Making a Difference

Biotechnology [bahy-oh-tek-nol-uh-jee], noun. The use of microorganisms, such as bacteria or yeasts, or biological substances, such as enzymes, to perform specific industrial or manufacturing processes. Applications include the production of certain drugs, synthetic hormones, and bulk foodstuffs as well as the bioconversion of organic waste and the use of genetically altered bacteria in the cleanup of oil spills.

- American Heritage Dictionary

Building an Innovation Economy

Making Rhode Island and the nation a healthier, safer, and more prosperous place to live.

The textile mills spawned by the Industrial Revolution fueled the Rhode Island economy throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, when the state was a global hub for manufacturing. The Rhode Island economy of the 2000s, however, will likely be driven by a different technological trend—biotechnology. The University is building the framework for this economy with several groundbreaking initiatives.

At the heart of these initiatives is the $60 million Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences, a 140,000 square foot facility where students will learn in state-of-the-art classrooms and labs, and where scientists will conduct important research aimed at making Rhode Island and the nation a healthier, safer, and more prosperous place to live.

“This building is the centerpiece of a statewide effort to fuel economic growth and workforce development in biotechnology, health, and life sciences, which are all rapidly growing business sectors that will help drive a new innovation-based economy for our state,” said Jeff Seemann, dean of the College of the Environment and Life Sciences and the driving force behind the project.

The center is being funded with both public and private monies—a $50 million state bond approved by voters in 2004 and $10 million in private donations being sought from businesses and individuals. It will be the focus of the north district of the Kingston Campus, which will also be the future home of new buildings for pharmacy, nursing, and chemistry. Construction will begin this year. “The development of the north district will make URI a national leader in the life and health sciences and even more central to the economic development of Rhode Island,” Seemann said.

The Center will build upon several biotechnology education programs already under way at the University:

At URI’s Feinstein Providence Campus, where a Biotechnology Manufacturing Program was launched in 2003, students are enrolled in a workforce development effort designed to quickly train workers to be employed in the growing biotech industry. Using a state-of-the-art biotechnology training lab equipped with the help of industry partners, students begin with two semesters of rigorous coursework followed by a summer internship. Industry demand for workers with this specialized training is great, so most students then enter the workforce full time with salaries exceeding $35,000 per year and complete their bachelor’s degrees as part-time students. Nearly 50 students have already completed the first year of the program and were quickly hired by local firms. Another 24 students entered the program last year.

A new master’s degree program in biotechnology through the Clinical Laboratory Science program at the Providence campus has graduated 175 students. Ninety more students are currently enrolled, including 20 employed by Amgen, the state’s largest biotechnology employer.

The University’s Biotechnology Training Initiative, also in Providence, provides industry professionals with an alternative for keeping current with the latest technologies. Numerous credit and non-credit mini-courses are available through the initiative on such subjects as genomics and proteomics, tangential flow filtration, and manufacturing and clinical practices. The initiative also hosts an annual conference at which executives from area biotechnology firms provide updates on their company activities and opportunities.Biotechnology education isn’t confined to enrolled students and professionals. An introductory biotech course called “The Way We Work With Life” was launched last fall as an online course available to anyone around the world. Designed by biotechnology professor Albert Kausch and based on a series of lectures by industry experts, in addition to online readings and tests, the course is available for free to the general public, while high school students may enroll for credit at a significantly reduced rate. Visit lifeedu.org for details.

“The tools of biotechnology are being used in an increasing number of industries, and understanding the issues involved is important for everyone in the global community,” said Seemann. “This online course is now available to a broad range of the public anytime and anywhere. It has helped make URI a national leader in biotechnology education.”

Education is only one piece of the biotechnology picture at the University. The tools of biotechnology are being used in research in nearly a dozen academic departments, from chemistry and pharmacy to plant sciences, oceanography, and mechanical engineering. URI scientists are working to understand the basis for diseases such as cancer, Lyme disease, and Eastern equine encephalitis; seeking solutions for food safety and security issues; developing the next generation of biofuels to reduce dependence on foreign oil; and working to protect the health of Narragansett Bay.

This research is being augmented with the help of a $6.75 million federal grant that will establish new research facilities, hire and train key personnel, and help faculty members qualify for additional federal grants. The National Science Foundation funding inaugurates a partnership among all of Rhode Island’s colleges and universities, administered by URI, that is designed to stimulate life science research in the state.

“Our faculty are researching critical issues that demand solutions, and the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences is an essential part of obtaining those solutions,” Seemann concluded. “Financial support from alumni and industry will ensure that it provides the most innovative education, high-tech workforce development, and pioneering research for our state and our citizens.”

To learn how you or your business can help, contact Paul Witham, associate vice president for development, at 401-874-5569 or pwitham@advance.uri.edu.

- By Todd McLeish

Kausch is now genetically engineering switchgrass that is sterile ensuring that the genetically modified organisms do not escape into the environment.

Switching to Switchgrass

Albert Kausch is a URI plant geneticist on the cutting edge of switchgrass research.

In his 2006 State of the Union address, President Bush acknowledged the potential for switchgrass as a source of ethanol to reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign oil. Unlike corn, which is currently used for ethanol production, switchgrass can be grown on marginal soils in many regions of the country, is useful as wildlife habitat, and requires little use of fertilizers, insecticides, or irrigation.

“Switchgrass is a native plant of the tall grass prairies. It grows 12 feet tall in one season and produces 10 tons of plant material an acre, more biomass per year than most other plants,” said Albert Kausch, a URI plant geneticist on the cutting edge of switchgrass research. “I’m confident my lab can make it produce 20 tons an acre using the tools and personnel we have right now.”

And because switchgrass is a perennial plant, it doesn’t require replanting year after year.

Kausch is a world leader in developing transgenic grasses, having spent 20 years genetically modifying turf grasses, rice, and corn. He is also an expert on “gene confinement” who is working to create a switchgrass that does not flower or reproduce, thereby ensuring that the genetically modified organisms do not escape into the environment and affect wild switchgrass.

Kausch recently launched “Project Golden Switchgrass,” which he hopes will develop “the variety of enhanced switchgrass that everyone needs.” He said that native switchgrass grown commercially today could produce ethanol for approximately $2.70 per gallon, but by genetically improving a number of plant traits he believes the production price could get as low as $1 per gallon.

“There are several impediments to the process of converting switchgrass to ethanol that would make unaltered switchgrass commercially unprofitable,” Kausch said. “We are working with professors at Brown University, for instance, to create better enzymes that will degrade cellulose into sugars for a more efficient conversion to ethanol.”

Kausch is now genetically engineering switchgrass that is both sterile and resistant to herbicides. He has a long list of other traits he hopes to improve as well, including drought tolerance, salt tolerance, and cold tolerance. He expects to have test plots of the genetically modified plants on the URI campus within two years, and he hopes the first varieties will be in commercial production by 2011.

Ethanol is a form of alcohol that burns much more cleanly than gasoline, so it results in far lower emissions when used to power automobiles and other vehicles. Since a majority of the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming come from transportation sources, Kausch believes that switching from gasoline to 100 percent ethanol is an important step toward halting climate change. “It won’t entirely solve the problem, but it sure will help,” he said.

- By Todd McLeish

Wanda Hopkins is a student in the biotechnology manufacturing program at the URI Feinstein Providence Campus.

Merging Native American Traditions With Biotech Aspiration

The URI Feinstein Providence Campus biotech manufacturing program features a rigorous curriculum

The traditional Narragansett Indian culture plays a vital role in Wanda Hopkins’ daily life. She is on the board of the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum and serves as treasurer of the tribe’s Johnson O’Malley Parent Education Committee. She enrolled her children in the Narragansetts’ Nuweetooun School, and two of them continue to demonstrate their skills as traditional dancers during pow-wow season.

While Hopkins has one foot firmly in the traditional world, the other is testing the waters of the high-tech world of biotechnology. A student in the biotechnology manufacturing program on URI’s Feinstein Providence Campus, she landed a job last summer with Organogenesis, a tissue regeneration company in Canton, Mass.

“I don’t see a contradiction between Native American knowledge of Mother Earth and the new world of biotechnology,” said the Hopkinton resident. “I view it as the world of science catching up with ancient wisdom. My ancestors tried to communicate the importance of life that existed in the wind, water, plants, etc. I don’t know how the ancestors knew about life they could not see with the naked eye, but whenever I see life teeming in a drop of water under the microscope, I honor their wisdom all the more.”

It was her son Mack who, upon his graduation from URI in 2004, encouraged Hopkins to return to college after a nearly 20-year absence. “I was a full-time mom, but I was very involved in the whole educational process as I watched my children grow,” Hopkins said. “When I saw a story about the URI biotech program, I knew that was for me.”

Launched in 2003 at the URI Feinstein Providence Campus, the biotech manufacturing program features a rigorous curriculum that begins with two semesters of full-time study followed by a summer internship at a biotechnology company in the area. Following the internship, most students go to work full-time in the industry and complete their bachelor’s degree as part-time students. Nearly 50 students from the program are already working full-time in the biotechnology industry.

“The best part of the program is that we do a lot of hands-on learning that is very practical,” Hopkins said. “After every lecture we have a lab, so what we learn in the lecture we get to apply right away.”

Hopkins added that the coursework, which includes biology, chemistry, biotechnology methods, computer science, and math, is challenging and the pace is accelerated.

“When I first started the program, I thought my professors were speaking another language,” she said, “and now I know they really were. I’ve learned many new scientific terms and techniques for studying the world around me.”

- By Todd McLeish