The vintners of Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula will tell you that producing a fine wine is an art. But a little science can help.
Although Ontario wines have earned a world-wide following, the industry faces significant challenges in terms of the short Canadian growing season and the variety of diseases that can attack grape vines. Now scientists at Brock University’s Oenology and Viticulture Institute are addressing these challenges. Pooling their expertise, and using state-of-the-art equipment, they’re working to develop grapes that are more resistant to disease, mature more quickly, and produce wines with even better flavours, aromas and colours.
Dr. Charles Després and Dr. Douglas Bruce
The approach is uniquely cross-disciplinary. “If you’re trying to get to the bottom of a problem in biology or biotech,” says Brock biologist Dr. Douglas Bruce, “you’re usually going to have to take a look at it from a number of perspectives.” Dr. Bruce is a physical biologist interested in photosynthesis. But his colleagues bring other kinds of expertise. Dr. Vince De Luca and Dr. Charles Després, for example, are approaching the challenge of better grapes at the molecular level, working with DNA and proteins.
Supporting the effort is a diverse suite of tools, from laser-aided microscopes to mass spectrometers to nuclear magnetic resonance machines, funded in part by an investment from the Ontario Innovation Trust. “The equipment has served as a bridge between our different interests,” explains Dr. Després. “Doug Bruce uses a laser-based microscope in his research on photosynthesis. But that microscope can also let me look at protein interactions within a cell. His expertise helps me with my work.”
This scientific cross-pollination will result in more than better wine. Dr. De Luca’s search for genes that speed up the ripening process in grapes is part of his broader quest to understand how plant cells become factories for manufacturing all kinds of substances. “Once we understand the different ways cells work,” he says, “we can make them produce more, or re-orient them to produce something else.” To this end, Dr. De Luca is collaborating with Brock chemist Dr. Tomas Hudlicky, another heavy user of the university’s new suite of equipment. Their work will help make possible, for example, the use of natural plant cell processes in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products. By replacing extraction techniques that employ toxic solvents, this “green chemistry” approach will result in lower environmental impacts.
Dr. Vince De Luca
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 A confocal laser scanning microscope enables researchers at Brock to work more precisely at the cellular level. |
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| Vintage Science Collaboration bears fruit on the vine—and elsewhere—at Brock University. |
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Brock’s Doug Bruce sees scientific research as essential to a viable Canadian economy in the 21st century. “If we’re concerned about what happens to our country in the long-run, we don’t want to not be in the position of selling the last tree when it gets cut down. All our research here ties in very well with sustainable industry, particularly in the area of green chemistry. The world is changing in lots of ways, and as Canadians, we want to generate as much intellectual capital as we can, then make the most of it.” |
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Other grape-related research at Brock may also have wider spin-off effects. The work of Dr. Després on making vines more resistant to disease is focused on understanding how plant cells signal each other to fight off invading pathogens. And that knowledge may in turn throw light on parallel processes in animal cells, leading potentially to new insights in cancer treatment.
So here’s to better wine—and a greener and healthier future.
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