Using Fake Plants to Halt A Real Killer

By Amanda Bower/San Francisco

Jay Keasling learned some important lessons growing up on a farm in Nebraska: that agriculture is hard work, that money isn't everything, that pigs don't appreciate either and that he really didn't appreciate them. "I wasn't so fond of pigs," he admits.

The porcine problem helped steer him off the farm and toward a degree in biology and chemistry. His farm-raised appetite for work--100-hour weeks are de rigueur--has led to rapid progress in his field. And his satisfaction with an academic salary means he prefers to use his innovations to help the poor rather than line his pockets.

Keasling, 41, has spent the past 13 years at the University of California, Berkeley, working out how to trick E. coli microbes into churning out synthetic and beneficial versions of plant products. He was particularly interested in molecules known as terpenoids, like artemisinin, which treats malaria; taxol, an anticancer drug; and prostratin, a potential anti-HIV compound.

Artemisinin is critical to fighting malaria, a deadly global problem that kills up to 3 million people annually. The compound is found in wormwood plants that grow in Southeast Asia but costs $2.40 a dose. In developing countries, that might as well be $2,400.

That's where Keasling comes in. He's focusing his lab's work on producing synthetic artemisinin to drive down the price per dose to pennies. Keasling and his team at Berkeley have already worked out how to extract the genes responsible for making artemisinin and transplanted them into a harmless strain of E. coli. Now they're furiously working those 100-hour weeks to reroute the metabolic traffic in the microbe and produce oodles of artemisinin.

As pioneering as the lab work is the business triangle Keasling has forged linking the university; Amyris Biotechnologies, a company he co-founded; and OneWorld Health, a nonprofit drug company. "This is one of those 'only in Berkeley' stories," says Keasling, laughing. "No one is going to make any profit out of this." Berkeley, which owns the rights to Keasling's technology, has agreed to give it away for nonprofit use. The Amyris staff is working to commercialize the technology. OneWorld Health hopes to be manufacturing the drug within five years.

Keasling's next project is to begin adapting his technology to produce taxol, prostratin and maybe even new sources of energy and ways to clean up the environment. "I guess when I go to my grave, I'd like to have helped come up with solutions for some of society's most significant problems," he says. Thank goodness he never liked those pigs.