In what University of North Carolina Wilmington researchers said was an important step in developing the local biotechnology industry, a school research program announced this week it would join a government-backed consortium of manufacturers and universities that could bring more advanced pharmaceutical research to the area.
Officials at UNCW said participation by the MARBIONC research and development unit in the nationwide program would have a significant impact on the area’s growing life sciences industry, while allowing UNCW to distinguish itself with niche research that complements the area’s coastal resources.
“This will pay off for Southeast North Carolina, it brings us to the national level,” said Dr. Dan Baden, MARBONC’s executive principal. “We’re creating an economic ecosystem around biotech and life sciences. The drugs we are developing are so exquisitely potent and specific with what they do, that we’re part of the program.”
MARBIONC, or marine biotechnology in North Carolina, will join the $250 million National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), which pairs universities, colleges and other educational institutes with industry members to direct and fund research projects across the country. In all, the institute has 140 members, including more than 30 colleges, and is based out of the University of Delaware.
Baden said MARBIONC’s location by the Intracoastal Waterway allows it to establish a niche as the network specialist in marine-based biopharmaceutical research. The research initiative focuses on biopharmaceuticals, which are prescription drugs made from living cells. Most biopharmaceutical projects rely on cells from mammals, but UNCW’s MARBIONC has focused on developing these drugs from marine life, specifically microalgae, Baden said.
Researchers at MARBIONC use seawater to search for specific microbes with known therapeutic qualities. Then, they begin the difficult effort of isolating the organism, which is then used to grow cultures of cells, with the help of readily available seawater.
“It’s starting with a culture and ending with a pure product,” Baden said. In one case, MARBIONC has developed a patented agent with potential benefits for treatment of cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Baden said MARBIONC’s specialized focus on marine biotechnology gives it a unique opportunity to differentiate from the other research organizations in the initiative, which is part of a series of government-industry collaborations with the goal of improving domestic manufacturing through advanced scientific research. While the federal Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology will fund the program with $70 million, industry sources will step in with nearly $180 million more to help steer research and development that can result in new high-tech manufacturing.
NIIMBL will help take promising university papers, presentation and basic science from the classroom to industry by focusing on research and development that can result in manufacturing readiness. In fact, the research at MARBIONC is so specialized it needs advance instrumentation that is not available commercially, prompting researchers to find manufacturers in British Columbia, Amsterdam and even Wilmington-based IKA Works, Baden said.
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