The N.C. Biotechnology Center has awarded three, $30,000 loans to help small life-science companies get going.

The nonprofit, state-funded center provides low interest loans to promising companies. The goal is to provide early funding until companies can attract the attention of bigger investors.

The loans are part of the Biotech center's mission to bolster the industry and its role as a job-creation engine across the state.

The three companies each received the maximum $30,000 loan to pay for non-scientific business start-up activities.

The companies include (click "Read More"):

The N.C. Biotechnology Center has given a grant worth as much as $2.5 million for a new center designed to foster commercial development and jobs based on the state's ocean life.

The four-year grant will help get the Marine Biotechnology Center of Innovation off the ground. The money will be based on organizers meeting various milestones. The goal will be to have the center find other sources of funding within four years to become self-sustaining.

One of the first tasks will be to find a CEO to run the center. That executive will choose where to open the center, and begin hiring a small staff, said Biotech Center spokesman Jim Shamp.

The grant comes as the General Assembly recently cut the Biotech Center's state funding by 10 percent. The center, based in Research Triangle Park, is a nonprofit that depends on the state for the bulk of its annual budget.

A California real-estate firm plans to build a $13.5 million agricultural technology research center near Research Triangle Park, designed to bolster the state's reputation as a hub in the industry.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities' 50,000-square-foot Alexandria Ag-Tech Center and greenhouse are scheduled to open for business next summer. They will help emerging ag-tech companies develop new products, such as drought-resistant crops or medications extracted from plant materials.

The incubator is expected to provide jobs to 30-40 scientists, but Alexandria officials did not announce tenants for their planned facility. The building will house an 18,000-square-foot greenhouse. 

Officials with the N.C. Biotechnology Center are in discussions with at least 20 companies that are considering expansion in this state.

"We've got a lot of things in the pipeline" and activity among prospects is picking up, said CEO Norris Tolson, in a phone interview. "Some are very early stage. We don't have anyone who's ready to announce next week."

The private, nonprofit Biotech Center is working on some potential economic development deals with the N.C. Commerce Department, projects that would likely involve tax breaks or other financial incentives from the state.

But others may skip such aid because incentives require specific hiring  and investment targets.

"Companies are being very pragmatic about what they're trying to do," Tolson said. "Sure, if they can nail down specific numbers, they would love to have incentives."

President Barack Obama's Startup America 2011 tour will kick off in Research Triangle Park tomorrow.

The commander-in-chief won't make an appearance, but he will send administration officials such as Ronnie Chatterji of the Council of Economic Advisers and Esther Vassar of the Small Business Administration.

As part of the initiative announced in January, administration officials plan to visit eight cities to hear from small business owners and entrepreneurs about regulations, lending, hiring and more.

One goal is to identify burdensome regulations and other barriers that curb entrepreneurs' efforts to expand startup companies. The main mission is to generate more activity among entrepreneurs and small businesses that will create new jobs and bolster the slowly reviving economy.

A Cary-based nonprofit spun out of the N.C. Biotechnology Center released a set of guidelines today to help promote responsible global use of genetically modified trees.

The report from the Institute of Forest Biotechnology is partly designed to ease fears of the public and environmentalists that increasing interest in biotechnology trees will cause more harm than good.

The institute also announced that it's preparing to plant engineered American Elm and American Chestnut trees at the campus of the Biofuels Center of North Carolina in Oxford using the new principles.

Biotech and forestry companies, paper manufacturers, scientists and others are seeking to develop trees that are more resistant to pests, disease and climate change.

A new addition at the N.C. Biotechnology Center will recognize former Gov. Jim Hunt, who helped establish the industry's roots in the state.

Officials will dedicate the 20,000 square-foot James B. Hunt Jr. Leadership Annex at a ceremony on Tuesday afternoon.

"With Gov. Hunt's early vision, we were able to build a strong foundation for biotechnology to thrive," said Biotech Center CEO Norris Tolson, who served as commerce and transportation secretary under Hunt, in a prepared statement.

The $10.1 million expansion will provide meeting space and more at the state-supported center's headquarters in Research Triangle Park.

North Carolina's biotech industry includes about 530 companies that employ 57,000 people.

Four triangle institutions are getting money from the N.C. Biotechnology Center.

The funding is part of nearly $423,000 in Educational Enhancement Grants the center is distributing across the state for biotech initiatives. The local institutions to benefit are Wake Technical Community College, N.C. State, UNC-Chapel Hill and the N.C. Association for Biomedical Research.

The grant program supports the design and implementation of biotech education programs in schools and school systems, community colleges, private colleges, universities and museums. It does not intended for construction, though some funding is used for equipment purchase.

The details:

•  Wake Tech's Scott Johnson receives  $66,926 for a biotechnology lab enhancement project.
• NCSU's Paul Hamilton receives $55,200 to develop a new, industry-style lab course in microbial biotechnology.

• The biomedical research association's Suzanne Wilkison receives $38,000 to develop a video on biotech careers targeting students in grades 6 to 12.

• Roger Narayan receives $20,000 to develop a nanobiotechnology graduate certificate program in a program operated jointly by NCSU and UNC-CH.

With these grants, the biotech center has distributed 191 awards totaling $6 million since the program began in 1991.

A small Research Triangle Park company developing a promising treatment for multiple sclerosis has won a prestigious award to pay for further research.

Cognosci will use the $330,000 grant to continue evaluating an experimental compound that shows potential in helping rebuild the central nervous system, rather than just blocking damage from MS.

It's not a lot of money for a seven-employee company that's attracted more than $18 million, mostly in federal grants, since it was founded in May 2000. But the award does elevate Cognosci's reputation and could help its leaders land new partnerships.

The money was one of two initial grants handed out by Fast Forward, a nonprofit organization set up by the National MS Society to accelerate the development of promising treatments, and EMD Serono, the subsidiary of a German drug maker that's also working on MS drugs.

Cognosci's grant also includes a license option for EMD Serono. That means that if Cognosci's early testing continues to be successful, EMD could invest more money to help test the drug in patients and commercialize it, said Dale Christensen, left, Cognosci's vice president of research and business development.

"It's really not that long before patients could start seeing benefits," said Christensen, whose father died from MS. "That helps keep our energy up."

Construction junkies, this blog's for you.

The N.C. Biotechnology Center has set up a Web site to document progress of the $10.4 million, four-story addition being built at its Research Triangle Park headquarters.

And so you don't miss a moment of the action, there's even a live video feed. It's sort of like watching paint dry, but there are fans of that online, too.

The site also features photos of the work in progress, including last week's "topping out" ceremony with a genetically improved loblolly pine. The 20,000 square-foot building is expected to be complete next fall.

The biotech center is expanding to provide more space for its increasing workforce. The center is flourishing as the state's biotech and agriculture industries are booming, a bright spot during mostly dim economic times.