ENMU opens new science center

Kwesi Felix Boafo, an Eastern New Mexico University graduate student from Ghana, stood over a new polymerase chain reaction machine, wrapped in plastic. He looked at it eagerly, like a kid hovering over a gift on Christmas eve.   

Over the next several months, Felix Boafo will use the machine – which amplifies and detects DNA – for his upcoming graduate project: Determining liver abscess in cattle. A recent West Texas A&M University report revealed this "can lead to more than $900 million in annual beef industry losses."  

The PCR machine is just one facet of ENMU's Roosevelt Science Center's $22.5 million renovation. The school hopes it can strengthen enrollment while offering resources that allow students to prosper and meet growing industry demands.   

"We've been extremely excited about this facility," said Juchao Yan, professor of chemistry at ENMU. He hopes the center, which was primarily funded by the 2018 and 2020 General Obligation Bond, will be fully functioning by December.   

In an industry where hands-on experience is vital, these improvements can be the difference between being accepted – or rejected – for a future opportunity. Especially, when a student is competing with someone else from a school with more cachet – say, University of Texas, Texas Tech University or University of New Mexico, according to Matthew Barlow, a department chair and professor of physiology.  

"If they go in for an interview, they have more skill sets. They have more tools in their toolbox than what we were able to offer prior," Barlow said.  

Professors, meanwhile, can expand how many students they can accept and what they can offer.  

Barlow said that, "I think the size will help with recruiting potential graduate students that may not have considered here before – especially if they come into a tour – and because you can see an expansion just by the technology and the laboratories." 

Prior to this, Manuel F. Varela, a professor of biology, recalled feeling disappointed when he had to reject more students than he'd like.  

"Students, especially science students, are curious people. They want to know stuff. They want to know how things work. They want to know how, so we can make the world a better place," Varela said. "I felt so bad having to tell these people, these young, curious people, interested people, we don't have room." 

Moving forward, Varela hopes his total number of student researchers will expand from three to four to a dozen.  

Just as important to him and Yan are providing resources for students to hone their craft and solve real-world problems. 

For example, a pillar of the RSC renovation is the new Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, a standard machine used to identify molecular structures. For the past 15 years, ENMU has used a type of NMR that wasn't nearly as effective. This, in turn, limited skillsets. 

"It has very limited sensitivity and resolution," Yan said of it.  

But with the new NMR, students can begin to learn pillars of chemical analysis – identification, quantitation, detection, separation – leaving them better equipped to solve rising problems in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.  

With doctors prescribing pills at never-before-seen rates, there's a growing need for chemists to ensure medication is safe and will improve – not worsen – conditions. 

According to a recent Statista publication, "In 2009 the number of prescriptions dispensed was near 3.95 billion, while in 2022 the number of prescriptions dispensed was around 6.7 billion." 

Not to mention toxicology tests where it's invaluable to identify each substance in a person's bloodstream. With fentanyl crisis surging, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, this is particularly helpful. 

While Yan said ENMU is a drug-free campus, so students can't conduct those types of tests, they can do similar ones and apply the principles of it to this realm. 

"We want to develop their skill sets for the future," Yan said.  

While giving a reporter a tour of the RSC, Varela spoke glowingly of the increased spaces for collaboration, his new supercomputer lab for bioinformatics and eventually stopped by his dream lab.  

Tucked in the corner of it was Felix Boafo accompanied by Matthew Ayitah, a fellow student from Ghana. Ayitah said he'll be using the RSC for "comparing cinnamon and cumin against E coli."  

"In recent times, bacterial resistance to antibiotics has been on the rise, and in order to elevate or move around this, other alternate means, like heat treatment, UV, chemical treatments have been proposed," said Ayitah. 

"However, these are detrimental to the environment and even to the system if it's not done well. Hence, there's a need to look for a natural source to curb the situation."  

Shortly after, Felix Boafo showed a reporter a lab that featured the prized polymerase chain reaction machine and explained the importance of it.  

"It is very difficult for farmers to identify ... Like to see an animal that is being infected with liver abscess," Felix Boafo said.  

His goal is to work alongside local farmers and take data back to the RSC to help find a solution. 

"It's the real deal," Felix Boafo said of the PCR with lifted eyebrows and a slight smirk.

And that's why the RSC underwent this massive renovation. Give highly motivated students such as Felix Boafo and Ayitah an opportunity to explore their curiosities without being held back. It'll benefit them and the world they venture into. 

"Maybe couple years later we'll be able to see they (students) become a doctor, and they are making, you know, big impact to make the world better," Yan said.