Thailand is making concerted efforts to promote its life sciences industry. The country’s National Center for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (BIOTEC) is pursuing the objective of inducing research, development and application of biotechnology to support technology development and adoption in both public and private institutions. In an interview with BioSpectrum, BIOTEC’s Executive Director Dr. Kanyawim Kirtikara, who has recently taken charge elaborates on the BIOTEC goals and what they are doing to accomplish it.
What are your immediate priorities at BIOTEC?
BIOTEC’s mission and vision follow that of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA). We will continue to promote research, development and application of biotechnology to support technology development, transfer and adoption in both public and private institutions in areas critical to national economic and social development. To accomplish these goals, BIOTEC will emphasize the partnering with both private and public sectors.
Our growth in the last 10 years has been slow because of small number of researchers. However, the number of researchers is increasing since we began to receive returning PhD holders who have received research grants from Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to study overseas. In addition, we collaborated with public and private sector researchers from both domestic and regional institutions to synergize the country’s capability in R&D. The immediate priority is to select projects that yield the most impact for the country—be it socio-economic or academic impact. We need to be very careful on our selection and prioritizing of projects since our resources are limited.
Do you have any research collaboration with any other international organization?
It would be incorrect to call ourself a national research center and not collaborate with international partners. Hence, we work hard and enjoy the research collaborative partnership with international organization such as Oxford University, National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (Japan), and Novartis to name a few. In addition, BIOTEC extensively collaborates with Vietnam, Taiwan and China. The HRD program we initiated for our neighboring countries Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV) also serves as a means to foster future collaboration.
What is your strategy to make Thailand competitive with other counterparts in the APAC region?
Our strategy is quite simple. We prefer not to compete but to work as an equal research partner. Each APAC country has its strengths and weaknesses. It is beneficial to share our knowledge and also learn from others. This may sound superficial but I think if we all try to look at competition from this light, we may achieve more. At least we gain more friends who are willing to help.
How good is the R&D set up in Thailand? How BIOTEC supports the industry?
Compared to other R&D advanced countries, Thailand’s embracement of R&D dates back only a few years. We are considered a newcomer to the R&D arena. However, many initiatives have been set up to bring Thailand up-to-date on R&D. For example, the Thailand National Biotechnology Policy Framework 2004-2009 was initiated in late 2003 to act as a catalyst to promote biotechnology investment and create new bio companies. The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) has initiated for the first time in Thailand’s history a tax incentive scheme to attract foreign biotechnology investment. In addition, over the years BIOTEC has focused on promoting research linkages between universities—NSTDA—private sector. This shift in focus has greatly assisted in promoting university and private sector partnerships conducive to building an R&D environment.
How is the talent pool in Thailand for life science industry?
As I mentioned, Thailand still needs to produce a significant number of researchers in various masteries, including life science industries. The government has taken a number of policy initiatives as well as legislative and administrative measures with a view to provide support and creating an environment conducive for the growth of the life sciences sector. These include promotion of human resources and technological development, such as through the establishment of the “Science Park”, and support for innovative researches and the development of research and development centers. In addition, NSTDA has many programs to reach out to talented youth in order to attract them to science and technology including biotechnology. This is to prepare younger generations for the future in S&T in both academic institutes and industry. Through these various programs such as the Junior Science Talent Project and the Young Scientist and Technologist Program students gain experiences from working with scientists in laboratories and are mentored and fostered to be scientists in the future.
Are there any recent achievements from BIOTEC’s research labs that you would like to elaborate on?
Besides generating international publications of high standards to contribute to scientific arena, our researchers also work closely with industry to cater to their needs. Two outputs, one with an immediate application and the other for future use will be good examples. In the first case, the Enzyme Technology Laboratory has developed a low cost enzyme screening kit that includes an effective cell-permeabilizing reagent. This kit can be easily used by anyone wishing to determine enzyme activities without having to send their samples to a testing laboratory. The procedure is easy. Hence, small and medium size industries that need to do enzyme testing will be able to conduct it themselves. This is a direct translational of results from our own research to users in Thailand.
The other output is a collaboration effort between BIOTEC researchers and researchers at the Rice Gene Discovery Unit, Kasetsart University. The collaborative researchers led to an identification of a gene controlling the fragrant aroma of Thai jasmine rice. This discovery has been granted a US patent to protect its intellectual property.
In our future plan, we aim to build a platform technology of “Cell Factory”, which includes the study of many types of cells and how to manipulate them to efficiently produce valuable products we want such as enzymes, valuable compounds and biologics, among others. We are looking at building up the capability of the whole process from laboratory and pre-pilot scale to a pilot plant, which is the point when the technology will be ready for industry.
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