have a first look at technologies developed at OSU and to invest in those technologies to help them reach commercialization. CT Angels is seeking new OSU enthusiasts and friends to invest in the technologies developed at OSU. For more information about faculty projects, the App Center or CT Angels, visit www.cowboytechllc.com.
to virus-free canna lilies. It’s a method that could have a substantial impact on our state, with Oklahoma being one of the world’s largest producers of canna lilies. Horticulture is also the fifth-largest industry in the state. Canna plants infected with viruses have streaks or breaks in flower color. Oklahoma growers, lacking proper diagnostic tools and techniques, are often unaware of the nature of the viruses. This problem costs Oklahoma’s floral industry more than $155 million a year. Canna lilies are more than ornamental plants. They can be used as an edible starch and have medicinal value in treating a number of diseases, including hepatitis. Verchot’s work poses so many possible benefits for growers and the state that Cowboy Technologies, a for-profit, limited liability company that aims to commercialize university inventions, is working with her to ultimately deliver certified virus-free canna lily plants to growers in Oklahoma and beyond.
The Road Toward Success Verchot graduated with a bachelor’s degree in genetics from Rutgers University. During her studies, she held internships at Roche Biomedical and at DNA Plant Technology, where she learned the value of tissue culture production. After the internship at Roche Biomedical, which included pediatric genetic screening, Verchot briefly considered becoming a genetic counselor. However, she ended up deciding that field wasn’t a good fit for her. “I realized that job was not really pleasant,” she says, adding with a smile: “It seemed repetitive, and I do not like needles.”