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| Yosmina Helena Tapilatu, marine microbiology researcher LIPI, the award-winning L'Oreal-UNESCO Indonesia National Fellowship for Women in Science 2011 Life Sciences category. (Picture from: KORAN TEMPO 3702) |
Yosmina Helena Tapilatu scoop water from the glass. Tablespoon of water at the end it was just a little, less than half. "In a milliliter of sea water. About this much, there are a million bacterial cells that are useful for various things," says marine microbiologist researcher of the Technical Implementation Unit of Marine Life Conservation Center (Unit Pelaksana Teknis Balai Konservasi Biota Laut / UPT BKBL) Ambon in Oceanographic Research Center, Indonesia Institute of Sciences (Pusat Penelitian Oseanografi Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia / LIPI) It was late last month.
The abundance of bacteria in sea water that is evocative Yosmina researching these microorganisms. "Bacteria is a creature that interests me," she said. "Not many researchers who pursue marine microbiology in Indonesia, but its potential is huge."
When her education to a doctorate from the Universite Aix-Marseille II, France, women born in Ternate were able to isolate the bacteria from the depths of the Mediterranean Sea, which can break down hydrocarbons and produce compounds that have properties, such as jojoba.
Jajoba is wax oil extracted from jojoba seeds, shrubs that grow in California and Mexico. Jojoba oil is widely used as an ingredient in cosmetics and skin moisturizer. Compounds from these bacteria can be utilized as an alternative to an expensive jojoba, "he said.
Back to Indonesia, Yosmina interested to focus on her studies eksploratil. Moreover, not a single study of marine bacteria in the Moluccas, even in the waters of Indonesia. "That's what made me interested in exploring eksopolisakarida producing bacteria (EPS) in marine waters in Maluku," said the daughter of professor of theology at one private university in Ambon.
Poaching of bacterial EPS ocean waters in Maluku makes Yosmina selected as one of three winners of L'Oreal-UNESCO Indonesia National Fellowship for Women in Science 2011 Life Sciences category. Yosmina results are expected to open up new opportunities for the utilization of polysaccharides in a tropical marine bacterium in various industrial applications in Indonesia.
Marine bacteria in the hunted Yosmina not just any bacteria. He looks for the bacteria that produce a specific carbohydrate polymers as a strategy to survive in their habitat to a drastic change some physico-chemical environmental parameters, such as temperature, salinity, and nutrient availability. EPS, polymers with high molecular weight, often used in cosmetic industry, pharmaceutical, food, and bioremediation.
In most cells of marine microorganisms, EPS shaped like a protective membrane. Most of the resulting polymer is heteropolisakarida marine bacteria, which consists of three or four different monosaccharides. This natural polymer is part of the largest carbon reservoir in the ocean.
In recent years, demand for natural polymers for applications in the cosmetic industry, pharmaceutical, food, and bioremediation increased.
Consequently, the intensity of study of polysaccharide-producing microorganisms also increased, especially with regard to isolation and identification of new microbial polysaccharides, which could potentially be used as a gel maker agents, emulsifiers, and stabilizers. Microorganisms compared to the mainland, the utilization of which has been going on intensively for several decades, microbes originating from the relatively unexplored marine ecosystem to the maximum.
"Microorganisms sea for JNI tend to be neglected in a study conducted to explore the sources of polysaccharides" said Yosmina. "And compared to EPS of plants and other marine organisms, marine microorganisms EPS is superior because it has a chemical structure with physico-chemical characteristics of the diverse, as well as more economical and abundant.
Besides having a high biodiversity, marine microorganisms pengulturan method is relatively easy, fast, and can be done continuously without limitation the location and local climate. "The potential is great to be developed on an industrial scale," he said.
Yosmina hope to assess the presence of polysaccharide-producing marine bacteria found in marine waters in the Moluccas, the Banda Sea in particular. He deliberately chose the Banda Sea, which has a depth of more than 5,000 meters.
"From the extreme environment like that, we could potentially selecting new strains of marine bacteria tropical with high levels of diversity, which is capable of producing various types of EPS as a strategy for adaptation to that environment," he said.
Deep ocean waters, with depths greater than 300 meters, dominated by the hydrostatic pressure of more than 3 MPa or 30 atmospheres. That depth the temperature ranges are also 6-9 degrees Celsius, which allows the selection of marine bacteria which produce polysaccharide as protective membranes against extreme environmental conditions.
"Some previous studies showed bacteria in the sea of ocean waters with the potential to be used in various industrial applications," said Yosmina.
As the only researcher at Ambon BKBL UPT working with bacteria, Yosmina not feel a constraint on the job, "If the other person's problem, for me it's a challenge because I could work to explore anything that has not been explored," he said. "It sounds cliche, but Maluku has a sea area by 93 percent," Yosmina added. "If not us who were there to manage it, who else? We can not expect others to come and manage it."
Women who loved the sea had a stack of plans to further explore marine microorganisms in both ecology and biodiversity. In the future, Yosmina targeting bacteria in the mangrove communities, especially those that help the growth of mangrove seedlings.
The abundance of bacteria in sea water that is evocative Yosmina researching these microorganisms. "Bacteria is a creature that interests me," she said. "Not many researchers who pursue marine microbiology in Indonesia, but its potential is huge."
When her education to a doctorate from the Universite Aix-Marseille II, France, women born in Ternate were able to isolate the bacteria from the depths of the Mediterranean Sea, which can break down hydrocarbons and produce compounds that have properties, such as jojoba.
Jajoba is wax oil extracted from jojoba seeds, shrubs that grow in California and Mexico. Jojoba oil is widely used as an ingredient in cosmetics and skin moisturizer. Compounds from these bacteria can be utilized as an alternative to an expensive jojoba, "he said.
Back to Indonesia, Yosmina interested to focus on her studies eksploratil. Moreover, not a single study of marine bacteria in the Moluccas, even in the waters of Indonesia. "That's what made me interested in exploring eksopolisakarida producing bacteria (EPS) in marine waters in Maluku," said the daughter of professor of theology at one private university in Ambon.Poaching of bacterial EPS ocean waters in Maluku makes Yosmina selected as one of three winners of L'Oreal-UNESCO Indonesia National Fellowship for Women in Science 2011 Life Sciences category. Yosmina results are expected to open up new opportunities for the utilization of polysaccharides in a tropical marine bacterium in various industrial applications in Indonesia.
Marine bacteria in the hunted Yosmina not just any bacteria. He looks for the bacteria that produce a specific carbohydrate polymers as a strategy to survive in their habitat to a drastic change some physico-chemical environmental parameters, such as temperature, salinity, and nutrient availability. EPS, polymers with high molecular weight, often used in cosmetic industry, pharmaceutical, food, and bioremediation.
In most cells of marine microorganisms, EPS shaped like a protective membrane. Most of the resulting polymer is heteropolisakarida marine bacteria, which consists of three or four different monosaccharides. This natural polymer is part of the largest carbon reservoir in the ocean.
In recent years, demand for natural polymers for applications in the cosmetic industry, pharmaceutical, food, and bioremediation increased.
Consequently, the intensity of study of polysaccharide-producing microorganisms also increased, especially with regard to isolation and identification of new microbial polysaccharides, which could potentially be used as a gel maker agents, emulsifiers, and stabilizers. Microorganisms compared to the mainland, the utilization of which has been going on intensively for several decades, microbes originating from the relatively unexplored marine ecosystem to the maximum.
"Microorganisms sea for JNI tend to be neglected in a study conducted to explore the sources of polysaccharides" said Yosmina. "And compared to EPS of plants and other marine organisms, marine microorganisms EPS is superior because it has a chemical structure with physico-chemical characteristics of the diverse, as well as more economical and abundant.
Besides having a high biodiversity, marine microorganisms pengulturan method is relatively easy, fast, and can be done continuously without limitation the location and local climate. "The potential is great to be developed on an industrial scale," he said.
Yosmina hope to assess the presence of polysaccharide-producing marine bacteria found in marine waters in the Moluccas, the Banda Sea in particular. He deliberately chose the Banda Sea, which has a depth of more than 5,000 meters.
"From the extreme environment like that, we could potentially selecting new strains of marine bacteria tropical with high levels of diversity, which is capable of producing various types of EPS as a strategy for adaptation to that environment," he said.
Deep ocean waters, with depths greater than 300 meters, dominated by the hydrostatic pressure of more than 3 MPa or 30 atmospheres. That depth the temperature ranges are also 6-9 degrees Celsius, which allows the selection of marine bacteria which produce polysaccharide as protective membranes against extreme environmental conditions.
"Some previous studies showed bacteria in the sea of ocean waters with the potential to be used in various industrial applications," said Yosmina.
As the only researcher at Ambon BKBL UPT working with bacteria, Yosmina not feel a constraint on the job, "If the other person's problem, for me it's a challenge because I could work to explore anything that has not been explored," he said. "It sounds cliche, but Maluku has a sea area by 93 percent," Yosmina added. "If not us who were there to manage it, who else? We can not expect others to come and manage it."
Women who loved the sea had a stack of plans to further explore marine microorganisms in both ecology and biodiversity. In the future, Yosmina targeting bacteria in the mangrove communities, especially those that help the growth of mangrove seedlings.
"In
Mexico, there are studies of bacteria that help the growth of mangrove"
he said. "I'm hoping to isolate such bacteria in the Moluccas to help
the rehabilitation of mangrove areas in Ambon. Because mangrove buffer
zone for disasters, like tsunamis or severity of violent crushing
waves." *** [TJANDRA DEWI | KORAN TEMPO 3702]
Sampling Deep Sea Bacteria
Do not imagine Yosmina should wear a wetsuit and a heavy oxygen tank for diving and collecting samples from the depths of the Banda Sea. To take samples of sediment on the seabed, Yosmina using a corer, both single and multi-corer.
Corer commonly used by researchers of marine geology, but later also used by researchers to retrieve sediment marine microbiology, especially from the deep ocean. There are different types of corer, but in principle component corer consists of ballast, plastic tube, and sterile tubes plastic or glass made.
The working principle is very simple corer, especially the sampling at the base of the muddy waters.
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| Sampling Deep Sea Bacteria. (Picture from: KORAN TEMPO 3702) |
Corer commonly used by researchers of marine geology, but later also used by researchers to retrieve sediment marine microbiology, especially from the deep ocean. There are different types of corer, but in principle component corer consists of ballast, plastic tube, and sterile tubes plastic or glass made.
The working principle is very simple corer, especially the sampling at the base of the muddy waters.
Corer lowered to the desired depth with the help of a pulley, which is driven either manually or automatically. The influence of gravity and weight make corer sunk into the bottom waters, so that sterile tubes inside a metal tube filled with sediment.
Corer lifted back up by using a pulley. Sterile plastic or glass tubes were then sealed at both ends by using a sterile cover and immediately stored at 4 degrees Celsius until analyzed. *** [TJANDRA DEWI | KORAN TEMPO 3702]
