Almost at the same time the School of Biology formed its alliance with Maxus and then with the Project for Petroleum Exploitation and Sustainable Development in the Ecuadorian Amazon at the end of the 1990s, employees of Petroecuador had been supporting a bioremediation research program with the Central University of Ecuador Universidad Central del Ecuador, UCE, referred to hereafter as the Central University, in Quito.
Casi al mismo tiempo que la Escuela de Biología hizo su alianza con Maxus y luego con Petramaz a fines de la década de 1990, funcionarios de Petroecuador habían promovido un programa de investigación en biorremediación con la Universidad Central del Ecuador UCE, situada en Quito.