WYPR: Nano Bio-Tech Industry Gets Boost From Annapolis (2008-02-27)

Nano-biotech is said to be the next big thing in scientific research. Simply put, it uses the ability to engineer the tiniest of tools to target certain tissues or organs in the body for research. Dr. Nick Jones, dean of engineering at The Johns Hopkins University, compared it to the 1960s movie The Fantastic Voyage.

TAPE (20 SECONDS) TRACK 62 @ 10:27
IC: It's almost literally, we're starting to realize that dream, if you like, of being able to go into the body with manmade devices to be able to seek out and destroy tumors for example, or other malfunctions in the system and to be able to treat and cure. 10:47

Bills filed in both houses, would create a 5-million dollar fund to provide grants to help nano-biotech industries to locate in Maryland, fund research at Maryland universities and to transfer technology developed from that research into commercial applications.

At a news conference, Heather Mizeur, a Montgomery County Democrat who is the lead sponsor in the House, called the fund a nano-sized investment that would create huge dividends for Maryland.

TAPE (15 SECONDS) TRACK 57 @ 01:35
IC: This industry is poised to be an economic blockbuster for Maryland. Nano technology was incorporated in more than 50 billion manufactured goods in 2006 and that impact is going to grow to over $2.6 trillion by 2014. 01:50

Britt Kirwan, chancellor of the University of Maryland System, said the investment would attract top research talent to the state.

TAPE (20 SECONDS) TRACK 58 @ 01:09
IC: We will see this $5 million fund leveraged many times over, five, ten times over in the years to come and enable Maryland to be the leader in what most of us think is going to be the most important scientific, economic development industry in the coming decades. 01:29

But there's one small hitch. The bill doesn't require that any money be put into the fund until next year. Senate President Mike Miller said he knows the state is fiscally challenged at the moment.

TAPE (7 SECONDS) TRACK 62 @ 02:39
IC: We're looking at some cuts, but we're mandating that it be included in the budget. 02:46

Despite the economic outlook, Miller added, Maryland can't afford to not spend the money.

TAPE (17 SECONDS) TRACK 62 @ 03:43
IC: This is where we need to be and this is where we're going to go. We're challenged by other states, but this is a race we intend to win and we're going to be the first out of the box in locating this center here in the state of Maryland. 03:57.

And Dr. Jennie Hunter-Cevera, president of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, said just they already have been successful in leveraging 1.75 million dollars from another source to put Maryland in a league with Stanford, Harvard and MIT in nano-biotech research.

TAPE (5 SECONDS) TRACK 62 @ 05:11
IC: Soon as you say you're putting money into it, you attract other money and you leverage the dollars. 05:16

Maryland's location on the border of the nation's capital makes it particularly attractive to federal agencies, she said. The Department of Energy, for example, is building a 70 million dollar facility in California.

TAPE (16 SECONDS) TRACK 62 @ 04:47
IC: DOE's in our back yard. My prediction is that DOE is now doing to pay more attention to Maryland because we have put this fund together, we're in their backyard, they love to showcase to the Hill and the capabilities within the Universities and the companies are just phenomenal. 05:03

The Senate version of the bill has 35 sponsors, including the minority leader, David Brinkley and five other Republicans. The House version has 23 sponsors, with one Republican among them. But that doesn't mean everyone's on board.

Delegate Tony O'Donnell, the House minority leader, worried about the bill's price tag.
There are a lot of good ideas, but this could cost 5 million dollar-a-year forever, he said. And we have to quit spending money on new programs.

I'm Joel McCord, reporting in Annapolis for 88.1, WYPR.