COLLEGE PARK, Md., July 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The University of Maryland today announces the appointment of Paul Allenza, Ph.D., as the new director of the Biotechnology Research and Education Program (BREP), an initiative dedicated to the research, education and development of biotechnology products and processes for Maryland companies.
With 22 years of combined microbiology, discovery research and managerial experience in both business and academe, Allenza is positioned to work with both faculty and companies.
“Maryland has a vibrant biotechnology economy,” says Allenza, “with a unique blend of exciting new and established companies, government laboratories, universities and a government that supports this important industry. BREP has a solid foundation, especially with its core scale-up facility and close connection with campus resources. I am anxious to build an even stronger program that reaches more biotechnology companies and researchers at the university, throughout the state, and beyond.”
Allenza spent 13 years with FMC Corporation, a $2 billion Philadelphia- based chemical company specializing in agricultural products, as well as industrial and specialty chemicals. As both senior research manager and senior manager of technology acquisition and licensing at the company’s research facility in Princeton, N.J., Allenza was responsible for multi-million-dollar research and development programs and alliances.
“Dr. Allenza has run a large biotechnology program and bioprocessing unit and has the rare combination of someone who understands both the science and business aspects of the program,” says Martha Connolly, Ph.D., director of MTECH Partnerships, a collection of MTECH programs designed to leverage university resources to benefit Maryland companies. “That level of experience is highly desirable for a program like BREP.”
An initiative of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (MTECH) in the A. James Clark School of Engineering, BREP offers a portfolio of services designed to support biotechnology companies in Maryland. The program’s best- known component, the Bioprocess Scale-Up Facility (BSF), is a modern laboratory with biological product scale-up and production capabilities for fermentation, cell culture, separation, purification and analysis. BSF staff conduct these services and consult for companies, government laboratories and university researchers.
Program staff played key roles in assisting companies such as Martek Biosciences and Digene Corporation during their early stages. Human Genome Sciences, EntreMed, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army are among more than 75 entities employing the program’s services since 1985.
BREP’s educational components include a yearly bio-product fermentation and processing workshop, customized training, consulting and courses. Program staff train MedImmune’s entire workforce for the Synagis(R) product line.
“We are in the exciting position of being able to significantly support the companies and researchers whose great ideas could change the way we live and improve our lives,” says Allenza.
Allenza holds four U.S. patents in bioprocessing, with seven others pending for biological targets used for agricultural product discovery. He has published ten peer-reviewed papers and 13 abstracts.
A graduate from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in microbiology, Allenza attended the University of Massachusetts for his doctorate, after which he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle.
As a researcher and manager with Honeywell, formerly known as AlliedSignal, Allenza continued his work in microbiology and bioprocessing. One of his patents during this time covered the use of novel bacterial strains to produce cyclodextrins, sugar-derived encapsulants employed in various food, pharmaceutical and chemical products such as biodegradable plastics.
After joining FMC in 1994, Allenza was appointed external alliance coordinator and manager of the company’s Discovery program, in which he led a group of 23 scientists through target screening and assay development to discover new chemicals. From 1999 to 2005, Allenza also led an internal research program collaborating with a Belgium-based biotechnology company to identify safe, new insecticides and herbicides for crops. Related patent applications and his role in negotiating partnerships with companies in Japan and the United Kingdom further strengthened FMC’s research portfolio. The company’s Discovery program generated a record number of product leads and reached its highest level of productivity during Allenza’s tenure.
In 2005, Allenza became senior manager of technology acquisition and licensing at FMC to identify innovative products for the newly created Innova Solutions. This group was created to replace the Discovery program after it was acquired by Bayer AG.
For a photograph of Allenza, please visit http://www.mtech.umd.edu/news/press_releases/Allenza.html
About the Biotechnology Research and Education Program (http://www.biotech.umd.edu)
The Biotechnology Research and Education Program, an initiative of the A. James Clark School of Engineering’s Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute, delivers a portfolio of research, education, and bioprocessing services to support the success of biotechnology companies and researchers in Maryland.
Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute
CONTACT: Eric Schurr, +1-301-405-3889, schurr@umd.edu, or Karen Marcher,+1-301-405-4548, kmarcher@umd.edu