OREGON SCIENTISTS OVERVIEW

Oregon State University, in Corvallis, an hour or so from the state's famous rugged coast, has been home to a number of innovative marine biotechnology programs.

Bill Gerwick, who has now moved to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, spent decades at OSU pursuing the topic that remains his passion: marine algae and cyanobacteria. His extensive work from the Caribbean to the South Pacific has led to the discovery of a number of important compounds. Gerwick has also worked with substantial success at the task of isolating components of the biochemical paths utilized by his targets of choice and applying these components to the innovative creation of new compounds.

Steve Giovannoni focuses on marine bacteria, but not for pharmaceutical applications. Instead, his main interest is in studying open ocean bacterial species that play key roles in the ocean's complex carbon cycle. In the process, Giovannoni has developed a number of techniques for working with bacteria that are now in use in both academic and commercial laboratories to advance a variety of marine biotechnology programs.