NCBiotech News

By Barry Teater, NCBiotech Writer

North Carolina State University (NCSU) will lead a new $30 million research program intended to make crops more resilient against environmental stresses while reducing the need for chemical treatments and irrigation.

NCSU will receive about $8 million of the program’s funding over six years to study how microbes in soil, roots and leaves interact with plants and affect plant health and productivity.

Durham immunotherapy company Dualogics has entered into a collaboration agreement with South Korea's Y-Biologics to use their combined expertise to discover and develop novel cancer antibodies.

Finally, a new, more-effective drug taken for shorter duration, when used in combination with two others, is here to fight the worst types of tuberculosis. And a scientist at RTI International helped it happen.

Griffith “Griff” Kundahl

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has awarded $1,378,772 in grants to six North Carolina universities in 2011 to boost biotechnology research.

The 12 Institutional Development Grants (IDGs), matched at least 25 cents on the dollar by the universities, went to scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, North Carolina State University, East Carolina University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Avery County is known for its beautiful Appalachian slopes, including Grandfather Mountain, and for its production of Fraser fir Christmas trees.

But a grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center is connecting the region’s ancient forest-based heritage to the economic opportunities of biotechnology.

Mere days after filing for federal approval to market a new rootworm-resistant corn, Syngenta Biotechnology Inc. has announced a corn rootworm deal with Dupont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred division that could produce $400 million for the Research Triangle Park company.

Syngenta Biotechnology Inc. is seeking federal approval to market a new rootworm-resistant corn.

The growing Research Triangle Park-based agribusiness has asked the United States Department of Agriculture for the go-ahead on a new trait Syngenta scientists have developed, dubbed Event 5307. The trait provides a new way to disrupt the digestive tracts of destructive corn rootworms as they eat.

Research Triangle Park-based Panaceutics is ramping up its financing and manufacturing capabilities to bring personalized nutrition products to market in collaboration with Dutch-based Royal DSM.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., an urban office REIT focused on collaborative life science and technology campuses, has officially opened the Alexandria Center for AgTech – Research Triangle, and has begun its second phase development.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals of Durham has begun a Phase 1 clinical trial of an anti-viral drug for treating two serious viral infections, Marburg virus disease and yellow fever.

This month’s NC Biotech Jobs Network featured a panel of three consulting experts who discussed their experiences in starting their own consulting businesses. Panelists included James Iademarco, Principal, Strategic Avalanche LLC; Nannette (Net) Stangle-Castor, Ph.D., President and Founder, InnoVector Tech Inc.; and Scott Rockafellow, President, Granite Beach Management. Each panelist gave a short slide presentation and provided complementary lessons on what is required to become a consultant.

Teachers in the NC Biotech Center's teacher workshop in Asheville last week learned the basics of stem cells.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has launched an initiative to help grow the state’s agricultural economy by creating more crop choices for North Carolina farmers.

Following months of discussions with partners statewide, NCBiotech has established the Biotechnology Crops Commercialization Center, targeting potentially valuable crops adapted to the state’s diverse soil, climate and agribusiness conditions.

Attention academic postdocs and other Ph.D. scientists: You have until May 3 to finish an application that could change your life.

That’s the deadline to apply for the North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s Industrial Fellowship Program.

These fellowships give select Ph.D. scientists a unique chance to get industry experience. In turn, they give companies access to new talent and expertise.