UNCW Economic Outlook Conference Focuses on Biotech

By Jeremy Summers, NCBiotech Writer

The biotech industry in North Carolina is as rich and diverse as the state’s geography. 

Wilmington and the surrounding area has long been a hotbed for marine research, making marine biotechnology a growing industry in the region. 

The future of biotech in the southeastern part of the state brought together business leaders, investors and other interested parties from around the state last week for an economic outlook conference, hosted by the Cameron School of Business at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

The event was co-sponsored by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

Leaders look to utilize abundant resources

Deborah Mosca, CEO of the newly-launched Marine Biotechnology Center of Innovation (MBCOI), was the conference’s keynote speaker.

The MBCOI is part of the Centers of Innovation, a grant program launched by NCBiotech to focus on accelerating the growth of targeted industry sectors by assisting their academic and industry partners to overcome commercialization obstacles.

The MBCOI’s mission is to accelerate the development and commercialization of marine biotechnology in North Carolina. Under her watch, Mosca said, the center will serve as a catalyst for development of new food, fuel, health and energy products.

Her goal is to create a translational marine biotech collective, which will bring together universities, companies and other resources into a virtual institute, Mosca said. By combining these resources under one umbrella, new partnerships will be able to be forged that will lead to discovery of new microorganisms to be used in the biotech, biofuels and pharmaceutical industries, among others.

Under Mosca, the MBCOI will capitalize on the assets of rich marine biotech resources across the state, concentrated in Wilmington and the surrounding coastline. “We can be the property manager for those assets,” she said.

The diversity of these resources is what makes them so valuable, Mosca added. Since oceans cover more than 70% of the earth’s surface, they contain the planet’s greatest eco-biological diversity and the region’s marine environment is a perfect example of the diverse resources found in these types of environments. 

The MBCOI is located at the new CREST Research Park, which houses the UNCW’s Center for Marine Science (CMS). “The crown jewel of UNCW is the marine science center,” said Larry Clark, dean of the business school.

The park is still being developed and construction is expected to be completed in early 2013. The new facility will be about 69,000 square feet. With just over half of the space university-leased, there is a real “opportunity for small startups to be in there,” said Dan Baden, director of UNCW’s CMS. The facility will feature on-site spectroscopy and DNA sequencing and is “designed by scientists for scientists,” he added.

The new research park will “allow a cluster to develop around our facilities,” said Baden. The increase in business development around the translational facility will in turn create owners of new businesses with new ideas, he explained.

Panel examined economic impact of biotech

A panel of marine biotech experts were on hand to explain how the richness of resources in the region and the biotech industry are a natural fit for one another.

The southeast region of the state, which includes Wilmington, contains valuable resources for industries as diverse as pharmaceuticals, fish farming, biofuels and biosensors.

UNCW has helped build a “great infrastructure for economic development” of these resources, said Randall Johnson, executive director of NCBiotech’s southeastern office and moderator of the panel.

Randall Johnson (right) hosts the conference's biotech panel.

The area also has a “strong and talented pool of individuals,” which “allows us to capitalize on lots of different facets of marine science,” said Baden.

Another valuable resource for the biotech industry is the excellent quality of water found in Wilmington as well as up and down the coastline, said Rachel Noble, professor of marine biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences.

It is important, Noble said, to protect the marine environment while utilizing these abundant resources. Noble’s research requires her to perform diagnostic testing in storm water runoff drains, which can be breeding grounds for harmful substances that are then transferred to the tide water on beaches. Her research has improved testing time from the old standard of waiting 24 to 48 hours for results down to just two or three hours.

The panel also discussed streamlining the process of commercializing the region’s valuable resources.

According to Noble, North Carolina is the fifth most popular beach destination in the country. The same factors that make the state’s coast such a tourist destination also make it an incredibly diverse environment for marine life. This gives the state the personnel and expertise to bring in researchers to study and utilize the marine environment’s natural resources, which can be a huge boon to the state’s economy while also allowing development of new technologies and improving aquaculture, Noble said.

While the region has some needs for new equipment, the personnel are already in place to “connect those commercialization dots,” Noble added.

Noble’s research  led to improved water quality testing methods, which have been patented and are now used in a growing number of locations, including the beaches of southern California. 

“If there had been an MCBOI in place (at that time), not only would other technologies have been developed, but they would have been licensed and manufactured already,” Noble said.

Turning marine life into an industry

“This area’s just ideally suited for growing algae,” said Alan Stout, vice president of Glycotech and Carolina Algae, who explained that algae is one of the most valuable and diverse resources in the region. 

Stout’s first biotech project was converting excess manure in Chicago into fuel. He soon discovered that the quality was so high that the Department of Defense bought it to power its submarines. Stout’s current ventures, Glycotech and Carolina Algae, produce algae-based biofuels that can be used as jet fuel and in personal care products.

Like most companies that make biofuels, Stout is striving to produce biofuel that can be sold for three dollars per gallon. “Seven technologies are about to hit that point. Mine’s one of them,” he said.

Stout explained that students at UNCW, Brunswick Community College and other local schools are among the most important factors for success in growing the biotech industry in the region.

Noble underlined the importance of including students. The involvement of students in industry expansion will give them the “niche to continue that cascade of growth,” she said.

The school and the region are “creating the kinds of environments that allow companies and groups to succeed,” Baden said. The unique combination of natural and human resources, he added, gives southeastern North Carolina’s marine biotech industry a value-added potential to its products that is “unmatched on the east coast.”

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