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Rita Colwell: Lady With a Mission
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19865 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1991 |
2,846 Words |
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Joan Kostick Andrews
Joan Kostick Andrews is a free-lance writer based in
Washington. D.C. |
The world's oceans are full of treasures far more valuable than gold. Compounds now being extracted from the sea offer hope in the future to feed, heal, and sustain humankind, according to Rita R. Colwell, founder and director of the Maryland Biotechnology Institute (MBI).
Largely a result of Colwell's personal brainstorm (she was then vice-president of academic affairs for the University of Maryland System), MBI was established July 1, 1985. A separate part of the University of Maryland system, it conducts research and training in biotechnology, and provides physical and intellectual resources to further the state's scientific and economic development. With more than 100 molecular biologists on a staff totaling 350 people, the institute comprises six independent but interactive research centers encompassing aspects of biotechnology ranging from basic and applied research in genetics, biochemistry, and protein engineering to ethical and public policy analyses. (See sidebar for more details.)
"It's an extraordinarily exciting time in microbiology and molecular biology. The potential is just beginning to be realized," she states.
The world-renowned marine biologist believes that genetic engineering holds extraordinary promise for the marine sciences. "It's an area which we all must spend some time learning about because as citizens it will impinge on our lives," she maintains. Colwell cites the vast potential of genetically engineered compounds that someday may clean the environment and cure human diseases. One example is enzymes extracted from marine bacteria that break down complex substances, which can be employed for degradation of manmade chemicals.
Besides being one of the world's top microbiologists, Colwell is a go-getter, a person who likes to get things done.
"I would just say that I am driven by some force to try and make a difference in this world. How do you really help your fellow human beings? That, I think, is the unfulfilled quest," Colwell says. Still, she is a practical woman who wants good things to happen to make the world a better place to live in. Colwell believes in the future, particularly the world she envisions made better by the practical application of the discoveries made in molecular biology.
She explains, "These organisms defend their own territory by forms of what you may term chemical warfare; that is,
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