NEWS TECHNOLOGY Environmental biotechnology meetings bring developers, manufacturers, users together There is a growing need for interaction between environmental biotechnology developers, engineers, and industrial users, according to organizers of several recent biotechnology symposia. This new attitude—the joining of science and industry—is a primary focus of this month's Environmental Biotech '96 conference, sponsored by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and running concurrendy with BIO's annual meeting in Philadelphia June 9-13. "It's time to have a dialogue between industry, government, and academia," said one of the meeting organizers, Oskar R. Zaborsky, director of the Hawaiian Natural Energy Institute and the Marine Biotechnology Center at the University of Hawaii. The meeting is being cosponsored by the White House National Science and Technology Council. Morrie Ruffin, director of BIO's year-old environmental section, hopes the meeting will attract environmental managers of Fortune 500 companies and biotechnology companies active in remediation, downstream processing, and manufacturing. Technical sessions on bioremediation, industrial water treatment, air treatment, and pollution prevention will be mixed with business sessions on partnering, marketing, and industrial technology requirements. "We hope to spawn a lot of discussion about what's really needed in the industry" said Diane L Saber president of Chicagobased Saber Environmental Consultants and member of the meeting's program committee University, government, and industry researchers met in April for a symposium, "Biotechnology in the Sustainable Environment," hosted by the University of Tennessee's Center for Environmental Biotechnology (CEB) and Waste Management Research and Education Institute (WMREI). Gary Sayler, CEB's director, described the symposium in terms of opportuni-
ties to apply newly developed technologies—genetically engineered microorganisms, selected microorganism strains, and strains engineered to serve as biosensors— to environmental problems. Even the New York Biotechnology Association (NYBA), which has a traditional biopharmaceutical emphasis, is courting environmental companies. At its annual meeting in October, NYBA will host a symposium with the Environmental Business Association of New York State. "We think it's important for the broader biotech industry to be familiar with the advances in bioremediation and the application of biotechnologies to environmental problems," stated Jack Huttner, NYBA's executive director Huttner added that it also is important "to the professional technology transfer community from the universities to the opportunities in the field " The subtext running through these meetings is cost. "The costeffectiveness of bioremediation is being driven primarily by the new regulatory climate in Washington, which is frowning on spending millions of dollars on cleaning up a site," explained Kimberly L. Davis, WMREI assistant director.
Intrinsic bioremediation, she said, has gained attention as an inexpensive remediation option because it is done in situ and "you're just monitoring the plume." Saber pointed out that remediation is moving to approaches that stimulate native bacteria to degrade wastes. Augmentation of nutrient sources through introduction of "food" bacteria, yeast extract, a nutrient base, or vitamin supplementation is being investigated. Biotechnology's contribution to pollution prevention also shows promise, according to Davis. She gave as examples of upstream manufacturing applications the design of an azo-based dye that will degrade more readily in the environment than currendy used dyes and the use of enzymes in manufacturing processes rather than toxic chemicals. By bringing together technology developers and producers, meeting organizers are hoping to expedite the movement of technologies from the laboratory to the field. Robert Burlage and colleagues of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are interested in finding a corporate partner for their research on inserting bioluminescent "bioreporter" genes into bacteria. These cause the cells to fluoresce and thus "report" under certain biochemical conditions. Usirifi £L light source and detector in the field f*ftn p r o g r a m
the reporter (jpnpc
to turn on in the presence of spe-
Microorganisms genetically engineered to "glow" upon contact with specific contaminants will undergo lysimeter tests this summer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Researchers have inserted bioluminescent bioreporter genes ( t o genes from Vibrio supp.) into the organisms, which will be exposed to soil contaminated with naphthalene and related compounds. Photo courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
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cific contaminants or, when used in an organism for bioremediation, when a contaminant has been thoroughly depleted. Burlage reported on this work, which he is doing in conjunction with the University of Tennessee, at the Tennessee meeting. Curtis Lajoie and colleagues from CEB reported on their molecular analyses of activated sludge, part of a wastewater treatment process, using specific genetic probes. The probes identify bacterial species that may be causing problems in the biotreatment process without cultivating the microbes. Lajoie's work, an example of a university-corporate partnership, is partially supported
by Eastman Chemical Co. of Kingsport, Tenn. Other unique remediation technologies that began in academia include Oceanix Biosciences Corporation's (Hanover, MD) use of a marine organism to remove biofilms, carbohydratebased microbial products that protect microbes in water treatment systems from biocides. The company is using another marine microorganism to selectively bind heavy metals cind remove them from the environment. Oceanix has licensed both technologies from the University of Maryland. Innovative Biotechnologies, Inc. (IBI) of Niagara Falls N Y holds a license from Cornell University
for commercialization of a rapid, liposomal, "dipstick" field assay system for detection of environmental contaminants. Richard Montagna, IBI's president and CEO, is optimistic that he soon will sublicense this technology to an environmental biotechnology company for field use. Although some of the environmental biotechnologies being developed are quite complex and specialized, researchers hope that because of the technologies' precision, ease of use, and economy they will be able to compete with conventional techniques. Saber comments: "We're trying to find the solution for the end user." —MYRNAE.WATANABE
Competitors form company to foster environmental R&D Manufacturers with major pollution problems have, since the mid-1980s, joined in cooperative forums to help fund environmental technology development or share ideas on common problems. But the recently formed Chemical Industry Environmental Technology Projects (CIETP) has taken collaboration one step further by registering as a limitedliability company. Four companies—Air Products and Chemicals, Akzo Nobel Chemicals, DuPont, and the Battelle Memorial Institute—founded CIETP in November 1995. CIETP operates as a for-profit company, supported at this stage by a $50,000 annual dues payment from each member, plus in-kind support, to cover administrative activities, including insurance and legal counsel. The company offers its members shelter if a liability issue related to the use of a technology or concept arises as well as protection related to intellectual property rights and antitrust problems Although most of CIETP's participants are competitors, customers, or both and are unaccustomed to working cooperatively, they see that the high cost of R&D can be cut if businesses pool their resources. "This is a way for us to look to grow as opposed to each of us reinventing the wheel," said CIETP President Chris Widrig, director of industrial programs at Battelle.
"The whole environment is changing as far as companies doing a lot of R&D on their own versus collaborating with others," added John Tao, corporate director of technology partnerships at Air Products and Chemicals. Air Products and Chemicals is heading up CIETP's first venture aimed at recycling the waste product hydrochloric acid into raw materials. A Spanish affiliate of Air Products built a pilot plant to test the recycling technology, which was developed by a dozen of the world's largest chemical producers, including Dow Chemical, BASF, and OxyChem, along with researchers from the University of Southern California. The technology uses 3. copper oxide catalyst to convert the HCl into chlorine The project is nearing completion of the evaluation phase said Tao A second pollution quandary for CIETP is dealing with large volumes of biosolids formed as a byproduct of industrial wastewater treatment. Four CIETP-sponsored projects are under way: one designed to reduce the amount of sludge that is produced; one to cut sludge treatment costs; another investigating ways to revert the sludge into raw material; and a fourth aimed at optimizing wastewater treatment units so no sludge is produced, said Widrig. Other cooperative forums are also actively supporting environmental technology R&D. The "la-
sagna" technology, an integrated in situ treatment for contaminated soil, was the result of matchmaking by the Remediation Technology Development Forum. Formed in 1992, the group gathers specialists to discuss common problems with the hope that a collaborative solution might develop, said Phil Brodsky, a forum participant and vice president of corporate research and environmental technology for Monsanto. The Center for Waste Reduction Technologies, a division of the nonprofit American Institute of Chemical Engineers, also helps develop and fund technologies. Like CIETP, the center offers a framework to handle the complex legal issues that arise when companies decide to pool their resources. Getting people from different disciplines and companies to share experiences is the number one benefit for most participants, according to representatives from all three groups. In addition, the technologies developed gain marketplace acceptance quicker, and government agencies often sign on to the project. CIETP and the Department of Energy are currently working to establish a working relationship, Widrig said. "A lot of the environmental challenges faced by the chemical industry are the same problems the Department of Energy has," he stated. —CATHERINE M. COONEY
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