Grant to help turn science into success

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina regularly make important scientific discoveries, but they often lack the business skills to market them, said Mark Kindy, assistant provost for technology transfer.

But that's about to change with the help of a $600,000 grant the College of Charleston landed from the National Science Foundation, said Kelly Shaver, chair of the college's Department of Management and Entrepreneurship.

The college will use the two-year grant to work with entrepreneurial individuals and start-up teams at a new center on Meeting Street to increase the likelihood that their biomedical discoveries will be successfully commercialized, Shaver said.

Kindy said the college's business know-how is vital to MUSC researchers. "We're all scientists here. We don't really know anything about running a company."

Other participants in the project are the University of Louisville, the South Carolina Research Authority, the city of Charleston and the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, Shaver said.

The MUSC and SCRA Innovation Center, an incubator for start-up medical businesses, opened in December in a former mattress factory. Four start-up companies, all created from technology developed at MUSC, are now housed in the new center.

Shaver said experts from the college will examine scientific start-up teams and figure out what they are lacking and what they might need to make their discoveries commercially successful.

Then, when a team sets out to raise money to launch its business, it can clearly state its strengths and weaknesses to potential investors, Shaver said.

Those investors, in turn, can find in their business networks resources to compensate for any shortcomings, he said.

Shaver said the project will significantly strengthen the college's role in development of the region's biotechnology community, and provide students with the opportunity for even greater participation in the business of biomedical science.

Shaver and Kindy got a jump on the grant this semester. They are teaching a course on biomedical commercialization. Both science and business students are taking the course.

"The hope is that young business students and young science students will get cross-training," Kindy said.

Reach Diane Knich at dknich@postandcourier.com or 937-5491.