Plant Biotechnology Comes of Age at Windward CC
By Janine Tully
Windward Community College

Dustin Hernandez, William Gray and Lora Oshima in the new Tissue Culture and Plant Biotechnology Laboratory coordinated by Ingelia White.


Windward Community College has added a state-of-the-art Tissue Culture and Plant Biotechnology Laboratory to its campus. This $40,000 facility, equipped with the latest in biotech instrumentation, will bolster Windward CC’s plant biotechnology program, which started last summer. The program offers an academic subject certificate, the first of its kind among UH community colleges, with courses transferable to UH Manoa.

"Students receiving an academic subject certificate can transfer to Manoa to pursue a degree in plant and environmental biotechnology," said program coordinator Ingelia White. The program also prepares students to pursue careers in agriculture, aquaculture, biology, horticulture and medicine.

Federally and state funded, the new lab is the latest addition to Windward CC’s biotech program, which includes a climatically controlled glasshouse and Kuhi La‘au, a tropical plant and orchid identification facility.

The new lab enables students to propagate plant tissues, implant genes from one plant to another, perform DNA sequencing and other experiments. They will also learn to work safely with microorganisms used for genetic duplication.

White, a botany and microbiology professor, is internationally known for her orchid research. She has been working on plant tissue culture at Windward CC ever since friends donated a sterile box for growing plant cells and she purchased a "shaker" (a machine for shaking plant tissue) nearly 20 years ago. The field has since expanded into a viable biotechnology industry, offering a wide range of career opportunities.

Windward CC will dedicate the new laboratory with a ceremony on Feb. 5, 6–8 p.m. at Hale ‘Imiloa Room 101-A. Guests will be given a tour of the lab, followed by a potluck dinner organized by students, faculty, staff and friends.

"Our goal is to help train a skilled workforce needed for the biotech industry," said White. "I’m just happy to now have six students majoring in plant biotechnology."