UNMC, UNL join forces for BIO 2005 convention

UNMC’s booth at BIO 2005.

“Go Big Red” will be a popular chant this weekend as the Nebraska Cornhuskers compete in the College World Series.

However, for another Nebraska team, the action this weekend won’t be at Rosenblatt Stadium, but rather at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

A team of more than 20 Nebraskans will head to Philadelphia for the BIO 2005 Annual International Convention, the world’s largest biotechnology gathering with more than 18,000 biotech executives, investors, journalists, policymakers and scientists from more than 60 countries expected to attend.

The convention begins June 19 and runs for four days. It is the place to be if you’re serious about being a part of the biotechnology industry, said Don Leuenberger, vice chancellor for business and finance at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Don Leuenberger

“We’ve been at the past six BIO conventions,” Leuenberger said. “It is a great opportunity for us to make contacts and let people know what is happening in our state in biotechnology. This year’s booth is the largest we’ve ever had, and it’s also the largest contingent we’ve ever had from Nebraska.”

For the first time, UNMC and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are equal partners for the BIO convention. In the past, UNMC has always been the lead institution.

“There has been a lot of collaboration between UNL and UNMC,” said Prem Paul, Ph.D., vice chancellor for research and dean of graduate studies at UNL. “The stars are lined up for us to capitalize on this. Things are really moving. We can accomplish a lot more through collaboration than individually.”

Prem Paul, Ph.D.

He cited the recent development of Intuitool”, a grasping tool that will be used by surgeons performing minimally invasive surgeries, as an example of the collaboration going on between UNL and UNMC. The tool was designed through the combined efforts of UNL’s College of Engineering and UNMC’s College of Medicine.

As usual, the Nebraska contingent at BIO 2005 will be a blend of academic, business and government representatives. In addition to UNMC and UNL, other entities represented at the convention include the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) and the University of Nebraska Technology Park, LLC.

UNMC’s technology transfer company, UNeMed, also will be represented at the convention along with several biotechnology companies in Nebraska – Albrecht GFX, Nature Technology Corp., Reinke Metals, Transgenomic, Inc., TriMed Research, Inc., and Ximerex, Inc.

“I think it’s important for Nebraskans to understand that technology is an important area for growth in Nebraska,” said Darrell Ullman, development consultant for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. “The bioscience and medical industries are knowledge-based industries. They create jobs with high potential for growth, which can pay good salaries.

“It is really important for Nebraska to gain an international presence and be recognized for what we’re doing here in the state. We’re starting to gain both domestic and international presence in the area of bioscience.”

Some of the products or companies that will be highlighted at Nebraska’s convention booth this year will be:

• A fibrinogen bandage developed at UNL. The bandage has the potential of saving lives of soldiers in combat who have been seriously injured and who have a life-threatening loss of blood. The bandage is able to stop bleeding by immediately clotting the wound.
  
• A cholesterol lowering plant sterol ester developed at UNL. This is a completely natural compound that has been shown to lower LDL cholesterol by 65 percent in animal studies. The product is not absorbed, so there are no perceived side effects or toxicity.
  
• A protein developed by TriMed Research Inc. TriMed is a spinoff company developed by Tom McDonald, Ph.D., president and CEO of UNeMed and a professor in UNMC’s pathology and microbiology department. TriMed has discovered a protein that it hopes to use in a milk supplement that will prevent necrotizing enterocolitis, an intestinal disorder that is fatal for 30 percent of the low-birth-weight or premature babies who get it.
  
• An advanced computational bio-identification system developed at UNMC and UNO. A poster will be presented at the Innovations Corridor at the convention highlighting the commercial potential of this system to rapidly and accurately identify microbial pathogens.

This year’s theme for the Nebraska delegation is “Bio’s Hot in Nebraska.” All the people at the Nebraska Pavilion will wear red polo shirts emboldened with the theme. As in past years, a robotic dog named Flash will be on display and will be given away in a drawing at the end of the convention. Visitors to the booth can leave their business cards and be eligible for the drawing.

Marsha Morien

“It’s a great way to make contacts,” said Marsha Morien, administrator for advanced biomedical technologies at UNMC. “Last year in San Francisco, we had more than 1,500 visitors to our booth. This year should be even better. We’re going to have a much more prominent Nebraska Pavilion, as we have tripled our space from last year.”

Morien stressed the impact of research in the state. “For every $1 million dollars of research funding that comes into the state, there are about 30 jobs created for Nebraskans. The state truly benefits economically from the research that is done by the University of Nebraska system.”

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More on BIO 2005

• Attendees will include: golfing legend Arnold Palmer; Grammy Award winner and breast cancer survivor Melissa Etheridge; actor and cancer survivor Richard Roundtree; and governors from 12 states.
  
• Of the 18,000 total attendees, more than 6,000 will be international.
  
• 48 states and 61 nations will be represented.
  
• Will feature 180 panel sessions and 900 speakers.
  
• Now in its 13th year, the first BIO convention was held in 1993 in Raleigh, N.C., and drew 1,400 people.
  
• This is the second time the BIO convention has come to Philadelphia. In 1996, it drew 3,071 people. This year’s attendance will be about six times more than that.
  
• BIO 2006 will be held in Chicago on April 9-12.
  
• For more information on BIO 2005, go to http://www.bio.org/events/2005/.