 | Mercedes Rivero-Hudec
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Research boosts marine biotech in Rhode IslandDiscussions about biotechnology in Rhode Island most often focus on efforts to attract medical biotech companies to the area. But it’s the marine biotech field that may hold the greatest promise for boosting the state’s economy. That’s according to several URI scientists who are making important advances on a wide range of marine research.
The marine biotechnology field uses a variety of technological applications of marine life to solve human and environmental problems. For instance, URI researchers are studying marine organisms to develop products to prevent biofouling, to identify bacteria that feed on pollutants, to find potential pharmaceuticals, and to isolate a gene mutation that quickly builds muscle in pen-raised fish, among other projects.
“Once again we have examples of the critical role URI research can play in the economic growth and diversification of Rhode Island, and particularly in the biotech sector,” said Jeffrey Seemann, dean of URI’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences and the University’s leading advocate for biotechnology research and development.
For example, Marta Gomez-Chiarri, URI assistant professor of fisheries, is developing vaccines and treatments that can be used to protect finfish and shellfish against diseases commonly found in the aquaculture industry.
“Aquaculture facilities can be stressful on fish, and that stress can depress their immune system. So if a disease outbreak occurs, it can quickly kill all the fish and force the company to close. That’s exactly what happened to a Quonset farm in 1998,” she said.
As she works to develop the vaccine, Gomez-Chiarri is also studying the best way to administer it. Some vaccines only work on adult fish and each fish must be injected by hand. Others can be administered via a vaccine bath whereby fish “bathe” in a vaccine solution and pump the water through their gills and mouth and into their system.
URI Assistant Professor of Pharmacy David Rowley is also studying marine bacteria, but his research is aimed at discovering new drugs to cure human diseases. He’s one of a handful of marine microbial natural products chemists around the world, researchers who study marine microbes to see if they can inhibit the growth of human pathogens.
“We know that many marine organisms produce molecules that they use as chemical defenses, to communicate with each other, or in other natural ecological roles,” Rowley said. “Some of these molecules also inhibit the growth of potential competitors. It’s possible that those same molecules could be used to inhibit pathogenic organisms.”
Rowley is targeting his efforts on finding inhibitors for the bacteria that causes the common Staph infection, as well as inhibitors to HIV and a pox virus. “We need to develop new methods for treating infections because so many viruses and bacteria are becoming resistant to known antibiotics,” he said.
Mercedes Rivero-Hudec has a very different take on marine biotechnology. Rather than studying marine life to prevent disease as are Rowley and Gomez-Chiarri, she’s studying marine life to prevent corrosion.
An associate professor of chemical engineering at URI, Rivero-Hudec said “when a surface like a ship’s hull or a dock is exposed to bacteria in an aqueous environment, the bacteria attach themselves to the surface and form a film on it, sort of like dental plaque on your teeth.” Some of these bacteria promote corrosion and encourage barnacles and other organisms to become attached, while other bacteria do just the opposite.
So Rivero-Hudec is working to identify which microorganisms promote corrosion and which inhibit it. She’s also testing special corrosion-preventing coatings being developed by engineering colleague Richard Brown to evaluate their interaction with the microorganisms in question.
By Todd McLeish
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