EDUCATION
West German Biotech Institute Trains Third World Scientists Aim of six-week inaugural program is to give scientists from developing countries advanced training in modern biotechnology methods Dermot A. O'Sullivan, C&EN London
Twenty scientists from Third World countries will travel soon to Braunschweig, West Germany. Their arrival will mark the launch of the International Training Program in Biotechnology initiated by Joachim Klein, director of Gesellschaft fiir Biotechnologische Forschung (GBF), the Institute for Biotechnological Research. The program's aim, Klein explains, is to provide scientists from developing countries the know-how needed to apply methods of modern biotechnology to problems of importance to them. Participants will be given both instruction and "hands on" experience to enhance their ability to contribute directly to biotechnology programs in their home countries, and to train others locally. The project is unusual on a number of counts. Course work and training given by the German staff of GBF will be conducted in English. GBF will pick up the entire tab, including travel to and from Braunschweig and living expenses while there. There are no strings attached. The only proviso is that participants will be expected to return home to put their knowledge to use. "We wanted to run a one-language course, so we chose English," Klein says. "The German language isn't that widely known outside the country. Besides, English now is the
international language of science. That's why we at GBF submit so many of our research papers for publication in English so they will be more widely read." The 20 attending the inaugural course have been chosen from some 200 who applied. They will come from Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Venezuela. The six-week program is the only one this year, but an extension of the program is planned in coming years. "This is an activity of GBF as an independent research and development institution. It has only indirect government links," Klein says, noting that "of course, we do get money toward GBF's budget from the government. So in that sense, the government is supporting the scheme, which in the first year might cost about $300,000." But, says Klein, "although we have general support and approval of the
Klein: instruction, hands-on courses
idea from the Ministry of Research & Technology, in detail, we are in control of what we are doing, how we do it, and the selection of the people who come here. Bonn is not telling us what to do." The concept stemmed from a visit Klein made to the Far East about a year ago. "There is no doubt that there is need for advanced training of young scientists from various nations that don't as yet have the technical and scientific infrastructure in this new field," he remarks. "In countries like Indonesia, for instance, there is the intention to establish institutes like GBF, but there are difficulties in starting them," he notes. "Although most of the resources will be put in place by the individual countries themselves, much of the training needed can, and should, be undertaken by institutions in the industrialized countries that possess the advanced skills and facilities that modern biotechnology demands." Klein set himself to thinking how GBF might approach the problem. "The question was not so much what to do, but how to do it, and to do it most efficiently so that a number of people could make use of, and profit from, such an educational program." He was influenced to a degree by work at Japan's Osaka Institute of International Training, on the campus of Osaka University but independent of it, which provides oneyear training in microbiology to Asian postgraduates. "The Osaka institute differs from GBF in that it was founded only for teaching," Klein notes. "But at least I could see that the scheme works, and that there is a demand for it. "One approach I considered was to train people by incorporating them into scientific projects here at March 30, 1987 C&EN
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Education
GBF: an academic/industrial bridge GBF, the Institute for Biotechnological Research, with its staff of nearly 400, is located in a suburb of the university town of Braunschweig, some 40 miles east of Hannover. One of West Germany's Association of National Research Centers, it conducts research and development in the broad field of biotechnology. The institute officially began operating in 1976 as an outgrowth of the Institute of Molecular Biological Research. That was formed in 1965, with backing by the Volkswagen Foundation, a funding body that has no link with the auto maker of the same name. Because the foundation's bylaws did not permit financing of the institute indefinitely, the government stepped in 10 years later, and work at the renamed facility was broadened to embrace technology. GBF's annual budget of about $13 million is funded 9 0 % by the federal government in Bonn and 1 0 % by the state of Lower Saxony in which it is located. Government funding notwithstanding, GBF runs its own affairs, and pursues areas of endeavor as its managers see appropriate. "Although we are obliged to do basic and applied research in biotechnology, we have complete freedom," notes Joachim Klein, GBF's director. He sees GBF as a bridge between academic or basic research on the
GBF/' he recalls. "But even in an establishment of this size, with its variety of equipment and instrumentation, it's difficult to see how you could manage more than two or three visitors at a time without turning the whole place around from a scientific and engineering research institution to one devoted to teaching. I then had the idea of setting up a compact teaching and practical course, open to 20 or 25 people/' Klein discussed the idea wih Heinz Riesenhuber, the West German minister of research and technology, who was visiting GBF. "He liked it," Klein recalls. "It has taken shape pretty quickly since then." The next essential step was to draw up details of the course, and bring it to the attention of those 18
March 30, 1987 C&EN
one hand, and industry on the other. For example, a promising line of work carried out at the milliliter or microgram level can be scaled up to the pilot plant stage. The institute has an impressive range of equipment and fermentors of all sizes, and workshops where special units can be built to design specifications. Klein lays great stress on the interdisciplinary approach to problem solving. His staff includes microbiologists, geneticists, enzymologists, analytical and organic chemists, and engineers. Work is conducted in facilities that range from small, well-equipped labs to halls several stories high with computer-controlled fermentors of commercial size. In addition to pursuing in-house science and engineering projects, mostly of a fundamental nature, GBF engages in collaborative and contract research with industry. "Companies can make use of our equipment to test out their systems, or we might work in conjunction with a company toward developing certain products or methods," Klein observes. GBF scientists maintain a dialogue and working relationship with universities in West Germany and elsewhere, and with other establishments. For instance, they are doing research on the fundamentals of bioprocess technology with counterparts at Braunschweig,
around the world who might be interested in attending. For this, Klein appointed Burke K. Zimmerman program director because of his wide experience in the international implications of biotechnology, and his contacts at the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and other bodies. Zimmerman is visiting professor at the graduate school of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and adjunct professor of medical ethics at UC, San Francisco. He has served as assistant to the president of Cetus, a genetic engineering firm based in Berkeley. And while w o r k i n g for a time w i t h
Gottingen, and Hannover universities. And they have projects under way with Israel's Technion in Haifa and Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, with the Canadian National Research Council's Institute of Industrial Biotechnology in Montreal, and in the U.S. with California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Texas A&M University. Work at GBF is grouped into four broad areas: microbiology, cell biology and genetics, bioprocess technology, and enzyme technology. Main research topics include production of microbial products and biotransformation, molecular biology of biologically active proteins, technical enzymes and protein design, and development of biotechnological processes. GBF is responsible also for the German Collection of Microorganisms, known simply as DSM (for Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen). This entails collecting microorganisms of scientific and technical importance, classifying them, and conserving them without altering their properties. In this, GBF collaborates with the Paris-based Microbiological Resources Centers (MIRCENS), formed in 1975 by UNESCO, the United Nations Environment Program, and the International Cell Research Organization to promote the science of microbiology in developing countries.
UNIDO in Vienna, Austria, he was in at the early stages of planning the International Center for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB) now getting under way (C&EN, Oct. 13,1986, page 21). "This initial course at GBF, titled 'Introduction to Industrial Biotechnology,' will focus on techniques fundamental to industrial biotechnology, including elements of microbiology, fermentation, and downstream processing—the harvesting and isolation of cells and microbial products," he notes. "It will emphasize the mastery of methods of general applicability rather than explore highly specific applications. There won't be very much emphasis on recombinant DNA techniques, apart from several hours of lecture
and some laboratory exercises involving plasmid construction, gene cloning, and the expression of gene products. "The latter part of the course will allow some flexibility for students to select areas of particular interest or of relevance to specific problems in their home countries. Typical might be production of selected carbohydrates or fuels from lignocellulose, of industrial enzymes like amylase or protease, of a polysaccharide, or of an antibiotic." The students certainly will be put through their paces during their sixweek stay at Braunschweig. There will be up to 75 hours of lectures and more than 150 hours of lab work. At some stage, students will visit and discuss the biotechnology operations of at least one of the major West German companies involved in the business—"to see biotechnology in action," as Klein puts it. "But other than that, companies are not providing funds." Klein admits to being "very much concerned" that the level of the teaching and the selection of topics be properly adopted. "We don't want to waste the time of the good participants," he says. "But we must not frustrate others who haven't a certain level of expertise. It's difficult to judge from a curriculum vitae just how well a person is versed in a field. So during the first week, we will ask each to give a short presentation to the group. This way, we will find out how the individuals will be capable of participating. "The emphasis will be on doing things, and not so much on background learning at an academic level. There will be interaction with the GBF scientists in small groups. For two weeks toward the end of the course, they will devise and run projects to allow them to gauge what they have learned. The hands-on opportunity to run a fermentor, to do the necessary calculations at a very practical level, is the real need that I feel must be met, so that when the students return home, they should be able to get things done. "The other aspect of the course," Klein says, "is what we call industrial biotechnology. This is especially important for Third World countries. We won't be dealing with ag-
Zimmerman: industrial biotech focus ricultural biotechnology—with plant cell biology, plant breeding, or plant resistance to diseases. That's one negative. Another negative is that we're not going primarily into gene cloning and high-performance genetic techniques leading to interferon production, or the like, even though these are interesting aspects of biotechnology, and will be the subject of research at ICGEB." However, Klein believes that one cannot do a good job in recombinant DNA work in the future if one doesn't understand fundamental systems in biology or in industrial biotechnology. "So," he says, "we will emphasize microbial systems used for the production of metabolites. We will discuss new standards in fermentation technology, how to continuously or discontinuously work with microorganisms, and aspects of downstream processing." The program will consider the role of biotechnology in the chemical industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the food industry; how to prepare and purify enzymes; and so forth, rather than go into sophisticated medical fields where the products may not yet be established, even in industrialized countries. There won't be any conflict between what GBF will be doing, and the work to be undertaken by ICGEB at its component facilities in New Delhi, India, and Trieste, Italy. Indeed, they should be complementa-
ry. One of ICGEB's goals is to establish affiliate centers around the world. They will be geared to objectives and problems specific to each individual region these centers will serve. So they will benefit from having more people available locally who are trained in the necessary techniques. In a longer time frame, the courses might become a "rolling activity" as Klein puts it, taking place several times each year. He does not discount the possibility of GBF's developing an independent branch devoted to teaching at the international level. "This would not be unique for a center like GBF," he observes. Most of West Germany's 13 national research institutes that are devoted to subjects ranging from aerospace and cancer to mathematics and polar science operate along similar lines. The Nuclear Research Center at Karlsruhe, for instance, runs courses in nuclear technology. "I could foresee that arising out of this new GBF program, a few individuals might be invited to stay, or return, for a longer period," Klein suggests. "We already have a program that provides positions for visiting scientists at the graduate and postdoctoral levels as part of our bilateral agreements with countries like Indonesia and Portugal." Klein is also starting to think about a followup to the courses. "When the participants return to their home countries and get involved in their work there," he says, "we might send one of our staff for a couple of months to evaluate and help them in their programs. There are ways of giving additional support to the people, 'on the ground,' so to speak, in their own environment." One might wonder why GBF is going to the trouble and expense of helping Third World countries gain knowledge in biotechnology. "We here at GBF are interested in promoting international collaboration," Klein explains. "Such interaction is the lifeblood of science. As far as the Third World is concerned, the first step centers on education. It will be a long, ongoing procedure. But education is the basis of future collaboration." • March 30, 1987 C&EN
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