RESEARCH

Pisano’s company could be part of Innovation Center

The X-ray was first discovered in 1895, but creative minds have continued to improve on this old technology. One such mind belongs to Etta Pisano, vice dean for academic affairs in the School of Medicine, Kenan Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering and director of the Biomedical Research Imaging Center.

Pisano and her colleagues have developed a way to use X-ray photons through diffraction instead of absorption to create images, a technique called Diffraction Enhanced Imaging. The technology allows images to be made using fewer X-rays, exposing the patient to a much lower dose of radiation.

This could be especially important to patients who are more sensitive to the effects of radiation (babies, children, pregnant women and younger adults) and for those who are X-rayed frequently, such as in screening or monitoring the effects of therapy.

Pisano and her co-inventors have founded a new company, NextRay, to develop the technology. The company could be an early tenant in the proposed Innovation Center at Carolina North. The business accelerator, to be built in partnership with Alexandria Real Estate Equities of Pasadena, Calif., is designed to house start-up companies with direct ties to UNC research.

The University will provide the site for the 85,000-square-foot building, while Alexandria will build the center and retain ownership and hold leasing rights for 40 years. As the first building to be constructed on the new mixed-use academic campus two miles away, and situated at its main entrance, the Innovation Center will set the tone for Carolina North.

“I believe our faculty need this facility and they need it now,” Chancellor James Moeser has said. “Many faculty working on start-up companies have had to find space outside the University.”

Serving the state
“As soon as the company starts going, it would be nice to have the space,” Pisano said. “And if we don’t have space at Carolina North, we will have to rent space somewhere else.”

As an active member of the community, Pisano sees benefits far beyond her own company in the creation of the Innovation Center at Carolina North.

“One of the ways the University serves the state is developing new technologies and commercializing them. It’s not enough to just think up ideas,” Pisano said. “We really believe there’s a need for accelerated technology development and commercialization. That’s something that matters to this institution because it matters to the state of North Carolina.”

Helping faculty members bring their ideas to the marketplace, she added, would create new jobs for North Carolina and pump more money into the economy.

“And wouldn’t it be great if we could do that right here in Chapel Hill?” she asked.