WEEKLY E-NEWS FROM THE NORTH CAROLINA BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTER

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The deadline to submit a presentation to BioContact Quebec 2009 is March 27. Learn more online or call Joe Conaty with the North Carolina Department of Commerce at (919) 715-5743. Follow the online links to the submission package.

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IN FOCUS FEATURE

New "Biotechnology Center" Holds Promise for Southeastern NC

FROM OUR WEB SITE

• $100K Biotech Center Grant Targets Cancer Drug Discovery
• HyperBranch Signs BD Deal
• Five Ventures Taps Biotech Companies
• Luther Heads Murdock Group
• $2.5M Center of Innovation Grant Boosts MedTech
• Biofuels Center Grants $2.77M
• Duke Hosts NanoBio Meeting
• Butler Shares Advice in Tablets & Capsules

DEPARTMENTS

• News from Other Sites
• Community Watch
• Events Calendar

There are now five established Centers of Innovation in North Carolina. COIs accelerate commercialization in specific sectors of the life sciences and create new businesses and jobs across the state. Click here to learn more about the Biotechnology Center's unique funding program.   In Focus New "Biotechnology Center" Holds Promise for Southeastern NC Celebrants gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at UNC Pembroke’s new $1.9 million Biotechnology Research and Training Center, lauded as a new academic and economic engine to help drive the region into the future. Read more about this facility that will strengthen biotechnology in Southeastern North Carolina in this week's In Focus.

From Our Web Site $100K Biotech Center Grant Targets Cancer Drug Discovery The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has approved a $100,000 planning grant for a Center of Innovation, coordinated by the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, to help focus the statewide push to discover, develop and commercialize cancer drugs. HyperBranch Signs BD Deal Durham's HyperBranch Medical Technology has reached a marketing deal with Becton, Dickinson, allowing the technology giant to market HyperBranch's OcuSeal liquid eye bandage worldwide. Five Ventures Taps Biotech Companies Close to half of the company semi-finalists in the annual Five Ventures interactive business plan competition are biotechnology companies. Luther Heads Murdock Group Albemarle native Michael Luther, Ph.D., has been named president of the David H. Murdock Research Institute of the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. Luther is currently vice president, basic research and site head at the Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research in Montreal, $2.5M COI Grant Boosts MedTech Biotechnology Center award will catalyze company formation and job creation in the Advanced Medical Technologies sector. Biofuels Center Grants $2.77M The Biofuels Center of North Carolina, in Oxford, has granted $2.77 million to help develop new non-food sources of biofuels and to improve production techniques to help grow a statewide biofuel industry. Duke Hosts NanoBio Meeting Ever wondered what nanotech is? Duke University is holding a symposium geared toward the general public on Friday, discussing the use of DNA to build structures and machinery measuring mere millionths -- or even billionths -- of a meter. Butler Shares Advice in Tablets & Capsules Article discusses return on investment from various business development activities.

Follow Us On Twitter! Keep up with North Carolina's biotechnology industry with our daily tweets! Follow @ncbiotech for facts, figures and news.

News from Other Sites

Biotech Center Starting Medical-Device Effort
A four-year grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center will help establish an advanced medical technologies Center of Innovation.
From the (Raleigh) News & Observer
From Tech Journal South
From Local Tech Wire

Scientists, Farmers Make Progress in Strawberry Growing Season
The Piedmont Research Station has been researching the ability to extend the growing periods for strawberries in Rowan County.
From the Salisbury Post

Former Merck VP to lead Murdock Research Institute
Born in Albemarle, Michael Allen Luther will run the Murdock Institute
From the Salisbury Post

NCRC on Oprah show March 24
The film crew from the Oprah Winfrey Show spent eight hours at the North Carolina Research Campus March 1 gathering film footage for a future episode.
From the Salisbury Post

N.C. Research Campus Brings Scientist's Family to Rowan County
A story of one family's recent relocation to North Carolina to take advantage of the opportunities found in Kannapolis.
From the Salisbury Post

Perdue Names Leaders of NC Government Reform Panel
Norris Tolson and Hilda Pinnix-Ragland will head group for governor. From the (Raleigh) News & Observer
From the Rocky Mount Telegram
From WNCT

The SE BIO/Plan competition provides opportunities for the region's research universities, research centers and existing entrepreneurs by awarding venture funds to launch the enterprise and implement their business plan. Last year Raleigh's Cerene Biomedics won. For more information or to apply for the 2009 competition click here.

Community Watch

• Sharon Lynn Benoit, BSN, MPH has joined Raleigh-based contract research organization INC Research as principal strategist, infectious disease. Benoit will provide strategic and development consultation to pharmaceutical customers and lead INC Research’s virology teams on Phase I-IV trials. More

• Russell Thomas, Ph.D., has received the 2008 Achievement Award from the Society of Toxicology. Thomas is director of the Research Triangle Park-based Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences’ Center for Genomic Biology and Bioinformatics and senior investigator at The Hamner.More

• Lynn Soby, Ph.D., a chemist specializing in  macromolecular science and engineering, has joined Research Triangle Park-based RTI International as vice president of operations for its Engineering Technology Unit. She will manage the day-to-day operations of the unit, as well as its commercialization efforts, intellectual property portfolio and internally funded R&D programs. More

• AdvantageWest president and CEO Scott Hamilton has joined the board of directors of the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation. Hamilton serves on the foundation board in his capacity as president of the North Carolina Economic Developers Association. More

Please send Community Watch items to Jim Shamp.

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This newsletter was sent Thursday, March 19, 2009. For the latest headlines from North Carolina’s biotechnology industry, please visit the news section of our Web site.

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