In the first partnership of its kind at the University of Rhode Island, a biotechnology firm and the University have agreed to share resources and collaborate on research to develop new varieties of turfgrass. URI will share in the revenues from any resulting products.

As a result of the partnership, HybriGene Inc., a biotechnology research company that uses molecular techniques to create turfgrass with improved traits, will use URI laboratory and office space rent-free and have access to URI equipment, researchers and student workers.

"This important partnership returns URI to its roots as an agricultural college while also breaking new ground in one of the most advanced and fastest growing industries around -- biotechnology," said Jeff Seemann, dean of the URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences, who negotiated the partnership. "It's the first time an outside company has located on our campus, and we expect the partnership will produce both academic and commercial products. Our collaboration is working to solve real world problems."

URI is home to the nation's oldest turf research center, and the University generates considerable revenues from grass seeds developed here.

HybriGene is owned by internationally recognized turf seed producer Bill Rose, who also owns Turf-Seed Inc., Pure Seed Testing, Tee-2-Green Corp., and Roselawn Seed Inc., which combine their efforts doing research, seed production and marketing to supply world markets. Tee-2-Green markets 70 percent of the creeping bentgrass sold in the world.

"The collaboration with URI brings research and commercial plant production together to produce an efficient path to the markets," said Rose. "This continues my association with the University, which started with Dr. Richard Skogley in approximately 1970."

Rose has established the Rose Environmental Biotechnology Internship Program at URI, which has provided funding for 10 to 15 paid undergraduate interns per semester to work at HybriGene.

"The student internship program has provided our students with a great resume-builder," said Seemann. "After working at HybriGene, our students can go to work in almost any agricultural research lab in the world."

The research director at HybriGene is Albert Kausch, who was on the research team that created the world's first transgenic corn plant more than a decade ago. He is also an adjunct professor at URI.

The HybriGene facility, located in the College's laboratory facility in West Kingston, is the most advanced biotech lab at URI. The company is actively developing turfgrasses that require fewer chemicals and less irrigation, among other traits. The company intends to expand its research to include genetically modified rice in the near future.

By Todd McLeish