Universities jump into Biotech

By Erika Wurst

MONTERREY, Mexico -- From curing cancer to creating goat-gurt, the possibilities of biotechnology are intriguing, and no one knows this better than Mario Alvarez, head of the biotechnology research center at Monterrey Tec University.

Tec recently launched a bachelor's program in Biotechnology and committed millions of dollars to build a state-of-the-art biotech center in the middle of campus.   A wooden barricade surrounds the construction site where a giant, metal futuristic-looking building is taking shape.

The building, and the research that will go on there, represent Mexico's most serious foray to date into biotechnology, a field that is being pursued with equal vigor at Arizona State University and a number of other universities north of the border.

In fact, ASU and Tec have recently begun collaborating on biotechnology research and teaching, one of a handful of such agreements between universities trying to get an edge on what has become a very crowded field of biotech hopefuls.

But while university scientists and administrators are keen on what biotechnology can bring in terms of scientific advancements, prestige and dollars, most people still have only the vaguest notion of what biotechnology even is, said Frederico Martin, a molecular biosciences and biotechnology senior at ASU.

"They don't know how it works or the benefits of what it can bring," he said while sitting at his computer, pumping out a molecular biotechnology paper filled with words the average person would have trouble pronouncing . "They don't know what it is."

A primer

Biotechnology is most commonly defined as any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or their derivatives to make or modify products.

Martin uses crops as an example.

Farmers, he says, "have to use pesticides and things that are bad for the environment. If you insert the genes with antibiotics so that the bugs that eat them die rather than spray them with chemicals, it is safer for the environment."

Biotechnology applications range from treating waste to genetically altering microorganisms like E. coli or yeast to make antibiotics like penicillin - or even making goat-gurt or yogurt from the bacteria in goat milk.

"Some cells have the potential to be things," Monterrey's Alvarez said. "They just don't know it yet."

The hope is that the uses will be both practical and lucrative.

Kimberly Ovitt, communication director for the Biodesign Institute at ASU, said biotech advancements will help improve human health, clean up the environment and prevent disease.

At the University of Kentucky, for example, researchers are developing genetically engineered tobacco hybrids that can produce proteins to be used in a variety of pharmaceuticals.

The Genome Research Institute near Cincinnati is breeding 250,000 zebra fish that reproduce quickly and are translucent - making them ideal for studying the effects of drugs.

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported on how crowded the biotech bandwagon is getting, even though it's an expensive and risky business. At least 40 states are pursuing bioscience as a statewide goal, with government, universities, private companies and foundations investing tens of millions of dollars to build facilities and attract top researchers.

Arizona, not to be left behind, is investing in a big way. ASU recently opened a new $69 million biotechnology building, the first of four such buildings planned for campus. The second building is being financed under a special $73 million appropriation from the Arizona Legislature.

ASU is already at work on projects ranging from HIV research to genomic mapping as well as the development of vaccines, intelligent prosthetics and non-invasive diabetes testing, Ovitt said.

ASU's goal is to develop products that have "real world uses," then turn over those prototypes to private industry to manufacture, she said. "This is a different focus than most academic institutions, which tend to focus on basic research and leave the more 'applied' research to private industry."

A Latin American partner

Last October, ASU and Tec administrators decided that two universities working together on biotechnology research and teaching were better than one. An agreement was signed to share research and exchange faculty and students.

"There is a scientific advantage of working together," Alvarez said. "We are building a new center and we are able to see what are things we don't need to do here and what areas we have to strengthen.   It just makes sense; we have possibilities of learning."

Still, when Tec first made the decision this year to build a new biotechnology building and launch a bachelor's degree in Biotechnology, Alvarez was skeptical.

Only a handful of students had indicated any interest in the field. So when more than 100 students signed up, Alvarez and his colleagues were astounded.

"We expected maybe 60.   But 100 students!" he exclaimed.   "It's a big challenge, but it sped up the process of getting ready with the labs."

Alvarez said the ultimate measure of the program's success will come not from how many students enroll, but "by the number of businesses we create. We want to bring things from the labs to real America."

Students like ASU's biotech senior Martin are excited about the possibilities.

"It's a field where you get a lot of expansion.   You can do things from develop new food to drugs to vaccines," he said. "You can go to the industry, you can stay in research or you can start your own company."

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