Today we went to the top of the arch, the riverboat tour, and Monsanto’s research facility in Chesterfield. I have been to the arch before but haven’t been to the top. That was awesome! The riverboat tour was pretty cool but not quite as informational about the history of St. Louis as I was hoping for. Touring Monsanto was awesome! I enjoyed learning more in depth about the specifics of modifying the genes in plants and how that works. I didn’t know very much about it, mainly just what the media has portrayed about GMO and BT to be. Monsanto showed us their seed chipper which I had never heard of before. It was first created for their soybeans, but they now have it available for quite a few other seeds. The machine takes a sample of the seed for genotyping to see which one is the best production. They also showed us their PacBio machine for gene sequencing. I wasn’t aware of how new this type of technology is. This machine looks at all the genes within the DNA and helps researchers analyze and narrow down specific sections and traits. We also toured their greenhouses, in-house engineering department, research labs, and their growing chambers. Their growing chambers can replicate any climate in the world to help them better understand growing conditions around the world and adjust their production accordingly. Overall, Monsanto is definitely a company I would be interested in come Spring when I graduate.