Charlotte Builds a Brand for Biotech

This year's Charlotte Biotechnology Conference was everything a one-day conference event should be. It started at a time where attendees could travel to Charlotte from elsewhere in the state, it brought in some impressive and engaging speakers, and it had a diverse attendance list that made networking fun. Oh, and the food was some of the best I've had at a conference.

The gorgeous day started out with the 3rd Annual Graduate Student Poster Competition. The 10 finalists were there to show off their work, explain the posters and answer questions. They were graded on quality of research and marketability. There was really some impressive stuff.

A Thanksgiving-themed lunch buffet was served and the speaking events kicked off with Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, (among several other titles) giving the keynote speech. For a person with so many accolades, Atala was surprisingly down-to-earth. He truly cares about the work he does and the patients he works with.

The first of several panel discussions focused on biotechnology funding for both researchers and small businesses. Michael Luther, president of the David H. Murdock Research Institute, served as moderator.

Representatives of Chelsea Therapeutics, Duke Energy, and Saebo, Inc. discussed the state of biotechnology in the Charlotte region and were asked if there was a brand for biotechnology in North Carolina.

The overwhelming answer: Yes! They also talked about the North Carolina Research Campus and how it will affect the region.

Four different researchers gave overviews of their research taking place in the area. The research being done in Charlotte is understandably remarkable, but it's also really cool:

  • Carolinas Medical Center has a whole bunch of commercializable products being developed
  • A UNC Charlotte spin-out created a software system to help people get fit
  • The UNC Nutrition Research Institute studies the effects of foods fed to babies and how it affects them later in life
  • A researcher at UNC Charlotte, Pinku Mukherjee, Ph.D., (also a Faculty Recruitment Grant recipient) is studying cancer vaccines

Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton closed the event with some inspiring words on North Carolina and how poised we are to take our biotechnology industry to an even higher level.

Afterwards, a lot of the attendees drove over to UNC Charlotte's new bioinformatics building for a networking reception and awards ceremony. The winner of the graduate student poster competition (and a $2,000 check!) was Maria Bahawdory from Wake Forest University. Her poster was titled, Use of a novel biomaterial to facilitate rapid blood clotting for use in trauma injuries.

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