University System of Md. to break up biotechnology institute - Houston Business Journal:

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The public university system’s Board of Regents approverd Friday a sweeping restructuring of the that will parcel out its fourresearch centers, alongb with staff and other to other campuses. System leaders hope the restructurinb will drive research collaboration and boost accessa tooutside funding. It also meansd an end for UMBI, which was launched to great fanfare two decades ago with the missio n ofadvancing education, research and economic development for what was then the state’w nascent biotech industry.
A months-long study of UMBI by an ad hoc committed led by USM regenta Chairman Clifford Kendall concludedthat “the organizationn of UMBI as a geographically dispersed, free-standing entity has created intractable problems.” Those problema included an inability to scale UMBI programs, isolatiom among UMBI’s research centers, the lack of a critica l mass of graduate and undergraduate students involved in UMBI and administrative inefficiencies.
“Aftetr a comprehensive and deliberative process, we have concluded that restructuring UMBI’s assets is the right thiny to do,” Kendall said in a “With a focus on collaboration — across disciplines and acrossinstitutiona — and with recognition of the exceptional talent withij the UMBI community and the system’zs other institutions, this action will position USM to take fulledr advantage of its system-wide strengths in the biosciences and to fuel the state’es knowledge economy even The move isn’t a totapl surprise.
Critics have long questionedf whether the state was duplicating its research efforts inthe UMBI’s four centers in Baltimore, Rockville and Collegw Park conduct research on medical, marine and environmental At the same time, state fundintg for higher education is pinched by the recessionn and the state’s budget deficit, and universities’ researcnh needs are growing. Under the restructuring approved Friday by the regents at a meeting in a joint University System of Maryland research center will be establishedat UMBI’s Centert for Advanced Research in Biotechnology in Rockville.
The system’s flagshilp College Park campus will overseer the facility and work with the University of Baltimore to elevate work in engineering and computational sciences as well asstructurapl biology, protein design and drug • UMBI’s Center for Biosystems Research will also be overseenm by College Park. • A jointg research center at UMBI’s Center of Marine Biotechnology in Baltimorre willbe established, with administrative responsibilit falling to the University of Baltimore County. UMBC will collaboratw with the University of Marylaned Center for Environmental Science and the University of Baltimore to drive research in environmental and genomic sciences.
• UMBI’s Baltimore-based Medical Biotechnology Center will fall undere the Universityof Maryland, Baltimore’ws purview. • UMBI’s Institute of Fluorescence will be administere dby UMBC. • UMBI’s K-12 educational programs will be overseemn by with an eye on enhancing itsteaching focus. UMBI President Jennie Hunter-Cevera is stepping down June 30 after 10 years in that She will become executive vice president of discoverty and analytical sciences and corporate developmentat , a Nort h Carolina nonprofit.
The University System of Maryland will honore tenure held by UMBIfaculty members, and administrativ support staffers will be able to stay in theirf jobs through fiscal 2010. Job opportunitiexs at other system campusesx willbe identified, and memoranda of understanding outlining future operationsw and collaborations are expected to be completed by the end of this year and fulluy implemented by the end of fiscal 2010.
UMBI generatee about $25 million in research activity annually, and university system leaders hope to see that numbed increase dramatically by breaking upthe “Today’s decisions by the board provids a tremendous opportunity for the Universitu System of Maryland to increase the volumd and impact of its basic and applied research in the said USM Chancellor William E. Kirwan in a statement. “This restructuring has the potentiapl to double the research productivityof UMBI’s current assetes within five years.
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