Marine Biotechnology Center
UCSB is recognized internationally for its leadership in Marine Biotechnology. This exciting field uses the latest breakthroughs in modern molecular biology, genetic engineering and cell science to solve basic problems in marine resource biology; to improve the production of medical,chemical, food, and energy resources from the ocean; and to develop new products and industries based on more efficient use of the ocean's resources.
The Marine Biotechnology Center is unique in the University of California system. It helps coordinate fifteen different research programs in this area at UCSB, and helps obtain funding for the vitally needed practical training of advanced students and professionals to help meet the future needs and changing requirements of the nation's marine and biotechnology industries. Close interactions with California's biotechnology, aquaculture and pharmaceutical industries provide new products and highly trained scientific personnel to the industrial sector, and provide support from industry for research and training in the University. The $8 million state-of-the-art Marine Biotechnology Laboratory Building, completed in 1990 to provide additional facilities needed to accommodate the rapid growth of research and teaching in Marine Biotechnology on the campus, was the first such facility of its kind in the United States.
Research and training in Marine Biotechnology are focused at UCSB in three inter-related areas: (1) the development of new methods and approaches from molecular and cellular biology to investigate the basic mechanisms controlling life in the oceans and its responses to environmental change; (2) the development of new industries, resources and products from the oceans; and (3) the use of marine organisms as models for biomedical research. Recent progress in these areas is summarized below.
UCSB scientists are using the tools of biotechnology to unravel the ocean's mysteries in environments as diverse as the Antarctic, tropical seas and reefs, the great ocean depths, and California's resource-rich coastline. These investigations include pioneering studies of the molecular mechanisms of photosynthesis and carbon dioxide fixation by the ocean's phytoplankton, effects on these processes caused by the newly discovered depletion of ozone in the Antarctic atmosphere, and effects of global warming, pollution and other environmental changes. UCSB scientists and students also have discovered receptor molecules and chemical signals that control life in the ocean. The discovery of these signals, and of the receptors, transducing molecules and genes that respond to these signals, has shed new light on the underlying processes regulating the reproduction, development and growth of species ranging from tropical corals to valuable marine resources (urchins and abalones) in California waters.
Researchers at the Marine Biotechnology Center are developing the tools and techniques of molecular and cellular biology to better understand the biodiversity of marine organisms, and how they affect, and are affected by, physical, chemical and geochemical oceanic processes. Marine biota, particularly the microscopic plankton, are dominant mediators of geochemical change on Earth, yet the genetic diversity, abundance and function of these microorganisms in complex communities is still not completely understood. Researchers at the Marine Biotechnology Center are developing new ways to monitor these microscopic communities, and are discovering previously unsuspected diversity and population structure in globally-distributed marine microbial populations. These studies are helping to reveal the influence of microorganisms on global biological and geochemical cycles, and are also providing the tools and baseline data necessary for realistically assessing biological "impacts" which result from both man-made and naturally-occurring environmental change. In addition, the recognition of previously unrecognized marine biodiversity is providing a rich resource fornew development of biotechnological products and processes.
Research at UCSB in the development of new products and industries from marine resources has led to the discovery of promising new diagnostic and therapeutic agents for diseases including arthritis, epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease, and the development of powerful new enzyme catalysts, novel bioadhesives, and marine microorganisms capable of degrading and detoxifying chlorinated hydrocarbons and other pollutants. Members of the Marine Biotechnology Center are working with researchers in Chemistry, Physics and Materials Science through the new NSF-sponsored National Materials Research Laboratory at UCSB to develop valuable new materials - called microlaminate composites - which exhibit exceptional strength and hardness. With the help of the marine biotechnologists' skills in genetic and protein engineering, these novel materials will be fabricated to duplicate the properties thus far achieved only by nature in the process of biomineralization, that is responsible for the remarkably hard shells of marine animals. Research aimed at practical applications with economic value also has led to improvements in the economic efficiency and yield of cultivation of valuable marine fish, shellfish and plants grown for food and pharmaceuticals. These findings have led directly to the growth of new and "environmentally friendly" industries in Santa Barbara that now are producing abalones, urchins and marine algae using innovations in aquaculture technology developed at UCSB.
Research using marine organisms as model systems for biomedical research has led to a host of new and far reaching discoveries at UCSB. Many marine invertebrates, because of their relatively simple design, and the ability to be maintained and easily studied in the laboratory, have provided a rich source of new information and serve as desirable, non-mammalian models for research. A major area of emphasis is in regard to the genetic control of normal development and of tumor formation. In addition, marine model systems have shed light on the mechanisms that nerve cells use to produce, store and release chemical messengers and how the regulation of these cells results in "memory." Many of these discoveries have had direct implications for human and other mammalian research. Another area of research in which marine organisms have provided new information is in the area of fertilization; this fundamental biological process is easily studied using sea urchins, an abundant coastal California organism. Research in this area has led to the discovery of the molecules on the surface of the sperm and egg that are responsible for gamete recognition and that may initiate development. This research impacts on design of contraceptives in mammals and has important implications for understanding cancer in terms of understanding how cell divisions are initiated.