Nanotechnology could create opportunities for UNC and North Carolina, marketing key

Nanotechnology could open huge opportunities for UNC and the state if it is marketed effectively, Brooks Adams said Thursday at the 2010-11 Carolina Innovations Seminar.

And the N.C. Center of Innovation for Nanobiotechnology, where Adams serves as executive director and president, wants to facilitate that.

The nonprofit organization was founded two years ago as a networking hub to link scientists and researchers working in nanotechnology and nanomedicine to commercial investors.

North Carolina is a leader in nanotechnology research and innovation, with UNC ranked 26th among universities nationwide in nano-enabled drug delivery.

The technology, which focuses on using microscopic particles to transmit drugs for cancer treatment and tissue therapy, has become increasingly important in recent years.

Adams said the field offers prospects for N.C. businesses, dozens of which have already taken advantage of the multi-billion dollar market.

“Only a few nano centers will emerge worldwide,” he said. “North Carolina is already one.”

He said despite the field’s many scientific developments, researchers often lack the commercial funding necessary to continue their work because they don’t know how to connect with investors.

“People always need more connections,” he said.

While the seminar was primarily focused on forging links between business and science, UNC undergraduate and graduate students will also be able to take advantage of the opportunities that the center offers.

The organization is advertising the annual North Carolina Nanotechnology Commercialization Conference in Charlotte March 29-30. It welcomes product developers, researchers and anyone else interested in nanotechnology — including students.

The seminar will allow ambitious young researchers to receive feedback as they pitch their ideas to members of the center in organized workshops.

Jim Roberts, the center’s director of membership services and fundraising, said this is just one opportunity the center offers to help local researchers connect with the increasingly global industry.

Kelly Parsons, a technology development associate at UNC, said the organization offers students a growing number of possibilities.

She explained that the center hopes to make it easier for students and investors to collaborate.

“It helps them to take their idea in a lab and turn it into a developed product,” she said.

The center has already begun the efforts to link the UNC community with N.C. businesses through press releases and journal articles.

Senior biology major Cody Blazek said he thinks UNC teaches its students how to put out research but doesn’t always teach them how to turn their ideas into a business.

“The center helps to bridge those connections,” he said.

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