A Win-Win-Win-Win-Win-Win Scenario

In addition to maintaining its own staff, the CNDD will also form strong affiliations with researchers across campus. Since arriving at UNC, Mumper has been meeting with researchers from various departments who are involved in nanotechnology research to see how the center can coordinate its efforts with other related initiatives at the University.

Mumper is also drawing up a business model for the center. In his proposal, he identifies six groups of stakeholders for the CNDD: federal agencies (the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation), the state of North Carolina, the University, the academic and research units on campus, UNC students, and the private sector (venture capitalists and industry).

“When I wrote the initial business model of this center, it involved a merger of the science, business, and academic objectives,” he says. “I see it as a win-win-win-win-win-win for all the stakeholders if you can achieve these three objectives.”

The center’s scientific objective will be developing nanotechnology applications to deliver drugs and vaccines more effectively. The focus will be “first in humans”—translating research into potential human clinical trials at UNC to see if a product is safe and effective. It’s an approach that correlates with the NIH’s push for more translational research.

Mumper says there has been discussion about initially focusing the center’s efforts on cancer, as well as on applying nanotechnology to diseases of the central nervous system.

“Specifically we want to be able to use nanotechnology to get either imaging agents or drugs that are normally not available to the brain—because they are not permeable at the blood-brain barrier—to enhance their delivery to the brain. That would make it easier to diagnose and treat many different types of CNS diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and stroke.”

On the academic front, the center will strive to be the world leader in nanotechnology-related research, training, and intellectual property creation.

“This is a hot area that’s going to be at the forefront of job creation in the future,” Mumper says. “We want both professional and graduate students to be immersed in this environment, to gain skills that they otherwise won’t be able to get at universities that don’t have the commitment to this intensive investigation.”

The business goal is to create a sustainable center, which Mumper will try to accomplish by bringing in funding from an array of sources.

“The business model would ideally encompass state-sponsored support, government-sponsored support through grants and center grants, as well as a partnership with the business field, namely venture capitalists and other types of private money that would go to see the success of this enterprise,” he says.

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