TN Plant TC project

[trent smith]

I've been researching a project thats ready as ever to go.  It's a social innovation/sustainable development adventure.  Micropropagation of wild local ginseng to engage public, private, academic community in processes and practices with the objective to transition to sustainable rural development.  I've started pulling together lab equipment. I've got the idea and know just enough about TC protocol to be dangerous.  Hit me up if your in Middle Tennessee and interested or if you have advice.

[Tom De Medts]

Sounds very interesting...

As I am sure you know, Plant Tissue Culture (PTC), due to prolonged growth of plant material in media containing sugars, is very sensitive to contamination issues.  Therefore, I'm curious to know how you have dealt with it or plan to.

I built my own laminar flow, it was neither very easy nor inexpensive. However it worked out to be way cheaper than buying a class I or II hood.

And way simpler than buying one, shipping on a pallet, which would more often than not require a formally registered entity to buy shipping insurance and a formal delivery address that is not residential.

Other issues I could discuss, but I see the availability of a proper sterile working area as one of the major stumbling blocks for anyone interested in PTC.

So I'll wait for your response to this concern first....

And apart from your technical setup, there's the question about whether micropropagation of wild ginseng 

has a real and practical runway leading to sustainable rural development. Who are your identified partners,

and what synergy do you have with them? My PTC goals are commercial, so I don't think on these lines,

and therefore it's possible I may not even be able to relate to some aspects of your go-to-market strategy...

On Sat, Apr 3, 2021 at 9:55 PM trent smith <tnot...@gmail.com> wrote:

I've been researching a project thats ready as ever to go.  It's a social innovation/sustainable development adventure.  Micropropagation of wild local ginseng to engage public, private, academic community in processes and practices with the objective to transition to sustainable rural development.  I've started pulling together lab equipment. I've got the idea and know just enough about TC protocol to be dangerous.  Hit me up if your in Middle Tennessee and interested or if you have advice.

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[trent smith]

I Just bought these...

[Tom De Medts]

Wow! What's your total lab budget? And capex outlay for equipment alone?

Impressive.

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[trent smith]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the reply. So to start, my education it the area is my undergraduate Environmental Studies/Geography degree.  Naturally, I moved to Atlanta and enrolled at a  commercial advertising school to master Commercial Photography.  Had a studio, did editorial work, corporate portraits, catalogue work, fashion....sounds more glamorous than it was.  So I have found my self back home, priorities shifted or maybe temporary insanity. Thanks for your questions, exactly what I need.  It's been a while since I've done any technical/persuasive writing.  I am good with researching and have all the information, but getting it all organized and presentable is my challenge.  Then tweak it to stakeholders, grant applications, corporate sponsors, etc. Are you confident is proposal writing? The project is extremely personal culturally, which is relevant. I also have inserted myself in the academic and governmental disfunction. Research follows the large corporate donor, public grants fund application that don't reach the right audience, state and federal, regulators and lawmakers, etc.  Meanwhile, disenfranchised landowners clearcut, habitats disappear, and a hostile rural community rejects science as a hoax or conspiracy.  The impossible seems feasible after a mass casualty event, the economic reset has capital liquid, it's a bold plan, it's scalable, and uses public land and infrastructure. One acre of ginseng profits at least $40,000 at year 5 PTC instead of 7, forest management is a byproduct, the largest corporation and employer, started by my 7th cousin, uses the same water still and requires a steady supply of white oak trees. The evidence is peer reviewed, technical protocols published by the closest university, and the project is complimentary to the stated sustainability or strategic goals of many stakeholders. Two stand out to benefit on a time scale of generations, and have a tradition of supporting surrogates in the community. One of my ancestors settled here on land granted for fighting the revolution. Ha! See what I mean, it's hard not to wander.

It's time to get this project off the ground legally. I can manage projects and work well alone. The horticulture supply chain could probably handle production, but biotech is going go be very important for this next generation. The exposure to applied science is a selling point, and sounds like a nice program for someone else. So damn proposal has to be written, and either seek fiscal sponsorship or start the process of setting up a non-profit. Then grants and donations poor in...

Thank you in advance. Oh check out www.dropboxinc.com for examples of mobile(ish) lab set up. Covid and cannabiss have made some things easier to research. Government auctions are where I started the collection from the photos. There are a few different successful protocols so I stop procuring equipment. The damn Biological safety cabinet is a bitch.

Thanks,

Trent

On Saturday, April 3, 2021 at 10:06:22 PM UTC-5 Tom De Medts wrote:

[drllau]

> The damn Biological safety cabinet is a bitch.

You mean this?

Firstly I applaud your pioneering spirit, this is what made America attractive to the poor, disposessed and homeless before the political climate changed. It sounds like you've got the basic resources (land, tech ... ) but one thing that caught my eye was "wild" ginseng (as vs artificially accelerated). If you want to get the premium for your ecologically sustainable operations, you have the challenge of not only documenting your practices, but preventing competitors from substituting cheaper alternatives ... see some of the work being done by Australian exporters in protecting geographical indicators and blockchain providence of open grazing (not factory-lines).

However, I'm scratching my head a little as to why do you need biotech ... in Australia the soil quality is poor so biota to fix nutrient uptake is important for drylands but I doubt this is the case for a forest. If you're wanting plant varieties and to play around with the genome that's probably more R than D, Or if you are looking for financial independence, you can look at either a franchise or co-operative model where individuals contribute capital and you provide seedlings or more advanced consulting (microclimate, yield enhancement etc).