About Kenia Ascencio
Interview Watch the interview
Major Biology
College Arts and Sciences
Accomplishments Publication pending
Future Plans to pursue a graduate degree
Curriculum Vitae View the CV
About the Project
Title Identifying Microorganism Biodiversity in West Texas Vineyards
Presentation Watch the research video
Mentor Dr. Marie Bugarel
Animal and Food Sciences, Texas Tech University
Comments
Interesting topic! In regards to collecting the yeast from several different places in the vineyards, what area did you find the most yeast and/or the most variability of species of yeast?
Great discussion! I was wondering do you plan to expand samples from farther than west Texas?
Is there a correlation between strain and taste? if you took West Texas yeast vs Napa, French and Italian yeasts and used west Texas grapes as a control, would there be a difference and how would you measure it?
How do some of these West Texas strains compare to the strains found in Napa Valley or Italy? Do you see any overlap or all unique strains?
Given that the end of this project is to find a local strain of yeast that could be used for the fermentation process of wine, what do you think are the benefits of a local yeast strain as opposed to a european strain that is genetically modified to grow in west texas?