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Published on October 14, 2007

Wanchern Potacharoen, 65, manager of Thailand's Microbe Bank, hopes that more Thai enterprises will turn to her facility for research and commerce.

Set up a decade ago, the bank, which stores over 20,000 strains of microorganisms, is part of the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology .

Dr Somsak Sivichai, 37, a researcher and head of the fungi laboratory, says: "Microbe Bank's inventory includes strains of bacteria, yeast, fungi, viruses and so on.

They are mainly the good guys. Over here, we don't have organisms that could kill humans, such as anthrax or Ebola.

"But we do have organisms that cause plant diseases, for instance, so that we can study them to produce bioactive

compounds to treat those diseases."

Besides plant medicine for the farming sector, the bank hopes its resources will help researchers develop new products in other sectors including medicine, food, textiles and energy.

"For instance, our bank has supplied enzyme samples to Biotech researchers working on a project to convert cellulose materials such as bagasse or rice bran into alcohol for use as an alternative energy source," said Wanchern.

Wanchern, who holds a master's degree in microbiology from Kasetsart University, said the number of known micro-organisms has been expanding at an annual rate of 10 per cent as newly found strains are added to the bank's vault.

"Our facility (at Biotech in Rangsit) also includes gene and enzyme banks, but they're still underused so we've decided to open up the resources to outsiders.

"In the past we mainly served Biotech researchers. Now, more than 100 researchers are ready to work with the private sector to transfer the technology for commercial purposes."

Dr Somsak noted that Thailand is ranked among the world's leaders in biodiversity

as organisms here represent 7

to 10 per cent of the world's total.

"There are about 9,000 bird species around the world and Thailand itself has around 930 of these bird species. As for fungi, scientists believe that the number of strains in Thailand could be as many as 150,000, whereas there could be a total of about 1.5 million around the world.

"So far, we've discovered only 6,000 to 7,000 strains here," said Somsak. Somsak, who holds a PhD in microbiology from Portsmouth University of the UK, said researchers and private enterprises should utilise the bank's facilities to increase the country's productivity in agricultural and other sectors.

"Better knowledge of micro-organisms will also help boost innovative ideas for new products. Overall, it will help increase the country's international competitiveness.

"For instance, our bank over the past decade has built up one of the world's most diversified collections of insect fungi, which could be used in developing many plant medicines to increase productivity for rice and other economic crops.

"So far, three to four new "biocontrol" products are being developed by private firms for the farm sector to help reduce dependence on imported chemicals," explained Somsak.

To promote greater use of the Microbe Bank, Wanchern said the fees are reduced to make the bank's services economical for Thai enterprises.

"It's five to 10 times cheaper than similar facilities in the US or Europe even though we have a world-class standard. In addition, we also collaborate with similar facilities at the health and agriculture ministries to maximise benefits for our clients.

"Now, about 30 per cent of those using our services are outsiders.

"Our services have led to new products or improvement in production processes for the food, wine, animal feed, textile dying and pulp and paper industries.

"Among the popular food products that we've helped created are the so-called Biotech traditional Thai-styled sausages (using a new enzyme for fermentation) and hed nang fah (a new type of mushroom)," she said.

: Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

nop1122@yahoo.com