Collaborating on Russia's Microbial Diversity
In an effort to control the propagation of biological warfare expertise, the Department of Energy (DOE) Initiative for Proliferation Prevention (IPP) program has launched a collaborative effort with four Russian biological institutes and a U.S. corporation to create a Russian Ecological Biotrade Center in Puschino. The goal is to use biomolecular techniques to evaluate the range, extent, and potential value of Russia's microbial diversity. DOE will provide $1 million towards this two-year project. Diversa Corp. of San Diego has signed a cooperative research and development agreement that gives the company rights to discover genes from samples and commercialize resulting products for markets such as the pharmaceutical, agricultural, chemical processing, and industrial sectors. Diversa will pay royalties to Russia on these products. Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) of Idaho Falls and Diversa will collaborate with the State Research Center for Applied Microbiology, the All...Interested in reading more?
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