This is an award to support the workshop "Implications and Opportunities of the Marine Genomics Revolution" to be held in Bermuda, October 29-30, 2007. The workshop has been designed to bring together academics, industry managers and leaders, students, and research institutions to address the need for collaboration and cooperation to provide an underpinning for marine biotechnology that seems to be lacking. Marine biotechnology has great promise but that promise remains to be filled to the fullest extent. With the burgeoning data base provided by genomics and the large number of sequences of marine species, from microorganisms to whales, it is now possible to deduce significant information about evolution of life on earth, speciation, new pathways of metabolism, and new metabolites with industrial application. With genomics, it is increasingly advantageous to utilize the information without depleting the resources of the oceans. That is, the pathways and the genes can be harvested without the necessity to harvest massive numbers of animals or plants resident in the sea and yet the products can still be manufactured. Also, the metagenomic data for the oceans being compiled and published need to be interpreted and the massive amount of information catalogued and "mined". This is best done by partnerships of industry, academia, and non-governmental institutions, but with public understanding and "buy in". The report of the workshop will be published and editorials will be submitted to major news media. Speakers and attendees will include both USA and foreign scientists. NSF funds will be used in to support young investigators, students, postdocs, and speakers and conferees from underrepresented groups in science.
