CHARLESTON, SC – Four biotech startups connected to research at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) are already slated to headquarter in the new SCRA MUSC Innovation Center that opened just this week. The fully-renovated facility attracts and supports start-up companies with wet lab and equipment space, primarily in concert with entrepreneurs commercializing MUSC research.
We noticed that SCRA has ramped up the South Carolina knowledge economy considerably since it began helping the state launch and nurture new technology ventures. SCRA has provided funding and support for 130 new knowledge-based start-ups in South Carolina since its inception in April, 2006, through its SC Launch program. That program has attracted more than $71M in add-on private equity investment in South Carolina companies.
With this collaboration, SCRA is fulfilling legislative mandates identified in the South Carolina Innovation Centers Act focused on the commercialization of new knowledge-based health care discoveries.
“The facility will bring significant economic development benefits of financial investment and job creation for the 21st century economy,” said Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr, City of Charleston.
“The opening of the Innovation Center marks a signal event for economic development in Charleston and South Carolina,” said Ray Greenberg, MUSC President. “The young companies housed in the incubator, many spun off from research at the Medical University, will be the engines that drive the development of the bioscience industry in the future.
The four startups slated to set up in the facility in January are:
Immunologix, which has created a technology that allows replication of human antibodies from cells recovered from discarded immune tissue. This technology meets the current need of antibody-based therapeutics through an in-vitro system.
Microbial Fuel Cell Technologies, which is commercializing the use of microbial fuel cells as emerging waste reduction and alternative energy technology products in the forms of Hydrogen and Ethanol.
Neurological Testing Services, which investigates pharmaceutical compounds in models associated with neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, stroke and epilepsy.
Vortex Biotechnology Corp., which focuses on the development of inhibitors of Pim protein kinases, key regulators of prostate cancer and certain leukemias. Vortex designs, synthesizes and evaluates proprietary Pim inhibitors, with the goal of moving an agent into clinical testing for the treatment of cancer.
Online: www.scra.org; www.musc.edu
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