$100K Biotechnology Center Grant Funds Plan for Center of Innovation
Partners statewide will work to commercialize opportunities
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. Aug. 14, 2008 — To jump-start growth in the natural biotechnology sector, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center has awarded a $100,000 grant to an Asheville-based consortium with members from the mountains to the coast.
Coordinating the planning process for the Bent Creek Center of Innovation for Natural Biotechnology and Integrative Medicine will be Annice Brown, an assistant director in the Asheville office of the North Carolina Small Business and Technology Development Center.
"This is an outstanding opportunity to bring together ideas and assets from all over North Carolina to create a new industry sector," said Brown. "Natural products from across North Carolina hold enormous potential for opening new avenues of treatments in human health and creating jobs throughout North Carolina."
Charter members of the new consortium include the Bent Creek Institute, The North Carolina Arboretum, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, the Center for Marine Science at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, MARBIONC, and Western Carolina, Appalachian State and Wake Forest universities. The committee also includes key representatives from the Mission Healthcare Foundation.
The project has industry support from Gaia Herbs and Targacept as well as the North Carolina Natural Products Association, comprised of natural product growers, producers and distributors. Other core members of the project are the NCSU Mountain Horticulture Crops Research and Extension Center and the BioNetwork BioBusiness Center at AB-Tech.
The breadth of representation indicates North Carolina's expansive potential for creating a brand-new industry sector. The International Institute for Natural Biotechnology and Integrative Medicine, known as the Bent Creek Institute, has already begun exploring and developing that potential.
"In recent years, the Bent Creek Institute has put a scientific foundation under our celebrated regional heritage of medicinal herb therapies in order to tap into the growing international demand for natural products and nutraceuticals," said Cheryl McMurry, director of the Biotechnology Center's Western Office. McMurry is serving as loaned executive director of the Bent Creek Institute at The North Carolina Arboretum.
The research from Bent Creek Institute stands to show even more promise when combined with existing strengths and research from across the state.
"Biodiversity comprises one of our key natural resource gems in North Carolina," said George Briggs, executive director of The North Carolina Arboretum.
"This added innovative focus on commercialization of the Bent Creek Institute's research into products, medicines and services fires the perfect economic booster at this stage of BCI's and North Carolina's journey toward becoming a national and international leader in this emerging sector."
The Biotechnology Center started the COI program last year as a way to combine biotechnology-dependent industry sectors and North Carolina's diverse strengths to create jobs in all areas of the state. The COIs are not research campuses; their goal is to virtually coordinate North Carolina research within their industry sector to enhance the commercial opportunities of nascent technologies.
The first phase of the program establishes an organizational structure and creates a business plan for the entity. The second phase is a four-year grant for $2.5 million, which is awarded when the Biotechnology Center approves the group's business plan. The program requires the COI to be self-supporting within five years.
Three other groups have received similar grants from the Biotechnology Center, including a Piedmont Triad-based consortium focusing on the emerging field of nanobiotechnology, a group from eastern and southeastern North Carolina focusing on marine biotechnology, and a Research Triangle Park-based group seeking to advance the state's sector of advanced medical technologies.
"We are very excited about the consortium forming around the natural biotechnology space," said Mary Beth Thomas, Ph.D., the Biotechnology Center's senior director of Centers of Innovation Operations.
"This funding will allow for additional support in a sector that is a major piece of the western North Carolina economic development efforts as well as expand the COI program even more statewide."
The Biotechnology Center is a private, non-profit corporation supported by the N.C. General Assembly. Its mission is to provide long-term economic and societal benefits to North Carolina by supporting biotechnology research, business and education statewide.
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Contacts
Robin Deacle, director of corporate communications, North Carolina Biotechnology Center, 919-541-9366, robin_deacle@ncbiotech.org, or visit the Biotechnology Center's Web site.
Annice Brown, assistant director of the SBTDC Asheville office, 828-251-6025, info@sbtdc.org, or visit the SBTDC Web site.
