NCBiotech launches Scaling to Solutions grant program

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has launched a new grant program to help university and nonprofit institute researchers in North Carolina translate game-changing food technologies into commercial products.

The grant program, called Scaling to Solutions (STS), provides up to $250,000 per recipient for up to two years to help them accelerate promising technologies and research and bring them to the global marketplace.

North Carolina’s state budget, enacted July 7, 2026, provided stable recurrent support for STS grants every other year, alternating with another NCBiotech program, the NCBiotech Venture Challenge. This supports and highlights early-stage North Carolina life sciences startup companies outside the Research Triangle Park area. 

STS grant deadline: Dec. 2, 2026

Principal investigators at major research institutions statewide have until noon on Dec. 2, 2026, to submit proposals for the inaugural STS funding cycle.

Tracey du Laney, Ph.D., vice president of Science and Technology Development at NCBiotech, said the focus of this STS cycle is on life sciences-based food innovation projects.

“We’re looking at mature translational research within North Carolina and scaling it to commercialization,” she said. “This STS funding does not go to companies. It’s for research institutions only.”

The funding can pay research staff, but there’s a $100,000 limit on salaries in each $250,000 grant, “because we’re looking at product,” said du Laney. “We want as much research translation as we can stimulate.”

“With farmers under extreme stress, from droughts and fuel and fertilizer prices to pesticide resistance, we want to enable some stabilization across the state. And that includes important marketplaces like seafood. Like our shrimp and oyster fisheries, which are being impacted by hurricanes, brackish waters and fuel prices. We need species like Carolina oysters to thrive again in our water systems. And we’re looking at engineering plants to deal with saltwater intrusion. Right now, we’re killing plants with salt. And developing new forms of ginseng would be great.”

Searching for better food tech

Du Laney and her team have been on a statewide road show since the newly funded grant program was announced at the NCBiotech Summit in September. They’re trying to make sure every eligible food-science inventor in the state tosses a hat into the wide-ranging search for winning technologies.

“This is aimed at life sciences technologies improving things like Covington sweet potatoes, blueberries, strawberries, corn, even edible packaging,” she said. “We’re not funding AI or app development. This is not designed for a new DoorDash or Uber Eats, not for delivering fish from fisherman to restaurant, not for delivering food to daycares.”

NCBiotech envisions winning proposals for this tranche of the STS program to include such wide-ranging activities as:

• Gene editing for increased crop production    
• Novel detection/diagnostic systems for food-borne pathogens, or food safety technologies
• Precision fermentation, traditional, and enzymatic fermentation - for emulsification, gelation, or nutrition enhancement
• Aquaculture/marine culture for food production
• Novel feed stocks and supplements for animal health and production
• Food production in challenging environments/conditions (soil depletion, salt intrusion, drought, unique terrains, etc.)
• Vertical farming and hydroponics
• Circular processing for food production and waste recycling
• Novel algae production for animal/human food
• Novel biodegradable/edible packaging materials
• Plant-based egg replacements
• Novel processing technologies to reduce sodium and sugar in preserved foods

Principal Investigators interested in submitting a proposal must begin by registering for an account on the NCBiotech funding portal. 

For questions or more information, contact Michelle Collins, MPA, CRA, CPRA, director of grant process operations in NCBiotech’s Science and Technology Development group, at (919) 549-8845 or [email protected].

Read more about NCBiotech funding:

1. Instructions for NCBiotech funding proposals
2. NCBiotech awards $7.4M in grants, loans in FY26 | North Carolina Biotechnology Center