UH seen as forerunner to
biotechnology boom

Marine center on course

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

If Hawaii follows California's lead, biotechnology industries will spring up from University of Hawaii research, suggests Harvey Blanch of the University of California-Berkeley.

More than half of the nation's biotechnology companies are in California, he said in an interview.

Sixty percent to 70 percent are within 12 miles of the nine University of California campuses, which receive more than $2 billion annually in state support, he said. More than half were founded from UC research, he said.

"Look at the economic contribution biotechnology has made on the state - an enormous impact," he said

Blanch is associate director of the Marine Bioproducts Engineering Center, or MarBEC, a joint program of UH-Manoa and UC-Berkeley.

He was here last week for an inaugural meeting of MarBec scientists with industrial partners.

MarBEC is being established as a National Science Foundation engineering research center.

Oskar Zaborsky, MarBEC's first director, drafted the proposal and won a $12.4 million foundation grant for a UH-Manoa and UC-Berkeley partnership.

He quit a month later, in December, citing personal reasons, and recently said UH hadn't kept its promises or commitments.

Although this created "a bit of a bumpy road" for MarBEC, it focused attention on the importance of state support for UH, Blanch said. "The university is needing a strong voice."

UH oceanographer Alex Malahoff, who was UH's MarBEC associate director, is now director. "He will be a great director," Blanch said. "He is politically astute and knows his way around campus."

Malahoff also heads the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory, the UH Ocean and Research Engineering Department, the Faculty Senate and the UH Professional Assembly.

Malahoff said everything is on track for developing the program. "It's surprising how well the institutions are working. I'm so pleased, despite our university woes, how important we are to UC-Berkeley."

It's "an enormous accolade" for the UH to get a partnership with an academic giant like UC-Berkeley, he said.

Scientists from both campuses at the MarBEC meeting described what they're doing to develop marine microorganisms and technologies for products ranging from anti-cancer agents, paint and plastic additives to suntan oil.

Bob Bidigare, who is setting up a MarBEC lab at the Institute of Marine Biology at Coconut Island, discussed the potential for "gold-mine organisms" under study by UH marine scientists.

Companies are looking for new sources to produce polyunsaturated (fatty) acids and carotenoids for nutritional compounds, said Jim Flatt of San Diego, director of microbial technology for Monsanto Corp. and chairman of the MarBEC industrial advisory board.

They're also seeking breakthrough engineering technology to mass-culture compounds cost-effectively, he said.

"This is just the beginning," he said. "What's really neat," he added, is that MarBEC is bringing biological scientists and engineers together to produce products with economic benefits for Hawaii and the United States.

Other advisory board members are Mark Huntley of Aquasearch Inc. in Kona, Bob Bourke of Oceanit Labs in Honolulu, and Mike Cushman of Eastman Chemical Co. in Tennessee.

National Science Foundation program officer Cheryl Cathey said the foundation expects three things from its engineering centers: research, education and industrial partnerships.

She said the foundation wants students to be involved with industry and all aspects of the centers to understand how they fit into the whole picture. "They will be more effective immediately when they go into industry."

Malahoff said efforts are under way to establish UH master's and doctorate degrees in marine bioproducts and marine bioengineering. An exchange program is being shaped between the UH and UC-Berkeley for undergraduates and graduates.

Outreach also will be done in kindergarten through 12th grades toward the goal of "producing the next generation of marine biotech engineers," Malahoff said.

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Marine center on course,
team reports

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

While Oskar Zaborsky's departure from a new University of Hawaii marine engineering center stirred political concerns about its future, a site visit team says there's nothing to worry about.

"We are pleased to report that we believe MarBEC (Marine Bioproducts Engineering Center) has emerged from its challenges as a stronger unit," the team said in a recent report.

Members of other engineering research centers visited the UH-based marine bioengineering center in January as consultants for the National Science Foundation.

Alex Malahoff became MarBEC director when Zaborsky quit a month after the foundation provided a grant for the UH-Manoa project with the University of California-Berkeley.

The visiting team praised Malahoff, MarBEC Associate Director Harvey Blanch, chairman of chemical engineering at UC-Berkeley, and the administrative staff: Kevin Kelly and Judy Rubano of UH and Stacey Shulman of UC-Berkeley.

The team said Malahoff proved to be a capable leader through "his ability to handle the awkward, at best, situation of Oskar Zaborsky's resignation."

The group commended him "for a tremendous amount of work (and patience) in dealing with the aftermath of the former director. He has handled the politics of the situation with great finesse and with minimal conflict."

It was impressed with the MarBEC faculty and their excitement in the center and educational opportunities for students.

The consultants observed that "UH can be a difficult environment in which to develop a unique administrative, research or educational program due to its bureaucratically entrenched culture and the fact that all levels of UH employees are unionized."

The first floor of the Pacific Ocean Science and Technology Building is being renovated, which will solve a space problem on campus, the group noted.

Meeting with C. Barry Raleigh, dean of the School of Ocean & Earth Science and Technology, the team stressed the need for young faculty involved in MarBEC to receive credit for advancement, promotion and tenure.

Offering tips on funding, planning and other aspects of the program, the group concluded: "Tremendous research, education and economic development opportunities exist for MarBEC."