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434 NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY VOL 17 MAY 1999 http://biotech.nature.com

FEATURE

It is often assumed that the practice ofbiotechnology in the vast majority of thenontechnically advancedsocieties is negligible or vir-tually nonexistent. This sit-uation is ascribed to the lackof facilities, equipment, andskilled manpower, whichminimizes the participationof these countries in the cul-ture of basic scienceresearch that is a salientcharacteristic of industrial-ized societies. However, thisperception belies the quantity and quality ofbiotechnology research currently beingundertaken outside the developed world.

Last year, directors of the BiotechnologyEducation and Training Centres(BETCENs), and selected MicrobialResources Centres (MIRCENs) functioningwithin the framework of the Life SciencesProgramme of the United NationsEducation, Scientific and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO), attended a sym-posium in Pretoria, South Africa to assessbiotechnology-promoting programs underway at the five regional BETCENs. To createfurther opportunities to promote theexchange of ideas and communication, thedirectors of some newly establishedUNESCO MIRCENs were also invited topresent their respective programs. On theevidence of the presentations, many of thegoals of BETCENs and MIRCENs appear tohave been achieved, especially efforts toprovide training in biotechnology to agrowing number of scientists as part of

capacity-building efforts in developingcountries. It was also apparent, however,

that wider adoption ofbiotechnology will requirenew funding sources to sup-plement the initiativesimplemented by UNESCO.

BAC to the futureThe Biotechnology ActionCouncil (BAC) was an initia-tive of Federico Mayor,UNESCO’s director general,and has been chaired by

University of Florida’s Indra Vasil since itsinception. Both BAC and the MIRCENs arethe two flagships of the Life SciencesProgramme of UNESCO. BAC was foundedin 1990 to encourage education and trainingof plant molecular biology, plant biotechnol-ogy, and aquatic biotechnology in the devel-oping world1. In tandem, MIRCENs, con-ceived by the United Nations in the early sev-enties, have been established in several devel-oping regions of the world to conduct inte-grated programs for the preservation and useof microbial resources for environmentalmanagement and economic advancement. Atpresent, the global network of MIRCENscomprises 33 centers based in 29 countries(see Fig. 1).

According to Indra Vasil, “The BAC pro-gram aims to ensure that the applications ofbiotechnology have a favorable impact inthe developing countries, many of whichsuffer from large and rapidly increasingpopulations, chronic food shortages andmalnutrition, poor health, and profoundenvironmental problems. BAC is chargedwith promoting the development andstrengthening of national and regional capa-bilities in biotechnology in the developingcountries by providing opportunities foreducation and training along with the effi-cient and rapid exchange of information.The progress made to date augurs well forthe future in building a sound scientific andtechnological base, and an accompanyingscientific work force, so that eventuallydeveloping countries will become more self-sufficient in harnessing biotechnology forfood production.”

Establishing BETCENsThe world population is expected to contin-ue to grow into the early decades of the 21stcentury, especially regions of Africa, Asia,and Latin America, which will be housenearly 90% of the world’s population2. Thechallenge for the agricultural sector duringthe next few decades is therefore clear: toincrease food production with less availablewater and under increasingly challengingenvironmental conditions. The situation isfurther complicated in that, despite theheavy use of pesticides and herbicides, mod-ern agriculture still loses nearly 42% of cropproductivity to competition with weeds andto pests and pathogens, and an additional10–30% to postharvest losses.

In a new initiative, and in cooperationwith UNESCO’s offices in Beijing, Cairo,Mexico, Pretoria, and Venice, several acade-mic and research institutions functioning asregional BETCENs (Table 1) were estab-lished in 1995. In the coming years, thesecenters will form the nucleus for interre-gional cooperative programs for humanresources development in biotechnologiesthat are the source of novel bioproducts.BETCENs have received regular supportfrom UNESCO through the BAC program,providing training for the region’sresearchers and technologists, within theregions themselves.

The BETCEN training programsSeveral talks at the Pretoria meeting under-lined the importance of UNESCO programsproviding training and instruction inbiotechnology-related disciplines. NaimIraki, director of the BETCEN at BethlehemUniversity, in the Palestinian AutonomousTerritories (PAT), reported on the develop-ment of biotechnological research in thePalestinian and Arab communities. Here, theBETCEN activities include educational andtraining programs for young Palestinian andArab scientists from Egypt, Jordan, and PAT.Postgraduate students and laboratory techni-cians have been trained at the laboratories ofthe Agricultural Research Organization(ARO; Bet Dagan, Israel), as well as theBETCENs laboratory in various fields ofplant biotechnology. In addition, courses,

Developing biotechnologyaround the worldUNESCO programs are providing training to scientists in developing countries and enabling the application of biotechnology to local problems.

Johan A. Brink, Bernard Prior, and Edgar J. DaSilva

Johan A Brink is director, UNESCO/BACBETCEN, Agricultural Research Council,Vegetable and Ornamental Plant Institute,Private Bag X293, Pretoria 0001, Republic ofSouth Africa. Bernard Prior is co-director,UNESCO MIRCEN, Department ofMicrobiology, University of Stellenbosch,Private Bag X1, Matieland 7062, South Africa([email protected]). Edgar J DaSilva isdirector, Life Science Division, UNESCO, 1rue Miollis 75732 Paris cedex 15, France([email protected]).

© 1999 Nature America Inc. • http://biotech.nature.com©

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NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY VOL 17 MAY 1999 http://biotech.nature.com 435

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lecture programs, and workshops on varioustopics of plant biotechnology have beenorganized for Palestinian and Arab partici-pants. These programs have also includedvisits to Israeli academic and research insti-tutes, such as the Hebrew University ofJerusalem, Volcani Centre of the ARO, andTel-Aviv University.

It is hoped that the Bethlehem BETCENwill not only benefit the scientific communi-ty, but also indirectly promote stability andpeace within the region. Those engaged inscientific activity have a special role to play inpromoting the dynamic development andsharing of knowledge and research that fos-ters a culture of peace, and improves thequality of life worldwide. Such commitmentand cooperation has resulted in collabora-tion between research universities in Israeland the PAT. Peer-reviewed scientific pro-grams have also attracted sponsorship ofresearch projects and extrabudgetary sup-port from Germany, the European Union,and the United States.

Training is also under way at the BETCENfor Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean atGödõllö, Hungary, according to its directorErvin Bálazs. In one initiative, 15 young sci-entists have been involved in short- and long-term training at the BETCEN AgriculturalBiotechnology Centre. Fellows from Albania,Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary,

Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Russian Federation,Slovak Republic, Ukraine, and Yugoslaviaperformed experiments with the guidance ofprominent Hungarian scientists. The train-ing included plant cell regeneration systems,tissue culture, molecular genetics, cloning,sequencing, and genetic engineering tech-niques.

The Gödõllö BETCEN is the result of ini-tiatives following the monumental changesthat swept across eastern Europe in 1989 withthe advent of perestroika. Among several fac-tors that contributed to the decision to desig-nate the center as a BETCEN were the successof the MIRCEN in Budapest (long recognizedas an International Depository Authority(IDA) for patented microbial germplasm),the organization of a series of high-level inter-national plant molecular biology courses atGödõllö’s Agricultural Biotechnology Centre,a long history of UNESCO-supportedEast–West scientific exchange in Hungary,and, more recently, the participation ofHungary in activities sponsored by the UnitedNations Development Program (e.g., theestablishment of the Biotechnological-Exchange Information System that was devel-oped for European countries in transitionand reconstruction). This year, Hungaryhosts the World Conference on Science jointlyorganized by UNESCO and the InternationalCouncil of Science (ICSU).

In another talk at the Pretoria meeting,Luis Herrera-Estrella, director ofBiotechnology Unit of the Center forResearch and Advanced Studies (CINVES-TAV) at Irapuato, Mexico, outlined his cen-ter’s training initiatives, which have benefit-ed 64 young scientists from 15 differentcountries since November 1995. Twenty-four of the scientists participated in the fel-lowship program at the BETCEN, and theremaining 40 attended two internationalcourses on plant biotechnology organized atthe institute.

According to Herrera-Estrella, 18 inter-national lecturers from different countriesin Europe and the United States have visitedthe institute as part of the BETCEN pro-gram, which has helped concentrateresearch interests that are both widely scat-tered in Latin America and in differentstages of development. Moreover, this BET-CEN has helped seed schools of plant mole-cular biotechnology geared to high-qualityfood production in several Latin Americancountries. The demand for such BETCENskills is demonstrated by an increasing num-ber of international training courses forresearchers from Europe, Asia, Africa, andthe Arab States.

In Africa, too, BETCEN programs haveprovided training to regional scientists. Forexample, the BETCEN for Africa at the

Figure 1. The network of UNESCO MIRCENs around the world.


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436 NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY VOL 17 MAY 1999 http://biotech.nature.com

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Agricultural Research Council (ARC) inRoodeplaat, South Africa, has offered short-term courses focused on plant tissue cultureand plant molecular markers. With a total of17 courses presented since 1995, a total of163 scientists (45% of which were female)from 23 countries have participated.

Medium-term training was also providedin the form of nine fellowships for trainingattachment periods of two to three monthseach in the laboratories of ARC-Roodeplaat(VOPI). The ARC is a statutory statewidebody and is one of the nine Science Councilsin South Africa. Approximately 60% of theagricultural science and technology capacityin South Africa is currently represented inthe 15 institutes of the ARC. The VOPI hasbeen responsible for horticultural researchsince 1949.

Two key factors that were instrumental inthe formation of the BETCEN in South Africaare (1) the organization by UNESCO of anAll-Africa Plant Biotechnology Symposiumin 1994 that brought together plant biotech-nology researchers from African Anglophoneand Francophone countries, and (2) the needto rehabilitate South Africa in the interna-tional scientific community after years of iso-lation due to political considerations. As aconsequence, South Africa is now taking itsrightful place along with other plant biotech-nology centers in Ethiopia, Kenya, andZimbabwe that have long been supported byinternational donors.

The Roodeplaat BETCEN has also helpedpromote an emerging national network ofbiotechnology expertise by coordinatingefforts at several historically disadvantagedSouth African universities. Moreover, the tech-nical excellence of the BETCEN in producingmarketable ornamental plants is being sharedacross several African frontiers in exchangeefforts that were virtually nonexistent in thecontinent at the start of the past decade.

In the Far East, the Chinese BETCEN forMarine Biotechnology at the College ofMarine Life Sciences of the OceanUniversity of Qingdao has organized threetraining courses for young scientists fromthe region. According to the center’s direc-tor, Huai-Shu Xu, 63 trainees from sevencountries in the region were trained by pro-fessors from different Chinese universitiesand institutes. The decision to confer BET-CEN status on the University of Qingdaowas based on its reputation for excellence inmarine biotechnology and a decade ofresearch collaboration and exchange withresearchers at the Marine MicrobiologyMIRCEN, then under the direction of RitaColwell of the Maryland BiotechnologyInstitute at the University of Maryland(College Park MD).

MIRCENs provide ground-rootsbiotechnologyApart from the BETCEN training initiatives,MIRCEN programs have provided moretangible assistance to the local community.At the Pretoria conference, Nancy Karanjaand Mamadou Gueye, respective directors ofthe MIRCENs in Nairobi, Kenya and inDakar, Senegal, described initiatives inwhich legume seeds inoculated withRhizobium have been distributed to localfarmers, to increase yield from crops. Theneed for nutrient replenishing within thesmall-hold farming system is particularlycrucial in African countries, and theMIRCEN programs help small-hold farmersto produce crops that meet human nutri-tional requirements.

These initiatives not only have been oftangible benefit for the community andenvironment, but also have resulted in mar-ketable products, such as Biofix, a rhizobialinoculant, which have benefited from equip-ment produced by the NifTAL MIRCEN in

Hawaii. They are valid, albeit modest, exam-ples of biotechnologies seeding ruralemployment, and of the growing collabora-tion between university and industry inthese regions. Similar ventures exist withMIRCENs in Brazil and Senegal.

The MIRCEN at the University ofAgricultural Sciences, Mangalore, in India,was established because of the immenseimportance of seafood for the Indian sub-continent. Indrani Karunasagar, the centre’sdirector, has headed an ambitious aquacul-ture program focusing on the isolation andpreservation of microbial strains to improvefish production. Programs aimed at trainingregional scientists could also lead to thedevelopment of new biotechnologies.

Perhaps the most ambitious programdescribed at the symposium, though, is acollaborative effort between the Center forResearch in Cellular and Molecular Biologyof the University of Costa Rica (integrated aspart of the MIRCEN family in June 1997)under directorship of Ana Sittenfeld, CostaRica’s National Biodiverstiy Institute(INBio), and Diversa, a biotechnology com-pany located in San Diego, California.Because the overwhelming majority ofmicroorganisms cannot be cultured, thisMIRCEN is initially using molecular tech-niques and molecular phylogenetic analysisto assess and characterize the bacterialdiversity present in hot springs and theintestinal tract of arthropods. Moreover, it isin a trial phase where it could eventuallyserve as an emerging model for other collab-orations that could launch a new era ofmicrobial bioprospecting.

1. Vasil, I.K. Plant molecular biology andbiotechnology at UNESCO. Plant Mol. Biol.Reporter 13, 227–231 (1995).

2. Vasil, I.K. Biotechnology and food security for the21st century: A real-world perspective. Nat.Biotechnol. 16, 399–400 (1998).

Table 1. The global network of BETCENs and MIRCENs focusing on biotechnology.

Location Focus Director Contact

BETCENQingdao, China Marine biotechnology Huai-Shu Xu [email protected]ödõllö, Hungary Plant biotechnology Ervin Bálazs [email protected], Mexico Plant biotechnology Luis Herrera-Estrella [email protected], Palestine Plant biotechnology Naim Iraki [email protected], South Africa Plant biotechnology Johan Brink [email protected]

MIRCENTucuman, Argentina Microbial physiology and process development Faustino Siñeriz [email protected] Jose, Costa Rica Exstremophiles Ana Sittenfeld [email protected], India Marine biotechnology Indrani Karunasagar [email protected], Kenya Plant biotechnology Nancy Karanja [email protected], Senegal Plant biotechnology Mamadou Gueye [email protected], South Africa Industrial biotechnology Bernard Prior [email protected]

UNESCOParis, France BETCEN/MIRCEN Edgar DaSilva [email protected], FL BAC Indra Vasil [email protected]


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