Biotechnology is now recognized as a new focus for industrial growth. There are four principal interacting phases upon which all material/biosystem compatibility is based - substrata/- macromolecular "conditioning films"/living cells/surrounding media. A planning grant, NSF CDR 86-15640, has shown that an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center on Biological Surface Science is both feasible and viable. This award is initiating an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center on Biological Surface Science at the State University of New York - Buffalo in collaboration with Montana State University. The initial research is being focussed around model substrata of polymers, metals and ceramics which are being used to study the deposits occurring during exposures to relevant interacting biosystems. Other studies are addressing biosystem compatibility with bacteria mamanalian cells blood components and micro alage. A woman undergraduate is augmenting the research through studies of model substrata. Eight companies are providing 60% of the Center's funding. Both the University and the New York State Science and Technology Foundation are providing significant cost sharing for the Center's total budget of over $600,000. The Co-Principal Investigators and their colleagues are nationally recognized experts in their fields and have the experience and industrial contacts to run an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center. The Program Manager recommends the State University of New York - Buffalo (in collaboration with Montana State University) be awarded $75,000 a year for a five year continuing grant. An additional $5,000 is recommended for one (1) year for "Funding for Support of Women, Minority, and Disabled Engineering Research Assistants" program. Near the end of each 12-month period, the Program Manager and/or the Director of The Division of Cross-Disciplinary Research will review the progress of the Center on a number of renewal criteria, including the following: (1) extent to which university/industry interaction and collaboration is developing; (2) extent to which the support base for the center is expanding; (3) extent to which a robust research program is developing. If review is satisfactory, the Program Manager will recommend support of the next period of this continuing grant.
