For half of his life and all of his 25-year career as a bioengi-neer, Oliver P. Peoples has wanted to prove two things: that he could reengineer plants to grow biodegradable plastic in their cells and that he could make a lot of money doing it.rnOn the first goal, Peoples has had astonishing success. His Cambridge (Mass.) company, Metabo-lix, has harnessed the complex genetics of plant-cell metabolism and collected hundreds of patents on a process for manufacturing "bioplastics" in large vats of microbes. A $200 million factory is under construction and could start producing Metabolix's bioplastic, called Mirel, early next year. But Peoples' second mission, amassing wealth for himself and his investors, is glaringly incomplete. Mauled in the bear market and pounded by manufacturing delays, Metabolix's shares have spiraled down from a peak of 28 last November to around 11 in recent weeks.rnThe company is now in a crucible every struggling biotech encounters. As it awaits commercial production, it is burning through cash. And it must carefully pick the right customers to showcase Mirel's wide range of applications, from gift cards and cosmetics cases to plastic bags and computer parts.
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机译：Oliver P. Peoples在他的半生生涯和25年的生物工程师生涯中，一直想证明两件事：他可以对植物进行改造以在其细胞中生长可生物降解的塑料，并且他可以做很多事情。在第一个目标上，人民人民取得了惊人的成功。他在马萨诸塞州剑桥市的公司Metabo-lix利用了植物细胞代谢的复杂遗传学，并在大桶微生物中制造“生物塑料”的过程中获得了数百项专利。一个耗资2亿美元的工厂正在建设中，明年年初可能开始生产Metabolix的生物塑料，称为Mirel。但是人民的第二个使命是为自己和他的投资者积累财富，这显然是不完整的。 Metabolix的股票在熊市中遭受重创，并因制造延迟而沉重打击，其股价已从去年11月的峰值28跌至最近几周的约11。现在，该公司正处在每一个艰难的生物技术遭遇困境中。在等待商业化生产时，它正在消耗现金。而且，它必须精心挑选合适的客户来展示Mirel的广泛应用，从礼品卡和化妆品盒到塑料袋和计算机零件。
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