Organizations Announce Competition to Promote Research in Zero Gravity

The Heinlein Prize Trust announces the Microgravity Research Competition to reward innovation in the use of microgravity to advance biotech, nanotech, combustion, metallurgy, and other fields. Sponsored by the Trust and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the competition offers a $25,000 prize and transportation to and from Low Earth Orbit for the winning experiment aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

"Decades of demonstrations have shown that the microgravity of space provides a unique window on biological and physical processes," says Art Dula, Trustee of the Heinlein Prize Trust. "Because of substantial recent funding by NASA and the private sector, access to microgravity will soon be more commonplace. This opens an incredibly exciting opportunity for the research community."

The Heinlein Prize Trust is a non-profit foundation which promotes the commercial uses of space. It provides financial prizes to commercial space entrepreneurs, enhances public awareness of commercial space, and uses space to inspire students about opportunities of the next frontier. SpaceX is developing a family of launch vehicles and spacecraft intended to increase the reliability and reduce the cost of both manned and unmanned space transportation, ultimately by a factor of 10. With the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 vehicles, SpaceX says it offers highly reliable/cost-efficient light, medium and heavy lift capabilities for spacecraft insertion into any orbital altitude and inclination.

The winning experiment will be launched into Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, the organizations say. NASA recently selected Falcon 9 / Dragon to transport cargo to the International Space Station.

The Microgravity Research Competition is open to U.S. universities and non-profits organizations with industry partners. The winning team will also get to witness the launch of their experiment from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

"SpaceX is excited to offer our Dragon spacecraft as a platform for in-space experimentation services to mainstream researchers," says Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and CTO. "We plan to fly 'DragonLab' missions starting in 2010 for this express purpose."

In space, there is no gravity-induced convection, sedimentation, hydrodynamic shear force, hydrostatic pressure, or mass transfer, according to the competition announcement. Experiments in microgravity can reveal novel mechanisms fundamental to cell processes, disease processes, and the adaptation of living systems to changes in physical forces, it says.

The announcement, available online, provides an overview of microgravity's practical applications and details on the competition. Proposals are due March 20.

The application and judging process will be supported by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship. The winner will be announced April 18, at the Awards Banquet for the 2009 Rice Business Plan Competition hosted by the Rice Alliance.

"We very pleased to participate in this important competition," says Brad Burke, managing director, Rice Alliance, "because of the important role of commercializing the promising technology research and innovations."

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North Carolina's Biotechnology Investment Tops Billion-Dollar Mark; Battelle Study Quantifies Economic Dividends and Jobs

North Carolina has invested more than $1 billion in its expanding biotechnology enterprise during the past 10 years, and the annual economic impact exceeds $45 billion, according to data released today at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

Norris Tolson, president and CEO of the Biotechnology Center, and leaders from the government, education and academic institutions that made those investments spoke at a news conference Thursday about the significance of the investment in building a foundation for future growth.

"Smart, steady investment in biotechnology has created a major economic engine in North Carolina," says Tolson. "This technology will help us meet the major global needs of the future -- health care, energy and food. But it also brings tangible benefits to North Carolinians in the form of jobs, and the potential is there for many more."

The success of the biotechnology industry and the statewide partnerships that support it were verified by the findings of an economic-impact study from the Battelle Memorial Institute's Technology Partnership Practice.

Battelle's Simon Tripp, who led the study, discussed quantitative and qualitative data on the benefits derived from North Carolina's unique 24-year history in bioscience investment. The 133-page report included research data as well as survey information from biotech stakeholders and CEOs of affiliated companies around the state.

"In the 21st century, which many have termed the Biocentury, biotechnology is expected to be a key engine of economic growth in the United States," says the executive summary of the study, Evidence and Opportunity -- Biotechnology Impacts in North Carolina. "Battelle's analysis finds that North Carolina is extremely well-positioned to experience substantial further growth and development from biotechnology."

Concurrent with the Battelle report, Biotechnology Center personnel and colleagues at partner institutions and organizations established that in just the past decade, North Carolina has committed more than $1.2 billion to bioscience funding via:

• $857 million in research and facilities;
• $135 million toward workforce training;
• $115 million to the North Carolina Biotechnology Center; and
• $102 million in direct company incentives.

These investments support an industry that, as measured by the Battelle study, directly contributes $28.7 billion annually to the state's economy and creates 53,200 jobs. The total impact climbs to $45.8 billion and 180,007 jobs when all spending by those companies and their employees, termed indirect and induced impacts, are counted.

The Battelle analysis lauded the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, saying it "has clearly generated a comprehensive and well thought-out series of programs and initiatives that support every link in this development chain."

Tripp says the Battelle study found that companies that receive financial assistance from the Biotechnology Center return $26.8 million a year in state taxes alone. These companies have attracted $99 in additional external funding for every dollar loaned to them by the Center.

Faculty recruitment grants from the Biotechnology Center have drawn 52 high-profile bioscience faculty to the state's universities. Those researchers have brought in $363 million in external funds from sources such as the National Institutes of Health -- a 37-to-one leverage.

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