Along a back road in Rockland is a one-story biotech plant that turns out a product used in developing drugs, forensic lab work, testing for HIV and DNA research. The product, agarose, is processed from ordinary seaweed, farmed overseas on 15-acre plots.
“It’s amazing something as simple as seaweed is so paramount to understanding DNA – this company invented it, basically. It is a completely neutral matrix to separate DNA and RNA molecules. You’re looking at it in pairs,” said Mary Riley Edwards of Cambrex Bio Science.
The plant looks unpretentious, but Edwards, product manager for the company, said it’s one of Maine’s biggest Federal Express customers. A large percentage of orders go overseas.
Originally, the Rockland Cambrex plant was an offshoot of FMC Corporation on the Rockland waterfront; FMC started out several decades ago as Marine Colloids, processing seaweed for carageenan. New Jersey-based Cambrex, with plants in several countries, bought the Thomaston Street plant from FMC a few years ago, and is still supplied with seaweed by FMC. Using the seaweed derivative agar, Cambrex manufactures what it calls agarose, a gel with many scientific applications, DNA analysis in particular.
Agarose, sold as clear gel slabs, is used in efforts to find cures for diseases such as cancer and cystic fibrosis. It’s even used in the human genome project.
Edwards said the plant employs 75 people and sells agarose products to research and development divisions at pharmaceutical firms, and public institutions, around the world. Customers include Merck, Fisher Scientific and the National Institutes of Health. The local plant has five scientists on staff.
Agar, sometimes called agar-agar, is a gelatin product made from red seaweeds. It is used in canning various foods, in cosmetics and medicine. It’s formed into powder, flakes or bricks. Agarose is a complex carbohydrate found in agar.