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    s t r a t e g y f o r s u c c e s s f e c u s e s e ns t r e n g t h e n i n g s e c t e r s s t a t e w i d eScientists are finding app iications for the latest biotechnoiogyprojects in biofuels, integrative medicine and marine biology.

    With vision and purpose. NorthCarolina is adopting a new strategy forbiotechnalogy development. It's targetingspecific industries springing from thestate'5 natural and institutional resources."Few states are so able to opply biotech-nology so broadly, in applications rang-ing from marine resources and forestryto plant agriculture, animal agriculture,Christmas trees, horticulture, biofuels,natural products and medical devices,"says W . Steven Burke, senior vice presi-dent of corporate affairs for the NorthCarolina Biotechnology Center.

    To help develop these and othersectors, the Biotechnology Center hasestablished regional offices in Asheville,Winsfon-Salem, C harlotte, G reenvilleand Wilmington. "We v^'ill over time

    transform the economic, virtual andactual landscape of this state v^-ith bio-technology," Burke says. "Changes willbe profound. Gain w ill be great, andso will job creation."

    W hile some niches Christmastrees, for example, in the mountains spring almost entirely from regionalresources, most have potential for state-wide application. Rooted in westernNorth Carolina, the natural-productssector also touches muscadine grapesin Duplin County. Coastal marine bio-technology has applications on westernNorth Carolina fish farms. Feedstocks grasses and trees grow n as raw materi-als for industrial uses can producebiafuels. The Biotechnology Centerhopes to accelerote the developmentof these niches through a nev/ Centersof Innovation program that will fundresearch an d business collabora tions.Here is what's happening in each sector:Biofuels: North Carolina motoristsburn about 5 billion gallons of fuel everyyear, but the state only produces a scant20 ,000 gal lons - or 0.00 04% of thetotal it uses. What is being made is bio-

    diese! from smallproducers and co-o p s . That d rop-in-the-barrel figure is des-tined to change. Atthe request of theGenerol Assembly,the Biotechnology

    Center, the N.C, Rural Economic Devel-opment Center, N.C, A&T State Univer-sity, N.C. State University and the N.C.Department of Revenue have teamed upto draft a strategy for biofuels that v^asscheduled to be presented to the legisla-ture this spring. Almost 30 other organi-zations statewide have contributed to address the question: What combination ofvision, policies and resources is neededto develop a biofuels industry thai is sub-stantial in output, economically importanand significant across the state?

    The development of new feedstockswill give North Carolina fuel sourcesbeyond corn, A wide range of sources,including canola, switchgrass, industrialsweet potatoes, hybrid poplar and wil-low, miscanthus ornamental gross andalgae, can be grown statewide. It's inceilulosic ethanoi made from cellu-lose, the main constituent of plants that most experts think North Carolinacan contribute to the biofuels supply.

    Ditto for biodiesei, another alterna-tive fuel made from organic sources suchas soybeans, cooking oil and animal fat.The state has some competitive advan-tages in this next generation of biofuelsproduction, especially ceilulosic ethanoi.It has leaders committed to developingbiofuels. It has vast acreage and farmerswho know how to grow energy crops. Ithas wood-products industries that couldprovide o steady stream of wood resi-due for ethanoi production. And it has

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    university and industrial research labs fordeveloping more efficient feedstocks andbiofuel technologies.

    Chief among the resources isNovozymes, the world's largest producerof industrial enzymes. Enzymes breakdown plant biomass into sugars, whichcan be fermented into ethanol. Novo-zymes North America, with headquartersin Franklinton, has developed enzymesthat make cellulasic ethanol productionmore feasible. "They've brought the castoF enzymes down tremendously, andthey have the scientific ond practicalknowledge to bring it down further,"says Dr. Steve Kelley, head of theDepartment of Wo o d and Paper Scienceat N.C- State and a member of thestate's biofuels strategic planning steer-ing cammittee. "We still have a ways togo to get the overall cost daw n,"

    In addition, cellulosic ethanol pro-ducers will need better pretreatmentmethods to break down plant feedstacksinto sugars for conversion into ethanolvia fermentation. That's particularlytrue for wo od, which resists breakdownbecause of its high content of l ignin.

    Nevozymes employee DavidPace explains part ol theprocess under developmentto make cel luloalc ethanolcheaper at the company'senxyme plant In Frankllnton.

    a bindingagent thathalds waodcells togetherand gives trees their hardness andstrength. "We see pretreatment as aneof the biggest challenges for w a a d , "Kelley says, N.C. State, with public andprivate partners, is proposing a pilotplant w here researchers w ould test pre-treatmenl and conversion technologies.Commercial demanstratian plants wouldfollow to refine the process.

    Another practical challenge is feed-stock supply and storage. Many cropscan begrown only once a year ormaybe twice in the case of switchgrass meaning they must beharvested andstored for long periods before use, lead-ing to degradation andpoor quality.

    Therein lies one a dvantage of wood."We have this very clever way of storingwoody biomass," Kelley says. "It'scalleda tree. But ultimately all sources of bio-mass w ill be needed for commercialsuccess." Anather advantage of woadwaste is that pulp and paper industriescould provide a year-round supply. A

    report by the N.C. SolarCenter suggests thatwood residues maysupply up to 75% ofthe state's ethanol feed-stock, with agriculturalcrop residues anddedi-cated energy cropsaccounting for the rest.Kelley agrees that it'slikely a variety of feed-stocks will make up thestate's biofuels industry.Whatever materialsthose are, they must begrown with high yieldsan d beeconomically,technically and environ-mentally feasible.

    Natural biotech-nology and integra-tive medicine: Herbgrovs-ers in the moun-tains have long soughtbotanicals with the high-est quality and potency.The biodiversity ofwest-ern North Carolina is akey contributor to theregion's rich history in

    the medicinal use of natural plants andherbs. But only a fraction of the region'sestimated 2,500 plant species havebeen examined for those uses.

    Soon, a new International Institutefor Natural Biotechnology and Integra-tive Med icine will intensify that quest.The institute is the culmination of fiveyears of sfudy and visian by the NorthCarolina Arboretum in Asheville, the Ad-visory Com mittee for Biotechnology inWestern North Caralina, fhe Biotechnol-ogy Center, the University of NorthCarolina, the Narth Carolina NaturalProducts Association, Missian Hospitalsand other public andprivate institutions.It holds promise for the western region toattain glo bal prominence in natural andintegrative medicine.

    Academic, agricultural, business andgovernment leaders invalved in the plan-ning envision the institute as a special-ized research center equipped to applyscientific principles to identify, validate.

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    protect and use the region's naturalresources in innovative, sustainable andproductive ways, "Since the earliestCherokee and other indigenous peoplelearned to rely on the flora of our regionfor heolth and wellness, western NorthCarolina has been known as a naturalplace for health," says Jack Cecil, chairof the Advisory Committee. "Through thisinstitute, we're building on that culture byapplying natural biotechnology."

    "We are trying to define a newoperational and scientific paradigmfor dealing with unmet medical needs,"adds Dr. Jeff Schmitt, a specialist inmolecular design and a 27-year veter-an of life-science research. One of thefounders of Winston-Salem-based drug-discovery company Targacept, Schmittstarted work earlier this year at theArboretum, directing projects for theinstitute during a formal search for afounding director of research. He hasbeen writing grant proposals and help-ing ad visory committee members pre-

    pare the Institute's future. Working withinitial funding from the UNC systemthrough the Arboretum and with in-kindsupport from the Biotechnology Centerand Mission FHospitals, the Institute istargeting $8 million in grant proposalsby year-end,

    A capital campaign is under wayto pay for a building on the Arboretumcampus that could include a major medi-cinal-plant repository, potentially themost-extensive germplasm repository inthe Southeast, and a center of natural-products research. "This Institute tapsour region's potential in natural prod-ucts, forestry and agriculture (o explorenew ways of addressing some of soci-ety's critical unmet medical needs," saysCheryl McMurry, director of the Biotech-nology Center's western office, A grantfrom the Biotechnology Center supporteda study by RTI International that led tothe Institute concept.

    The human body, Schmitt says,has evolved to avoid being modified

    by the "single magic bullet" approach ofchemistry-based drug treatment, "Somebelieve that's the reason the traditionalpharmaceutical industry is so challengedto come up with anything new ," he soysUsually, extracts from medicinal plantshave several families of chem icals compounds that interact with biologicalsystems. That contributes to their efficacy

    Greg Cum berford, vice president ofGA IA Herbs in Brevard and a memberof the advisory comm ittee, says his com-pany has "advocated a profoundly holis-tic approach to wellness for 20 years,"and biotechnology is creating new tools,"It is only fairly recently that our capacityto characterize and simulate complexmolecular interactions in living systemshas started to yield real insight into theirunderlying pharmacodynamics," hesays. "The Institute's research will notonly significantly advance our medicalknow ledge but also set the cornerstoneson a new investigational model forwhich western North Carolina's academ-ic research infrastructure will becomeknown worldwide."

    George Briggs, executive director ofthe Arboretum and vice chair of the ad-visory committee, says the Institute exem-plifies the best in regional collaboration."The Arboretum has always believed inthe promise of strong economic develop-ment through our botanical richness," hesays, "In addition to gaining scientificdata from the Institute's research, w eenvision informative exhibits allowingthe Arboretum's 300,000 visitors a year

    z to see natural biotechnology and drug5 discovery at work and to better under- stand how this relates to economic

    opportunity for our citizens,"Marinebiotechnology:

    North Carolina'sragged coastencompasses near-ly 330 miles ofocean shorelineand more than

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    5,000 miles of estuarine shoreline,fhe third-largest system in ihe country.The sandy shores have long appeal-ed to beach-goers, but scientists andentrepreneurs envision North Caro-lina's waters as much more than avacation destination.

    Marine researchers from the Univer-sily ofNorth Carolina at Wilmington,Brunsv^ick Community College, UNCChapel Hill, N.C. Stote, Carteret Com-munity College and Duke University areexploring aquatic life as a source ofnewproducts for health-care, cosmetics, nu-traceuticals, alternative energy and otherindustries. "Research inmarine biotech-nology is introducing us to awhole newset of untapped commercial opportuni-ties from renewable natural resources,"says Randall Johnson, director of theBiotechnology Center's southeasternoffice. That means more collaborationsbetween researchers at the state's top

    universities through such programs asMarine Biotechnology in North Carolina,a two-yearold program sponsored bythe state and federal governments aim edat commercializing technologies. As partof MARBIONC, UNC Wilmington estab-lished aBusiness ofBiotechnology pro-gram to develop business-sawy scientistsby offering marine science postdoctoralfellows the chance to earn amaster'sin business administration. UNCW alsohas helped fund researchers through fel-tov/ships at UNC Chapel Hill and Duke,These fellows have produc ed a kit to de-tect pathogens in oysters and food formu-lations for fish mariculture-

    Dr. Daniel G, Baden, a professorof marine sciences atU N C W , is lead-ing research into the use ofabout 25marine toxins to diagnose and treat avariety of diseases. A startup, World

    Ocean Solutions, has beenformed to com mercializethe research. B aden's col-eagues have received afederal patent for researchon a new therapy for cysticfibrosis, a chronic diseoseaffecting the lungs anddigestive systems. Orga n-isms that release red tide,an algal toxin deadly toseo mammals and humans,may hold valuable treat-ment options. Researchersare collaborating with AAI-Pharma, aWilmingtondrug company, on clinicaltests of the therapy.

    Southeastern NorthCarolina's education sys-tem is expanding to meetindustry needs for skilled

    R v/orkers inbiotechnology.E= The re gio n is home to theI N.C . Community College^ System's BioAg Center in

    Robeson County, whereeducators train students for careers inmarine science and environmental pro-tection. UNC Pembroke hopes to dolikewise with its Biotechnology Businessand Training Center, AMarine ScienceTask Force, authorize d byUNC Presi-dent Erskine Bowles, is creating ablue-print to strengthen the sector.

    In November, the BiotechnologyCenter sponsored Bluefields: Collabo-rating for S tronger Aqua culture inNorth Carolino, aconference focusedon aquaculture research and commer-cialization. A similar event was heldin March. "Opportunities abound forNorth Carolina tobuild on our poten-tial inmarine biotechnology to improvepeople's lives," Johnson says. "W eshould be able to meet or exceed ourlofty expectations for marine biotechno-logy inNorth Carolina."

    North Carolina Blofechnolgoy Center15 T.W. Alexander DriveResarch Triangle Park, NC 37709919-541-9366, www.ncblotech.org

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