NEW YORK, July 2 - Diversa said Monday that Mervyn Bibb, head of small molecule discovery, had been awarded the 2001 Charles Thom Award from the Society for Industrial Microbiology.
The award goes to individuals who have made one or more research contributions in industrial microbiology and/or biotechnology. Bibb was granted the award in recognition of his contribution to understanding and manipulating antibiotic production in Streptomycetes , a common soil bacteria, as well as pharmaceutically important anti-cancer drugs and immunosuppressants.
Bibb will present the Charles Thom lecture on August 2 at the annual meeting of the Society for Industrial Microbiology.
Bibb leads Diversa’s research effort in the development of Streptomyces diversa host organism for small molecule discovery, in addition to its use as a microbial production system. Diversa's approach is designed to accelerate drug discovery by identifying useful gene products from novel microbes that remain unexplored.
Bibb has over 25 years of experience in the field of Streptomyces genetics, focusing particularly on the regulation and manipulation of antibiotic production.
San Diego-based Diversa develops and applies proprietary technologies to discover and evolve novel genes and gene pathways from diverse environmental sources. The company's partners include Aventis Animal Nutrition, Celera, Dow Chemical, GlaxoSmithKline, and Invitrogen Corporation.
Diversa also has a joint venture with Dow Chemical, named Innovase, and with Syngenta, named Zymetrics.