The PTP recently hosted a group of journalists from scientific publications to tour some of the outstanding biotech and life sciences locations and organizations in the Triad. It was a lovely day in May as we boarded a bus in Winston-Salem for our first stop at the Piedmont Triad Research Park.

 

Wake Forest BioTech Place is a stunning building. A former tobacco warehouse, the building has been transformed into a modern space designed to encourage collaboration among its tenants. The open atrium shown here is surrounded by offices and laboratories filling up with researchers and private companies. We met with Phil Shugart, President at Carolina Liquid Chemistries, who praised BioTech Place for its design and he explained its very direct benefit to his business, "Simply by meeting researchers in the hallway and striking up a conversation, we are currently developing two new products that will be submitted to the FDA later this year." Mr. Shugart's company develops chemicals that enable medical testing such as cholesterol, hormone, and vitamin levels. Carolina Liquid Chemistries was based in Brea, California but moved its headquarters here to Mr. Shugart's home state in recent years.

 

Our next stop at the Research Park was to witness the incredible work at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM). Dr. Benjamin Harrison walked us around the laboratory and showed us examples of how they regenerate organs such as the bladder, skin and ear. All of their work came back to the Institute's primary mission which is to improve patients' lives. The science and innovation on display was amazing and the teams are a wonderful testament to the benefits of collaboration among different types of scientists - medical, engineering, biological - to create the best solution to our current needs for human organs and tissue. The following video is from a story on CBS'60 Minutes about the Institute and the science they are conducting. 

 

CBS 60 Minutes on WFIRM: Growing Body Parts

 

 

Our third stop was at Banner Pharmacaps which manufactures capsules for medicine and supplements. We donned our lab coats, booties and caps to maintain a sterile environment as we toured the facility and watched the gem-like red capsules of a daytime cough medicine travel through the line and get packed in boxes for shipment. The facility is an illustration of the life sciences meeting our proud manufacturing heritage. And next time you have a headache, remember that every ibuprofen gelcap (of any brand) is assembled right here in this High Point facility.

 

Dr. Jim Ryan at JSNN

Our last tour was at the new facility for the Joint School for Nanoscience and Nanoengineering located in the newly opened Gateway University Research Park. Professors and researchers were still unpacking their boxes as Dr. Jim Ryan gave us a tour of the building he had helped to design. Like WFIRM, scientists and engineers with a variety of specialties are encouraged to work together and consult each other in formal and informal ways. Dr. Ryan designed the building with offices and laboratories in separate areas so the students and teachers have more opportunities to meet and mix. A group of professors sat down with our visiting journalists and described the projects they are working on and how they make use of the highly advanced equipment now available to them at the JSNN.

 

 

Visit our website for more on the area's biotech and emerging sciences. 

 

 

 

 

• Ashley Furniture, the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of home furni-shings, will locate a new manufacturing and distri-bution facility in Davie County. Ashley Furniture expects to create 550 new jobs over the next five years and invest $80 million in land, buildings, machinery and equipment. 

• Ingersoll Rand, a global diversified industrial company, will expand in Davie County. The company plans to create 60 jobs and invest nearly $22 million over the next three years in Mocksville. Ingersoll Rand is a world leader in creating and sustaining safe, comfortable and efficient environments. This expansion will allow the Mocksville facility to become the primary supplier of certain precision-machined components used by Ingersoll Rand's Industrial Technologies Sector.

• Inmar, Inc., a technology company that operates collaborative commerce networks, will expand its corporate headquarters in Winston-Salem. The company plans to create 212 jobs over the next five years and invest $24.5 million. Inmar offers an array of business services to its 1,700 retail, pharmaceutical and manufacturing clients.

• Mirrus, a digital technology firm developer of new breed of interactive mirror that displays a full-size ads when nobody is standing right in front of it but then contracts down to a corner when the mirror is in use. The company, with a staff of 10, will move into office space in Winston-Salem and plans to hire as many as 25 employees by the end of the year. The company is currently located outside of Charlotte.

• Virginia College, a for-profit college based in Birmingham, Alabama is currently up-fitting a facility in Greensboro for its first North Carolina campus. The space should be completed within the next 12 to 14 weeks. The school will employ a full-time work force of 120 people and will be open by year-end (link above goes to premium content).