SPEAKING OUT: Florida’s biotech efforts must not leave sea behind

November 7, 2004

This article was published in the Gainesville Sun Nov. 7.

By: William Seaman
William Seaman is a a professor of fisheries and aquatic sciences at the University of Florida and associate director of the Florida Sea Grant College Program.

The recent BioFlorida conference in Boca Raton showcased the state’s remarkable progress toward growing Florida’s biotechnology economy.

It also highlighted a pressing need for the state to do more to nurture its greatest natural asset in this area – marine biotechnology.

The BioFlorida program included the Florida Marine Biotechnology Summit, where attendees learned about scores of exciting research advances.

For example, Florida researchers in recent years have invented a genetic “fingerprint” to detect fraud in fishery products.

They’ve also tested naturally produced poisons from marine worms and snails for industrial and medical applications – and perfected ways to detect pathogens and contaminants in our food supply and coastal waters.

In perhaps the most dramatic project, compounds derived from sponges and their associated microorganisms showed powerful anti-cancer properties.

Across the state, a network of marine scientists, and the students they are training, is poised to make even greater contributions.

Sadly, however, some of their talent has been lost to other states, and some research findings belong to sponsors in other states.

For example, two prominent scientists from South Florida were enticed to re-locate to a mid-Atlantic state’s ocean laboratory.

Some of Florida’s leading marine biotech researchers, meanwhile, cannot locate Florida-based industry matching funds to use in federal grant applications – and therefore engage out-of-state partners only too willing to import Florida’s science to their state.

Seeking to tap multi-billion dollar worldwide markets and starting salaries at double the national average, Florida is locked in a national competition with a host of other states to build a biotechnology industry.

A year ago, Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida lawmakers convinced the renowned Scripps Research Institute to launch Scripps Florida, a drug-development research institute going online soon.

At BioFlorida, both Gov. Bush and Scripps leaders reviewed progress toward this goal, noting that Scripps has already lured top-flight scientists and began work on state-of-the-art laboratories.

But as Florida seeks to build on its Scripps success, it must recognize its treasure of ocean scholars.

The biotech movement must not leave the sea behind.

Both Florida’s natural resource base, appreciated by bathers, beachcombers and surfers, and its intellectual base, are extensive.

At least ten universities and labs across Florida, from the Keys to the Panhandle, have started to receive national recognition for their marine biotechnology efforts.

Indeed, Florida has a corner on the market of ocean biodiversity resources and scientific talent.

We need to help this remarkable combination of skills, resources and researchers to reach its potential by creating a dedicated research and training fund for statewide advancement of marine biotechnology.

This fund would enable us to achieve at least three purposes essential to Florida’s international leadership.

First, it would help institutions attract, reward and retain outstanding students through scholarships and research prizes.

Second, it would offer peer-reviewed research dollars to faculty to use to compete for and leverage national awards – bringing Florida up to its “fair share” of national funds.

And finally, the fund would strengthen education and outreach both to the general public and to business leaders trying to make decisions about this amazing new field of biotechnology – whether in the voting booth or in the boardroom.

Far-sighted Florida lawmakers have tried to create just such a fund in the past.

But the $2 million Florida Marine Biotechnology Research, Development and Training Fund never made it out of committee.

That needs to change the next time lawmakers meet. At the recent marine biotechnology summit, the launch of a new company dedicated to development of medicines and other “bioactive” products derived from ocean species such as corals and sponges was announced.

This may have been a first for our state!

With adequate support for the skilled and dedicated faculty and students spread across Florida, we should expect numerous other new ventures to be created.

The ultimate beneficiaries will be the health and security of Florida’s people, economy and environment.