[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Bio Center of Gyeonggi-do Economic Science Promotion Agency has joined hands with the Natural Resources Research Center of Jeonnam Biological Industry Promotion Agency for a joint research agreement on material development for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and health functional foods.
The Bio Center announced on the 29th that it signed a joint agreement with the Jeonnam Natural Resources Research Center in writing.
According to the agreement, the two institutions will utilize their research capabilities and infrastructure to conduct joint research for "discovering new materials, searching and discovering material functionalities, and material commercialization."
Detailed cooperation items include ▲ discovering materials for bio-new material development ▲ verifying the functionality of owned materials for commercialization of functional specialty resources ▲ discovering regionally specialized materials for high added value creation ▲ joint research to complete the "Korean Peninsula Natural Products Premium Project."
The two institutions previously signed a "business cooperation agreement for product development using bio-material resources and regional industrial development" in January.
Since 2010, the Bio Center has built a bank of 210,000 synthetic compounds, over 22,000 extracts, and more than 76,000 bio-materials through a high-speed large-capacity functional material development (HTS) system.
Through this, it has supported a total of 108 efficacy screenings for bio and pharmaceutical companies in the province, leading the development of "domestic blockbuster new drugs."
The Natural Resources Research Center has built a database of about 250 natural resources in the Jeonnam region and accumulated research know-how for commercialization of domestic natural resources, including functionality identification of about 60 species.
Kim Pan-su, director of the Bio Center, emphasized, "With this agreement, we hope to provide more advanced support to companies through material development and commercialization, and furthermore, both institutions will do their best to cooperate to produce research outcomes that can lead the future bio-industry."
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