November 3, 1994: Vol26n9: Consortium to develop strategies for bitechnology

By ELLEN GOLDBAUM
News Bureau Staff
The University at Buffalo's Industry/University Research Center for
Biosurfaces is teaming up with the New York State College of Ceramics
at Alfred University and the University of Memphis, Tenn., to broaden
its research base and improve service to the biotechnology industry.
	The new consortium will work with companies to develop new
ideas into viable technologies, particularly in manufacturing
strategies for biotechnology. A main objective is to improve the
competitiveness of biotechnology and related companies in the three
regions where the research sites are located: Western New York, New
York's southern tier and the Mississippi Delta.
	UB will serve as administrative headquarters of the new
center, which is funded by a $250,000 grant from the National Science
Foundation.
	To belong to the consortium, each school must recruit local
and national companies as industry members.
	"Because of fierce competition for support, scientific
research centers must either embrace a national agenda, or wither and
die," said Robert Baier, executive director of the UB
Industry/University Research Center for Biosurfaces and professor of
biomaterials. During the past five years, the biosurfaces center has
conducted research with Procter & Gamble, Bausch & Lomb, GIBCO/Life
Technologies and others.
	"With this new consortium," he added, "the center becomes a
truly national performer."
	Center research projects now under way by UB investigators
include the study and simulation of biofilms that build up on
artificial limbs and dental and medical implants, use of a
glow-discharge treatment to make tissues more accepting of prosthetic
devices and the study of mechanical forces in biological systems for
application to bioremediation of hazardous waste sites.
	The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred will bring to
the consortium its renowned research capability in bioceramics,
particularly in bioresorbables, materials that are necessary
temporarily and then dissolve harmlessly in the body. "We want to grow
our bioceramics capabilities, bringing to them all of the things we
know about traditional ceramics and to complement what UB and Memphis
do," said Alexis Clare, site co-director at Alfred with Gary Fischman,
who directs its Bioceramics Institute.
	The University of Memphis (UM) will share its research in
cardiovascular flows and the biocompatibility of various implant
materials. So far, UM has brought on board Smith & Nephew,
Schering-Plough, Wright Medical Technology, the Center for Retina
Vitreous Surgery and Sims Deltech.
	"The Mississippi Delta is economically depressed, but this
center is part of an effort to make Memphis an international showcase
in biomedicine," said Srikant Gir, UM's corporate liaison for the
center and director of technology transfer. Site director is Vincent
Turrito, chair of biomedical engineering.
	Center funds have also been allocated to support minority
undergraduates in the sciences at the three sites.