Barry Marrs

Areas Barry Marrs is Knowledgeable in:

Barry Marrs's Problem Solving Skills:

1. Research - I have the Director of Life Sciences at DuPont CR&D, Director of Corporate Research at Hercules, Inc., and am curren
2. Plant Biology - plant root elicitation; especially plant/microbe interaction
3. Microbiology - especially extremophiles and thermophiles; also quorum sensing
4. Biotech - Industrial Biotechnology; have started three biotech companies
5. Genetics - Molecular Genetics; metabolic engineering

Barry Marrs's Problem Solving Experience:

1. I am co-inventor on a patent application for the use of extreme thermophiles to lower the cost of ethanol production
2. I am co-inventor on a patent application to modify the metabolism of yeast and other microorganisms to eliminate the release of CO2 during fermentative growth, thus greatly enhancing the yield of product (ethanol) from feedstock.
3. I developed the business plan for what was first called "Industrial BioCatalysis, Inc." and later became Diversa Corp and still later, Verenium. I established the business goal for the Company as commercializing enzymes for the chemical process, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. Marrs reshaped the HIC (VC) vision of the company, leading it toward high throughput enzyme assays as its core technology and severing the business ties to HGS and The Institute for Genome Research.
4. Served as Chief Science Advisor for the Microbial Literacy Collaborative, a group that has raised more than $5 Million for the production of a prime-time educational video series and community outreach program about microbiology. Titled “Intimate Stranger: Unseen Life on Earth”, this four part series aired on PBS in November, 1999, and won a major television award.
5. I led a team that developed a biosynthetic route to glyphosate, greatly lowering the manufacturing cost.
6. I Co-chaired a major report for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): Biotechnology for Clean Industrial Products and Processes. This report is the first in-depth analysis of the impact of biotransformations on "heavy industry", surveying the penetration of biotechnology in each of the major industrial sectors, assessing its economic impact, and discussing hurdles and solutions leading to sustainable industrial practices.
7. I am co-inventor on a patent application that shows how to use genetic modification of a bacterium's quorum sensing system to affect its maximum culture density.
8. Using directed evolution and modern gene expression technology, I led a team that produced commercial quantities of a previously unavailable enzyme, thus enabling a new product line at Hercules, Inc.
9. I led a team that chose and developed the production of 1,3 propane diol as a product to bring DuPont into industrial biotech.
10. I am a co-inventor of a patent for blocking quorum sensing to allow the cultivation of new bacteria.
11. I am the inventor of a patent on a process for promoting the release of small molecules from plants roots.
12. I discovered and developed the first genetic exchange system in photosynthetic bacteria. This was used to study bacterial (anoxygenic) photosynthesis and bacterial respiration and carotenoid biosynthesis.
13. I am co-inventor on a patent application to produce low-cost ethanol as a by-product from compost.