UNCW selected for new biopharmaceuticals program

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — UNCW has been selected to be part of a national $250 million program designed to bring new biopharmaceuticals to the market more quickly.

Biopharmaceuticals are prescription drugs made with living cells. While the cells used are usually human, UNCW’s Marine Biotechnology in North Carolina, or MARBIONC, facility is researching ways to use algae and other marine organisms in the manufacturing process.

Dan Baden, Executive Principal of MARBIONC, could not be more excited about the program, called the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals, or NIIMBL.

“This NIIMBL program is kind of the culmination. It’s the pyramid top that we’re looking for. And now it’s just a matter of continuously executing new biopharmaceutical manufacturing methods,” he said.

Baden explained how MARBIONC studies marine organisms for pharmaceutical use.

“In our case, we work with marine organisms–marine algae and microorganisms like bacteria that come from the world’s oceans,” he said.  “We isolate those in the laboratory, clone the cells, bring them into large scale culture, and then look for their therapeutic value.”

Researchers are also searching for ways to speed up the manufacturing process so that new treatments are brought to the market more quickly. Research Technician Devon Keeler says that the potential to help people is part of what keeps her motivated.

“That’s what is most exciting for me–the fact that we are taking algae and doing some science magic on it, until we get to the point where maybe it becomes a better treatment than what’s on the market,” she said.

UNCW is one of about 50 universities selected by the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) program.

For more details on the program, click here.