1.4 Marine Life Sciences: The Future Is in Sight
In March 1999, TIME predicted that biotechnology fused with information technology would decide the survival of humankind in the 21st century. It is a dream
that is now being sought by over 1000 biotechnology venture businesses in locations such as “Biotech Bay” and “Biotech Beach” near the U.S.’s Silicon Valley
(Salazar et al. 2003). The U.S. has selected three areas as major 21st century
scientific technologies receiving focused investment: information technology,
biotechnology, and microtechnology. Among these areas, several of the world’s top
research institutes—including the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Scripps
Research Institute in the U.S.—are engaged in active research to apply
bio-engineering, and marine biotechnology in particular, to the development of
naturally derived future pharmaceuticals. The NCI has commissioned research
institutions around the world to collect and examine large numbers of marine
organisms, separating out the active substances and determining their structure to
examine the relationship between that structure and the activity. In addition, it has
engaged—on its own and with outside institutions—in a series of studies to develop
anti-cancer agents through activity analysis and pre-clinical and clinical testing, for
which it has committed large amounts of financial investment.
In Japan, the Japanese Society for Marine Biotechnology was established in
1988 under the national government and an industry-academia-research consortium. The following year saw the first International Marine Biotechnology Conference in Tokyo. A first marine biotechnology research paper conference was held
in Japan in 1992, followed by the launch of the Journal of Marine Biotechnology.
In this way, the country has not only furnished opportunities for researchers to
present their work, but established itself as a current world leader in the field. One
of the reasons for Japan’s interest in the marine biotechnology is field lies in its own
characteristics as a country. An island nation, Japan covers an area amounting to
just 0.25% of the world’s land mass, most of which is mountainous terrain
unsuitable for farming. Because of its long coastline and an economic zone
extending for 200 nautical miles, however, it gains an area equivalent to nearly half
the U.S.’s. This explains why Japan is committing more efforts than the other
advanced economies to making maximum use of the seas.
South Korea is mountainous peninsula and covered by water. It has more
mountainous regions than Japan and lacks natural resources of its own, but it is also
surrounded by seas on three sides and possesses an abundance of marine organism
resources. Yet an adequate understanding of the marine field has yet to take shape,
the human resources needed to study them have not been established, and no bold
investments are being made, resulting in its being one of the most underdeveloped
fields of all today. We should therefore consider why it is that the world’s advanced
economies are viewing marine biotechnology with such interest.
8
1 What Is Marine Biotechnology?
In March 1999, TIME predicted that biotechnology fused with information technology would decide the survival of humankind in the 21st century. It is a dream
that is now being sought by over 1000 biotechnology venture businesses in locations such as “Biotech Bay” and “Biotech Beach” near the U.S.’s Silicon Valley
(Salazar et al. 2003). The U.S. has selected three areas as major 21st century
scientific technologies receiving focused investment: information technology,
biotechnology, and microtechnology. Among these areas, several of the world’s top
research institutes—including the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Scripps
Research Institute in the U.S.—are engaged in active research to apply
bio-engineering, and marine biotechnology in particular, to the development of
naturally derived future pharmaceuticals. The NCI has commissioned research
institutions around the world to collect and examine large numbers of marine
organisms, separating out the active substances and determining their structure to
examine the relationship between that structure and the activity. In addition, it has
engaged—on its own and with outside institutions—in a series of studies to develop
anti-cancer agents through activity analysis and pre-clinical and clinical testing, for
which it has committed large amounts of financial investment.
In Japan, the Japanese Society for Marine Biotechnology was established in
1988 under the national government and an industry-academia-research consortium. The following year saw the first International Marine Biotechnology Conference in Tokyo. A first marine biotechnology research paper conference was held
in Japan in 1992, followed by the launch of the Journal of Marine Biotechnology.
In this way, the country has not only furnished opportunities for researchers to
present their work, but established itself as a current world leader in the field. One
of the reasons for Japan’s interest in the marine biotechnology is field lies in its own
characteristics as a country. An island nation, Japan covers an area amounting to
just 0.25% of the world’s land mass, most of which is mountainous terrain
unsuitable for farming. Because of its long coastline and an economic zone
extending for 200 nautical miles, however, it gains an area equivalent to nearly half
the U.S.’s. This explains why Japan is committing more efforts than the other
advanced economies to making maximum use of the seas.
South Korea is mountainous peninsula and covered by water. It has more
mountainous regions than Japan and lacks natural resources of its own, but it is also
surrounded by seas on three sides and possesses an abundance of marine organism
resources. Yet an adequate understanding of the marine field has yet to take shape,
the human resources needed to study them have not been established, and no bold
investments are being made, resulting in its being one of the most underdeveloped
fields of all today. We should therefore consider why it is that the world’s advanced
economies are viewing marine biotechnology with such interest.
8
1 What Is Marine Biotechnology?