“Don’t be afraid to try things,” she says. “If you’re afraid, you can’t start.”
Once they’re on their way, Tan, as she’s known by her workmates at Alltech, emphasises the value of networking, finding a mentor and grabbing hold of any opportunities which present themselves.
“There are opportunities all around you,” she says. “Just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there.”
Tan, 38, grew up on her parents’ 20 hectare farm near Ubon Ratchathani in northeastern Thailand. While they were both teachers, her mother teaching maths and her father science, they also grew rice and operated a small rice mill that supplied rice to the nearest village. They also reared as many as 200 pigs, as well as chickens, ducks and cows for their meat.
“It was a very small business,” Tan says.
Her job was mixing the ingredients to feed to the pigs, so she was aware early on of the difference additives made.
“I was always talking about agriculture, focusing on food coming from what you fed onfarm,” she says. “I knew about the medication and vaccines the animals needed to grow to get profits. And I wanted to study microbiology because I like to figure out what things are all about and why diseases are caused.”
She received a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Ubon Ratchathani University in 1999, then, inspired by Associate Professor Sunee Nithsinprasert, she started on her master’s degree, specialising in biotechnology, at Kasetsart University. It took four years, during which time she worked as a graduate lab assistant for Nithsinprasert, looking into gene expression by liquid fermentation, molecular genetics and enzyme production.
Tan liked working in a laboratory environment, and through a connection of her professor’s was able to work part-time for Inteqc Group, a company that screens bacteria to find those that produce more keratanase, from 2003 to 2006. She was the fourth student to be involved in the work to develop what is now a commercial product, similar to one Alltech markets. Once she had completed her master’s degree, she again worked as a research assistant at the university with her professor, researching biodiversity and identifying probiotics in fish and pigs.
They modified a method of DNA extraction and purification from the fish intestine, then examined the DNA fingerprint of the probiotic bacteria they found.
In 2006, Tan joined Alltech, which had opened a research centre in the newly established Thailand Science Park north of Bangkok.
“There were a lot of high-tech companies there and we were able to share space and equipment,” she says.
As the first researcher employed there to work with Dr Keith Filer, she trained and monitored three more researchers. In 2012, the centre was relocated, with several staff members moving to India and China. But Tan, who by this time had completed her doctorate, again specialising in biotechnology, transferred to Alltech’s main office in Bangkok to become a technical support product specialist for the Asia-Pacific region.
Much of her work there involved auditing feed mills. If mycotoxin problems were suspected to be causing contamination, she would collect samples, send them to the lab and interpret the results, passing on information about what remedial action was needed. Often this involved putting in place new cleaning programmes, then educating staff to make sure they were followed.
Afterwards, there would be follow-up visits every three months.
“It kept me very busy,” she says. “There were often many factors involved that I had to present to them, and then educate staff as to what conditions moulds would grow in.”
With feed mills needing to stop processing until the problem was fixed, along with associated difficulties that had to be ironed out, it was often a race against time.
“There may not be good communication with staff involved in quality control, and there can be engineers who don’t understand microbiology,” Tan says.
This work took her to many different countries, including Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, India and China.
The Philippines was where some of the worst issues were seen, because of the country’s high humidity and lower quality of grains being processed, all of which contributed to ideal conditions in which mycotoxins and spores could flourish.
Sometimes Tan would visit farms, taking samples from their grain silos so she could source the contamination problem back through transport from the feed mill.
Her expertise in mycotoxin management gave her the opportunity to make a number of presentations at conferences throughout Asia as well as write articles for peer-reviewed publications. In 2014, her fiancé, a refrigeration engineer, found work in New Zealand. Happy with the idea of coming to a less-polluted country, they moved to Auckland. Once again, Tan found work with Alltech, first as a consultant, then as a full-time employee late last year. Her research work has involved looking at different substrates to improve cows’ fibre digestion, to receive maximum nutrition from their feed. Thanks to her strength in fermentation research, she is now in charge of setting up a $500,000 IFM lab as part of Alltech’s West Auckland office complex, to maximise feed efficiency in the dairy industry.
Three people will be employed, with the emphasis on improving nutrition through the use of different feeds, as determined by how they’re processed in the cow’s rumen.
The IFM is a support tool which nutritionists use to evaluate feeds to maximise feed efficiency in the face of ever-rising costs. It simulates rumen function and evaluates the nutritional value of different feeds by estimating the kinetics of feed digestion rather than measuring digestibility at an end point, as achieved with nutritional models and feed chemical characteristics. It also shows how carbohydrates and proteins are fermented so any barriers can be picked up, allowing rations to be formulated based on the availability of nutrients and the reduction of energy losses, which means a lower carbon footprint.
Feed samples are incubated in rumen fluid and a buffer system to replicate natural rumen fermentation in an oxygen-free environment. The methane and carbon dioxide produced are automatically monitored continuously as digestion takes place. The gas produced is separated into fast-fermenting carbohydrates, such as starches and sugars, and slow fermenting carbohydrates, such as fibre.
Through estimation of this gas production, inefficiencies can be pinpointed, which result in higher levels of gas generated for the amount of drymatter digested. Potential problems can then be identified along with further information on the feed’s nutritive value.
Tan says there are three big advantages NZ dairy farmers stand to gain from IFM sampling of feed provided to their cows – improvements in cow health, increased milk quality and a reduction in greenhouse gases.
“It’s very exciting to be involved with, because we might have something unique,” she says.
Rumen fluid microbes differ around the world, depending on the breed of cow being farmed, and by setting up the IFM lab with samples of rumen fluid from NZ, cows there will receive much more accurate testing on how the country’s cows digest different feeds, rather than relying on overseas assumptions.
Seek to find
Young people who come from agricultural backgrounds have an early advantage when it comes to making a career choice, Tan believes.
“If there’s farming in the family, or you want to know more about agriculture, you can create your own career,” she says. “It’s going back to the beginning for food, health and enjoyment, and then you can create something from your knowledge.”
There are a lot of international opportunities and possibilities for research collaborations, as Tan’s career path shows. She encourages students to seek advice from someone they know and respect as she did with her professor, who became her mentor, then her boss. She still keeps in close contact and now regards her as a good friend.
In order to get that first foothold on the career ladder, Tan says an open mind is essential and it might be necessary to volunteer for a time to work in an area that could be of interest.
“Then you can decide what you like,” she says. “If you’re not seeking, you won’t find.”
She enjoys her work and says she would prefer to see young people working in agriculture or science rather than other options more in favour at present.
“There’s more vision of the future,” she says. “You might have a small idea that’s very interesting, but that can be the beginning point for a whole career.”
She has firsthand experience in the choices young people face, because her only sibling, her younger brother, now works as an IT support manager.
“He thought farming was hard work and wanted something that seemed easier and more fun,” Tan says. “But agriculture and science is a fun way for me to make a living.”
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