member spotlight

The Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory team

by Nancy Maddox, MPH, writer

This lowland jurisdiction takes up a large swath of the Mississippi River Delta and much of the East Gulf Coastal Plain, giving it a rich legacy of natural beauty... and millions of acres of rich, fertile soil. Even before the area gained statehood in 1817, farming was an important occupation here. Today, agriculture still dominates the local economy: Mississippi devotes 19.7 million acres of its land to forestry and 10.8 million to farming, making agriculture the

Not only does the laboratory facilitate regulatory enforcement, it performs testing directly for farmers, extension service agents and other customers.

state’ s # 1 industry. According to the Mississippi Department of Agriculture & Commerce, farming and forestry employ 29 % of the state workforce, directly or indirectly, and add $ 16.5 billion / year to the local economy.

Overall, The Magnolia State produces more catfish than any other US jurisdiction, and ranks # 3 in pulpwood, sweet potatoes and cotton. Dollarwise, however, the top agricultural products are( in ascending order) catfish, cattle, corn, cotton, soybeans, pulpwood and poultry / eggs. Said Ashli Brown, PhD,“ I think we have more chickens than people.”

It is a big part of Brown’ s mission, as head of the Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory, to“ support the agricultural economy here in our state.” Specifically, the laboratory is tasked with providing the analytical data to ensure the quality, accurate labeling and safety of all fertilizers, animal feeds, human foods, pesticides and petroleum products sold in-state. Not only does the laboratory facilitate regulatory enforcement, it performs testing directly for farmers, extension service agents and other customers.

Located amidst the pine woodlands of east-central Mississippi, the chemical laboratory is about 30 minutes from the Alabama border and two hours from Jackson, Mississippi’ s capital and the most populous city in this jurisdiction of three million people.

Facility

From its founding in 1892, Mississippi statute has required that the chemical laboratory be located on the campus of the state land grant institution, Mississippi State University( MSU) in Starkville, home of the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Although the laboratory is not an academic unit, it is housed primarily in the university’ s 1960s-era Hand Chemical Laboratory Building, named after the first state chemist. The main, 30,000-square-foot laboratory takes up the entire basement level and shares the first floor of the red brick building with the department of chemistry:“ Right outside our main office door is a 150-seat classroom,” said Brown. The laboratory’ s 9,500-squarefoot petroleum-testing unit has its own dedicated building, located across the street from the university president’ s house. Although the laboratory’ s integration within the campus poses some“ interesting logistical issues,” Brown said,“ The pros definitely outweigh the cons.” Both laboratory units have their own sample receiving areas, and the main facility, Hand Laboratory, underwent an extensive renovation in 2000.

Director

Brown was born in upstate New York, but earned a BS in biology and PhD in biochemistry from the University of South Florida, where she also oversaw the organic chemistry teaching laboratory. After graduation, she split her time between Starkville and Stoneville, MS, developing techniques for characterizing pheromones emitted by the multi-colored Asian lady beetle— a beneficial insect— during a post-doctoral fellowship with the US Department of Agriculture( USDA) Agricultural Research Service. Brown went on to become a research professor, and then assistant professor and associate professor, at the MSU Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology. In late 2013, she became Mississippi state chemist and director of the Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory.

As state chemist, Brown is required by law to be a tenured professor, and she is the first state chemist to be tenured in biochemistry. She said,“ I have all the responsibilities of being a professor: teaching, advising undergraduate students and supervising an active graduate student research program.” Among her current endeavors are— in collaboration with Darrell Sparks, PhD( who also serves as the petroleum product director)— an investigation of chemical communication between male and female giant pandas during estrus and a study examining gut microflora in these animals. One of the papers stemming from the latter research was voted“ Best microbiome paper of 2016” on the Microbiome Digest website.