Word: cigb
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...Limonta became director of the brand-new CIGB, which quickly grew into a sprawling research dynamo, one of more than two dozen Cuban institutes dedicated to the biological sciences. The center--along with its marketing arm, a quasi-corporate entity called Heber Biotec--now employs more than 1,200 technicians and scientists. "We don't have an institute of this size devoted to biotechnology in all Australia," marvels Peter Willadsen, a molecular biologist who directs a center on animal diseases in Indooroopilly, Australia...
...coddling delicate seedlings. There is even a particle gun that genetically transforms sugarcane embryos by peppering them with DNA-coated BBs. But what really impresses foreign visitors is the folding cot that occupies a corner of De la Riva's office. At the Centro de Ingenieria Genetica y Biotecnologia (CIGB) in Havana, Cuba, De la Riva explains, researchers strive to stay ahead of the competition by sleeping alongside their experiments...
...Cuba's biotechnicians are expanding into agriculture and industry. Late last year CIGB was host to an international conference at which 250 scientists from the U.S., Europe and South America got a look at some of the products wending their way through the laboratory. Among the most promising: a recombinant vaccine that protects cattle against disease-bearing ticks, crops genetically engineered to repel insects, and industrial enzymes that cut energy consumption...
...research efforts have been highly pragmatic, aimed at solving real-life problems--of which Cuba has more than its share. Cuban agriculture nearly collapsed following the breakup of the Soviet Union, which for years subsidized Cuba with discount petroleum and petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides. So scientists at CIGB concentrated on improving the food supply. Among other things, they equipped sugarcane and potatoes with bacterial genes that confer pest resistance and added an extra growth-hormone gene to tilapia, creating a faster-growing variant of that tasty freshwater fish...
...CIGB scientists also tried to bolster sagging industrial productivity. Molecular biologist Manuel Raices helped develop a recombinant enzyme that dissolves dextran, a sticky substance that gums up the sugar-refining process. In tests conducted by local sugar mills, the enzyme reduced oil consumption up to 45%. Now Raices is working with Swedish researchers on an enzyme that digests lignin, a gluelike material that bedevils paper manufacturers...