Triad schools plan nanobio center

The Triad's three major public and private research institutions are laying the groundwork for a new center that would coordinate commercialization opportunities statewide in the burgeoning field of nanobiotechnology.

The technology transfer officers at Wake Forest University, UNC-Greensboro and N.C. A&T State University, funded by a $100,000 planning grant from the N.C. Biotechnology Center, are unveiling a business plan for the N.C. Center of Innovation for Nanobiotechnology or "Coin." The grant is being administered by the Piedmont Triad Partnership.

If the plan they present sometime in the next several months is approved, the schools will receive about $2.5 million over four years to launch the program.

Nanobiotechnology is the science of using nano-sized technologies -- at the atomic or molecular scale -- in biological or biochemical applications such as delivering molecules to a disease site or for gene therapies.

Nanobiotech is just one branch of the broader science of nanotechnology, which has potential and current applications ranging from textile manufacturing to pharmaceutical development.

Gwyn Riddick, director of the Biotech Center's Piedmont Triad office, said nanobiotechnology is still in its infancy as a practical science, but that's the best time for the region to be stepping up as a leader.

"The slate is still clean on this," Riddick said. "Nanobiotech is going to be emerging through partnerships and alliances, so doing this early on before others get to it should really put our foot in the door in making a brand for North Carolina and this region."

The details of how Coin will operate, such as whether it will have a physical or virtual location and how it will be staffed and run, are still in development.

But in general, Riddick said, the idea is for the center to reach out to other universities and businesses around the state to pool information and resources about nanobiotechnologies in development, and commercialization opportunities.



Statewide interest

With nanotechnology all the rage among economic developers around the country, other parts of the state were also interested in hosting Coin, which will be the first of several planned Centers of Innovation in various disciplines.

But the credentials already established by the three Triad schools in the young science of nanotechnology won the day. Each school has its own resources to offer and partnerships between them are already underway.

Wake Forest, for example, hosts the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials. Technologies developed at the center under the supervision of lead researcher David Carroll have spun out into two investor-funded companies, FiberCell and Plexilight.

UNCG, meanwhile, established the Center for Nanobioscience earlier this year, recruiting a well-known researcher, Yousef Haik, to lead the center. Haik secured more than $4 million in research funding while he was at Florida State University and is a prolific patent generator.

A&T's Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures has received nanotech research funding from the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Research Laboratory and other sources.

A&T and UNCG are already collaborating on a Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering to be located at their shared Gateway University Research Park in Greensboro.

N. Radhakrishnan, A&T's vice chancellor for research and economic development, said no matter how advanced any one institution is, each can benefit from sharing resources.

"Nanotechnology is A&T's bread and butter," Radhakrishnan said, but "collaboration with other universities will make us stronger, more viable and more competitive."



Unproven model

That theory is easy to embrace rhetorically, but it's yet to be seen how enthusiastically universities will be to partner and collaborate on technology transfer, which can be a significant source of campus revenue and pride.

Another challenge may be logistical, especially since the partnership in the Triad involves both the private Wake Forest and two big taxpayer-supported UNC schools. But Michael Batalia, director of Wake Forest's Office of Technology Asset Management, said he's not concerned about clashing cultures or bureaucracies.

"We're used to working with UNC," Batalia said, noting that the school already provides tech transfer services for several smaller campuses on a contract basis. "I think it's going to shake out pretty nicely. We may have some bumps along the way, but I think out of it all will come some new and unique models of collaboration."

The extent of those collaborations will depend on other institutions around the state agreeing to get involved, and organizers including Jerry McGuire, the tech transfer director at UNCG, recognize that some schools are likely to be protective of their turf.

But McGuire thinks the structure of the Center of Innovation program will help overcome that. The Triangle-based Biotech Center is planning similar projects in areas such as marine biology, medical devices and so on, and those will likely be spread around the state.

"One of our first questions about how to do this was how can we get other universities, some of which at some point were competing for this center, to contribute?" McGuire said. "The answer is that they're going to be asking the same thing of us down the road."

As with most ambitious projects, the ultimate challenge may be funding, since the Biotech Center grant makes clear that the Nanobio Center will need to be self-sufficient.

Various funding models are under consideration, McGuire said, and could include things like sharing in licensing revenues or offering contributing private companies the first shot at commercializing new research.

Whether or not the Center of Innovation for Nanobiotechnology can establish the Triad as a real player in the nanotech industry remains to be seen, of course. McGuire, for one, says it won't accomplish that on its own, but it may be the region's best chance so far.

"Nobody can hand that title to you," McGuire said. "Nobody in the 1950s said, 'RTP is now the place for biotech,' but they put things in place and 40 years later it was, and the same could be said here. You've got to at least give yourself a chance, and this will be an excellent chance."