Cutting-edge research that UNMC will conduct at a business incubator in Omaha has the potential to lead to promising product developments. Under an agreement approved Friday by the NU Board of Regents, UNMC will lease 8,309 square feet of space at the Scott Technology Transfer and Incubator Center.
“Being at the Scott center will allow for our scientists to work closely with established and start-up businesses, as well as faculty from Peter Kiewit Institute of Information Science, Technology and Engineering and other campuses,” said Don Leuenberger, UNMC vice chancellor for business and finance. “We expect that the synergy resulting from this collocation will spawn many new ideas and, eventually, new products.”
UNMC will use the Scott center in two basic areas: bioinformatics and orthopaedic joint replacement implants. Two laboratories from the department of orthopaedic surgery will be housed at the center: the Biomechanics and the Nano-biotechnology Research laboratories.
Othopaedics to use Scott center
UNMC faculty are involved in designing the next generation of knee simulators and developing new implant test methods for the International Standards Organization and the American Society of Testing and Materials, said Hani Haider, Ph.D., associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and director of the Biomechanics Laboratory.
Dr. Haider will work closely with professor Fereydoon Namavar, Sc.D., director of the Nano-biotechnology Research Laboratory. Dr. Namavar is an expert in nanotechnology research, which is an emerging field with novel applications in medicine and the engineering industry. Here, the scientists will manipulate extremely small particles to fabricate materials or coat surfaces of implants with super-hard protective layers using crystals or grains less than one-millionth of an inch in size. Dr. Namavar’s work advances technologies to enhance the durability and to increase the lifetime of orthopedic implants.
“Together with the advanced implant simulation and testing facilities, the combination offers the industry a strong haven for developing and testing innovative joint replacement implants,” Dr. Haider said.
NICLS lab to move
Also housed at the Scott center will be the intercampus research and training laboratory of the Nebraska Informatics Center for the Life Sciences (NICLS). NICLS was established last year to facilitate the integration of information, computer and life sciences to understand the organization and function of complex biological systems.
Simon Sherman, Ph.D., director of the center, said the site will provide expertise, service and computing resources for inter-campus research projects. It will be also the place where graduate and undergraduate students from all of the University of Nebraska campuses, as well as high-school students and students from other colleges who are involved in summer research programs, will be trained in the use of bioinformatics methods and tools.
“Location at the Scott Technology Center will help the NICLS faculty members to build close relationships with industrial partners” said Dr. Sherman, who also is a professor in the UNMC Eppley Research Institute.