Nanobiotech Center Wins $2.5 Million, 4-...( Triad-Based Center of Innovation To C...)

Triad-Based Center of Innovation To Commercialize NC's Nanobio Ideas

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., June 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has approved a four-year, $2.5 million grant for the Center of Innovation in Nanobiotechnology (COIN) to develop the commercial potential of nanobiotechnology research from universities across the state.

"Nanobiotechnology is an exciting new discipline that has the potential to change everything from textiles to medical devices. This Center of Innovation will help commercialize more of the nanobiotech breakthroughs being made in North Carolina laboratories," said Mary Beth Thomas, senior director of the Centers of Innovation program at the Biotechnology Center.

Nanotechnology involves structures between one and 100 nanometers in size--roughly 10,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper. Companies in North Carolina are already working on nanoparticles that treat disease by carrying new genes to certain cells, and sunlight-powered nano-scale coatings that kill microbes on hard surfaces and fabrics.

The four-year award to COIN builds on a $100,000 planning grant given by the Biotechnology Center last year. That money was used to hire an executive director and develop a business plan, making the Nanobiotech Center eligible for the current round of funding. With the new award, COIN will establish itself as an independent, self-sustaining entity. The $2.5 million will be paid as business milestones are reached.

Key partners in the planning effort included North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Wake Forest University.

"This is the first major grant developed jointly by these three research universities," said Gwyn Riddick, director of the Biotechnology Center's Piedmont Triad Office and
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