When bio bugs bite

AN interest in biology was probably inevitable for David Power. He comes from Cul na Smear, a rich farming district in the foothills of the Comeragh Mountains about six miles from Dungarvan, Co Waterford. As the Irish name indicates, it's a place where berries grow in great profusion. Growing up on a farm there was exciting and full of mystery.

"When I left secondary school I couldn't say what I liked about biology," he says. "All I knew was that I liked it. Maybe the fact that farming is my background had something to do with it. You're handling chemicals all the time, such as antibiotics for the animals. I used to look at the ingredients on everything we were using. And I was fascinated by all the animals we had around us."

After St Augustine's Secondary School in Dungarvan, Power went to Waterford RTC to do a national certificate in science - applied biology. "I became very interested in micro-biology there," he says. "That was what grabbed me, in particular in second year, where there was an emphasis on this section. I found it completely amazing that there were things there that I would never have dreamed of before that. The world is not controlled by man but by micro-organisms - bugs and bacteria."

After two years at Waterford, Power got a job with Stafford Miller (Ireland) in Dungarvan, a major pharmaceutical company, where he worked for two years in the packaging department. Meanwhile, with his eyes firmly set on the possibility of going back to college to do a diploma in biotechnology, he attended a City & Guilds quality assurance course by night, run in the regional college.

"Quality is an extremely important part of the day-to-day running of a pharmaceutical plant," he says. "That's why I did the course. I knew that the diploma in biotechnology had a quality management section in it."

He then went hack to college for one year to do his diploma. "I enjoyed the year a lot. The lecturers offered me great assistance. And I was spending time with young people again."

After qualifying he got a job in Kilmeaden creamery, the cheese division of Waterford Foods. The plant was applying for the environmental management system, IS0 14001. "I performed two functions," he explains. "I had to do some foot work on that and I also worked with the dispatch manager."

Today Power is a "technical support chemist" with Shamrock Aluminium in Waterford city, a small company which manufactures aluminium pigments for inclusion in paints. He has worked there since last September. "I'm getting great exposure to situations that need handling," he says. "When I was at the regional college doing my diploma we would have studied industrial processes, such as distillation and filter pressing, and those kinds of concepts would not have been familiar to us. But here they're part of day-to-day operations. And we're applying for 14,001 licence as well."

ROM the outside the process seems fairly simple, he says, but it's not without its complications. "Having to deal with situations that arise is very challenging," says Power. "It's a chemical/mechanical type of process."

Increasing awareness of the environment means an increasing interest in the production of paints which are environmentally friendly, Power says. His work has taken these considerations on board and he is currently involved in a research project in conjunction with Forbart, to develop a water-stable aluminium pigment for use by paint manufacturers.