Local Boy Creating Waves In Corporate Research

Clement Waine...made several breakthroughs in his own research.

On the morning of what is now the famous September 11, a young Papua New Guinea scientist was preparing to take up residence in an apartment in the United States as an employee of a large science company.

I found an apartment near my workplace and was moving in that day. At about 8:45am, as I was packing my luggage to check out of my hotel, the news came on Fox TV station.

I saw pictures of a plane flying into one of the World Trade Centre buildings in New York. A few minutes later, a second plane came into view and then flew straight into the second tower.

" I was dismissive at first, thinking that it was just a Hollywood stunt. The whole scene and the ensuing war on terror galvanised the entire country since then," Clement Waine recalled vividly the attack on the Word Trade Centre Towers.

Waine is the only Papua New Guinean and probably the only Pacific Islander who not only excels in the field of science abroad but has also taken up employment residency in another country.

He is an employee of Du Pont, one of the United States largest science companies with over 94,000 employees in 70 different countries and with an annual turnover of over US$28 billion.

He works with 50 others in the Insect Control and Herbicide Resistance group of the company, of which he is the youngest doctorate graduate. He has also made several breakthroughs in his own research.

Commenting on his success, Waine said: My sojourn here has been a steep learning curve of the corporate culture and research, interspersed with several major breakthroughs in my own research. Within the first two weeks of my research, I devised a new refolding experimental protocol to refold recombinant (synthetic) proteins.

The model protein that was studied before my arrival has a 6000 mass unit (compared to a water molecule with 18 mass unit). The protein was produced in bacteria but the group had limited experience on protein chemistry and had difficulties refolding it.

One morning after a group meeting, the project was consigned to the tried and failed bin. In the afternoon, I showed evidence it could be easily refolded with my new conditions. The project was salvaged and has now evolved into a big project that almost involved a large portion of our resources. The second highlight of my work here involved building libraries of the entire DNA (genes) of a plant. It has taken me almost 10 months to complete almost 90 percent of the gene sequences. I have completed analysis of less than 5 percent of the sequences.

I have also devised new extraction protocols to isolate proteins from plant sources. These protocols are now used by our international collaborators around the world.

I have discovered new proteins that have selective activities against pests that destroy crops around the world. One specifically kills a unique pest (confidentiality issues precludes me from divulging specific information) that cause US$100 billion in pest management world over. I have filed applications for a USA/Canada patent," Waine said.

He said he has presented at several seminars that were broadcast live via videophone to other parts of the country. These were well received and good comments were received from the directors. I have now taken on added responsibilities and directly leading our structural biology research and plant protein discovery programs, part of this job requires collaboration with our international counterparts.

"I have been recently promoted to a full-time position as one of the Principal Investigators," he said. Waine said the experiences have enlarged his horizon of the world.

The stiff learning curve of the corporate world is a very rare opportunity and it gives me a new view of how the corporate world views the wider world.

Here the view is broader and one gets the bigger picture and the turnover in research output is pretty rapid, motivated by profit, sales and market shares.

Unlike academia, corporate research is more focused towards getting the product to the market in a shorter time and developing other novel products in the pipeline for future market needs.

The competition is tough and research directions are constantly shaped and refocused to meet demands and at the same time maintaining the edge on competition.

The changing landscape is designed every week in prioritisation meetings where projects can be reprioritised very rapidly and those that were kept in the backburner can be brought to the fore and others trimmed and manpower repositioned.

"It is real fun climbing the stiff learning curve," he said.