SPOTLIGHT
Want a cold one the next time you’re in outer space? Some research at the University of Florida related to beer yeast may get you closer to your drink.
Researchers from UF’s food science and human nutrition department and horticultural sciences department recently collaborated on a study of how environmental conditions in outer space, such as low gravity, affect fermentation. Their findings were published early this year in the journal Beverages.
Fermentation is commonly used when making bread, yogurt, kombucha, biofuels and some medications. The researchers focused on beer yeast fermentation because of humankind’s long-established knowledge about the beermaking process.
Findings from studies like this one are important as space exploration expands, says Andrew MacIntosh, an assistant professor of food science at the University of Florida and an author of the study.
“It may be possible to manufacture foods, enzymes, or medicine via fermentation on long-term space missions. However, we won’t know how to optimize production or what is possible until we assess as many effects of microgravity as possible,” MacIntosh says.
The researchers found that fewer specific odor compounds were produced by the yeast in microgravity. Future research will focus on what caused this difference. “This will tell us how best to use microgravity and what applications are suited for it,” MacIntosh explains.
RAIL
- Pinsly Railroad Company of Jacksonville plans to acquire Hondo Railroad of Hondo, Texas. Hondo serves customers that ship commodities like corn syrup, ethanol, flour and plastic pellets. Pinsly now owns six railroad holdings, including four acquired in the past two years. The purchase is subject to regulatory approval.
HEALTH CARE
- Two new Florida Blue | Sanitas Medical Centers are slated to open in Jacksonville by January. The first Florida Blue | Sanitas Medical Center in the area opened earlier this year and focuses on patients age 50 and older. The two new centers will serve patients of any age. A total of 10 Sanitas locations are slated to open around Florida in 2025.
- UF Health has opened a 10,000-sq.-ft. medical facility at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala. It includes eight exam rooms, a retail pharmacy and X-ray imaging. UF Health also has a veterinary center at the World Equestrian Center.
- A 30,000-sq.- ft., $20.5-million cancer prevention and research institute is slated to open late next year in St. Johns County. More than $620,000 in funding for the TyMe Institute will come from a county economic development incentive agreement. The center is slated to create 54 new jobs. In the future, the institute will include a cancer research lab and a small-scale cancer drug manufacturing facility. The institute is planned in memory of Tyler Mert Ergisi, a local 19-year-old who died from a rare type of bone cancer. He was the son of Cross Regions Group president and CEO David Ergisi.
DEVELOPMENT
- Downtown Jacksonville’s Pearl Street District project has received a $98.5-million redevelopment and incentive package from the Jacksonville City Council. This allows Gateway Jax, the development firm behind the project, to break ground on a portion of the project, with more areas to commence in the future. The Pearl Street District’s mixeduse plan will include more than 1,000 residential units and more than 100,000 square feet of leasable retail space.
HOUSING
- Ability Housing has formed its Ability Housing Affordable Housing Fund with an initial investment of $3.75 million from the Capital Magnet Fund and $950,000 from the state of Florida. The fund will provide Ability with low- or nointerest predevelopment loans and speed up the creation of affordable housing units in Northeast and Central Florida.
MORTGAGES
- Dream Finders Homes of Jacksonville has completed its acquisition of Jet HomeLoans for $9.3 million. Dream Finders already owned 60% of Jet HomeLoans; Jet generated $20 million in pre-tax earnings in 2023.
LOGISTICS
- DHL Supply Chain will build a 600,000-sq.-ft., $64-million facility in North Jacksonville that will create more than 100 new jobs by the end of next year.
TOURISM
- Jacksonville saw a 22.3% rise in international tourism between 2022 and 2023, according to the company Luxury Link. The city received 170,000 visitors from overseas last year.
OFFICE SPACE
- Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the $19.6-million sale of Meridian at Town Center, a fivebuilding, 200,000-sq.-ft. office park in Jacksonville. The new owners are Merritt Properties of Baltimore; the previous owners were Taurus Investment Group in Boston.
BANKING
- Wells Fargo has laid off 74 employees in Jacksonville in its continued efforts to downsize.