The following is from Chapter 2 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity:
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Stem Cells and Human Engineering: My Experience with Biotechnology
I feel particularly blessed because I was there in the very early stages of genetic engineering, or recombinant DNA technology, for the Bay Area of San Francisco is where the industry really started. My PhD interest in the DNA/RNA of E. coli no doubt was seeded here.
Yes, in Genesis 30:25 – 43, selective breeding of sheep was practiced, wheat was carefully developed from wild grasses 10,000 years ago, and we know of Gregor Mendel, Austrian Augustinian priest, and his pea plants about 150 years ago. But I remember sitting in on some lectures by biochemist Arthur Kornberg while at Stanford in the early 1960’s, where there was excitement of molecular re-design. It was not until 1972, though, that Paul Berg, from the same department, succeeded in combining the DNA of two viruses. Both Kornberg, who passed away in 2007, and Berg, are Nobel Laureates, and Roger Kornberg, son of, and another biochemist at Stanford, was awarded that Prize in 2006. In 1973, two more biochemists, Herbert Boyer of the University California at San Francisco and Stanley Cohen of Stanford University, produced the first recombinant DNA organism, establishing the foundation for the industry. Cohen went on to win the Nobel Prize and Boyer in 1976 co-founded Genentech, the first true biotechnology company, although Cetus, differentiated as a biological engineering firm, out of Berkeley, was started in 1971.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that life forms could be patented, and Wall Street came calling. Soon thereafter, Genentech had an initial public offering (IPO) and gained $35 million. Cetus followed with a $107 million IPO. Just in the Bay Area alone, there are now 800 biotech companies employing 85,000 people, generating annual revenues approaching $5 billion. And this is just the beginning.
In contrast to the Bay Area success story, my attempts at marine biotechnology in Hawaii, as we shall see, largely failed…yet, perhaps I have planted a few seeds that might yet germinate over time. When I first joined the University of Hawaii in 1971, I teamed with Sidney Gaines of the Medical School to refine my PhD dissertation on “Tunable Organic Dye Laser Irradiation of Escherichia coli.” The student researcher was William Bow, who now runs his engineering consultant firm, and, of all the coincidences, more than a third of century later, was sitting amongst the Pearl Harbor Rotary listening to my first public presentation of Simple Solutions, Book 1. But in the early 70’s, the environmental and energy crisis arrived, and I moved on to other priorities.
Much later came the adventures of MarBEC, where Hawaii was supposed to become the Silicon Valley equivalent for marine biotechnology. In parallel I helped start a firm to conduct R&D on a high value bio-product at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority. This pearl venture was reported on in Book 1.
But a real opportunity came when, at the turn of the Millennium, I was asked to join the board of Hawaii Biotechnology Group, Inc., a company founded by colleagues at the University. I helped them accomplish three things. First, the name was too unwieldy, so I suggested Pacific Biotech. The change was made to Hawaii Biotech, Inc. Early in my directorship of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI), I recommended a change to the Pacific Institute for Oceanic, Natural Energy and Environmental Resources (or PIONEER). I was accused of trying to take over the university, so I relented. I’ve always thought Hawaii in a title was too limiting, and, if you’re going to have a name, if at all possible, make the acronym meaningful.
But a company can’t waste its time on small grants from the National Institutes of Health, so, second, I helped point the way to larger Department of Defense funding. Homeland security was becoming an important then, so what better than to have U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye assist them get bigger bucks to counteract bio-terrorism. This worked. But the larger problem was the company itself.
HBI was twenty years old and still competing for research through federal grants to stay alive. This is necessary for a university unit, but not what real companies should be doing. There was a sense of slow death. So I assisted in the transition to make HBI entrepreneurial. It is a very trying process transforming a company led by research professors, but, ultimately, even they took this chance.
In 2001 David Watumull was hired. It was unfortunate that he knew scant little about biology, had not even graduated from college and was involved in a lawsuit from his previous company, Aquasearch (which is another interesting story in itself, having been founded by Mark Huntley, for a short spell a researcher at HNEI), but David had the smarts, financing experience and local contacts. Six years later, Cardax was spun off to produce an anti-inflammatory compound, and he became its first CEO, and HBI continued in its quest for recombinant vaccine development, led by a team of high-powered alien (not from Hawaii) investors. Here I was waiting for the IPO to cash in my stock options, but got a reality check when Stanford Ovshinsky, who invented amorphous silicon products, told me that, by the time the financiers got through with it, a few bones were tossed his way. So much now for me ever getting rich.
I remain optimistic, however, about Hawaii ultimately gaining a foothold in this business, as the Medical School shows promise, marine natural products are ideal for development and our presence between East and West surely must be a plus. We did have that mouse, Cumilina, cloned by Ryuzo Yanagimachi, and, Hawaii Biotech is still alive. Marine biotechnology will someday, I predict, become the tool for next generation clean energy and natural pharmaceuticals…and maybe Hawaii will yet play a crucial role.
I feel particularly blessed because I was there in the very early stages of genetic engineering, or recombinant DNA technology, for the Bay Area of San Francisco is where the industry really started. My PhD interest in the DNA/RNA of E. coli no doubt was seeded here.
Yes, in Genesis 30:25 – 43, selective breeding of sheep was practiced, wheat was carefully developed from wild grasses 10,000 years ago, and we know of Gregor Mendel, Austrian Augustinian priest, and his pea plants about 150 years ago. But I remember sitting in on some lectures by biochemist Arthur Kornberg while at Stanford in the early 1960’s, where there was excitement of molecular re-design. It was not until 1972, though, that Paul Berg, from the same department, succeeded in combining the DNA of two viruses. Both Kornberg, who passed away in 2007, and Berg, are Nobel Laureates, and Roger Kornberg, son of, and another biochemist at Stanford, was awarded that Prize in 2006. In 1973, two more biochemists, Herbert Boyer of the University California at San Francisco and Stanley Cohen of Stanford University, produced the first recombinant DNA organism, establishing the foundation for the industry. Cohen went on to win the Nobel Prize and Boyer in 1976 co-founded Genentech, the first true biotechnology company, although Cetus, differentiated as a biological engineering firm, out of Berkeley, was started in 1971.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that life forms could be patented, and Wall Street came calling. Soon thereafter, Genentech had an initial public offering (IPO) and gained $35 million. Cetus followed with a $107 million IPO. Just in the Bay Area alone, there are now 800 biotech companies employing 85,000 people, generating annual revenues approaching $5 billion. And this is just the beginning.
In contrast to the Bay Area success story, my attempts at marine biotechnology in Hawaii, as we shall see, largely failed…yet, perhaps I have planted a few seeds that might yet germinate over time. When I first joined the University of Hawaii in 1971, I teamed with Sidney Gaines of the Medical School to refine my PhD dissertation on “Tunable Organic Dye Laser Irradiation of Escherichia coli.” The student researcher was William Bow, who now runs his engineering consultant firm, and, of all the coincidences, more than a third of century later, was sitting amongst the Pearl Harbor Rotary listening to my first public presentation of Simple Solutions, Book 1. But in the early 70’s, the environmental and energy crisis arrived, and I moved on to other priorities.
Much later came the adventures of MarBEC, where Hawaii was supposed to become the Silicon Valley equivalent for marine biotechnology. In parallel I helped start a firm to conduct R&D on a high value bio-product at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority. This pearl venture was reported on in Book 1.
But a real opportunity came when, at the turn of the Millennium, I was asked to join the board of Hawaii Biotechnology Group, Inc., a company founded by colleagues at the University. I helped them accomplish three things. First, the name was too unwieldy, so I suggested Pacific Biotech. The change was made to Hawaii Biotech, Inc. Early in my directorship of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI), I recommended a change to the Pacific Institute for Oceanic, Natural Energy and Environmental Resources (or PIONEER). I was accused of trying to take over the university, so I relented. I’ve always thought Hawaii in a title was too limiting, and, if you’re going to have a name, if at all possible, make the acronym meaningful.
But a company can’t waste its time on small grants from the National Institutes of Health, so, second, I helped point the way to larger Department of Defense funding. Homeland security was becoming an important then, so what better than to have U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye assist them get bigger bucks to counteract bio-terrorism. This worked. But the larger problem was the company itself.
HBI was twenty years old and still competing for research through federal grants to stay alive. This is necessary for a university unit, but not what real companies should be doing. There was a sense of slow death. So I assisted in the transition to make HBI entrepreneurial. It is a very trying process transforming a company led by research professors, but, ultimately, even they took this chance.
In 2001 David Watumull was hired. It was unfortunate that he knew scant little about biology, had not even graduated from college and was involved in a lawsuit from his previous company, Aquasearch (which is another interesting story in itself, having been founded by Mark Huntley, for a short spell a researcher at HNEI), but David had the smarts, financing experience and local contacts. Six years later, Cardax was spun off to produce an anti-inflammatory compound, and he became its first CEO, and HBI continued in its quest for recombinant vaccine development, led by a team of high-powered alien (not from Hawaii) investors. Here I was waiting for the IPO to cash in my stock options, but got a reality check when Stanford Ovshinsky, who invented amorphous silicon products, told me that, by the time the financiers got through with it, a few bones were tossed his way. So much now for me ever getting rich.
I remain optimistic, however, about Hawaii ultimately gaining a foothold in this business, as the Medical School shows promise, marine natural products are ideal for development and our presence between East and West surely must be a plus. We did have that mouse, Cumilina, cloned by Ryuzo Yanagimachi, and, Hawaii Biotech is still alive. Marine biotechnology will someday, I predict, become the tool for next generation clean energy and natural pharmaceuticals…and maybe Hawaii will yet play a crucial role.
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The Dow Jones Industrial crashed 186 today to 9135. One more day like today, and buying opportunities will appear. Consumer fears were cited. World markets also all fell. Remember, though, the stock market has jumped 50% in five months, so some corrections will occur. Gold fell $15/toz tp $936, while crude oil seems inclined to remain between $65 and $70/barrel.
The two storms in the Western Pacific are only threatening ships at this time. Guillermo has weakened into a tropical storm and continues to move along a predicted path north of Hawaii. In the Atlantic, Bill is now a hurricane, and could strengthen to Category 4 by this weekend. Most models, though, show a movement that will take it north, and could well miss the USA. Claudette is now rain over Alabama. Ana has been downgraded to a tropical wave, will bring rain to Puerto Rico and nearby islands, and is not shown on the map. However, there is a finite chance that she would recover in the Gulf. Ana cannot at this point be discounted.
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