Dr. Steven Leath

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By Emily Ford

eford@salisburypost.com

Editor's note: This is the second of two stories about the creation and development of the N.C. Research Campus.KANNAPOLIS — The best asset at the N.C. Research Campus isn't a million-dollar microscope or the strongest superconducting magnet in the world, according to a key campus figure.

It's collaboration, said Dr. Steven Leath, who oversees the Research Campus for the University of North Carolina System and heads the David H. Murdock Research Institute board of directors.

While the campus in Kannapolis boasts one of the most complete life science laboratories anywhere, Leath said the hub's biggest distinction is the presence of eight North Carolina universities.

Seven schools in the UNC System and Duke University are conducting scientific research, often in concert, at the $1.5 billion campus, where Leath delivered a lecture last week about the origins of the biotech complex.

Academic and political leaders elsewherecan't believe rival universities would co-locate on a remote campus, much less cooperate to find the next major discoveries in health, nutrition and agriculture, Leath said.

"Iowa State and the University of Iowa won't even talk to each other," Leath said. "North Carolina is one of the most collaborative states that I know of."

Business recruiters use that unique quality to attract private partners to Kannapolis, said Lynne Scott Safrit, president of campus developer Castle & Cooke North Carolina.

More than a dozen companies have joined the campus, founded by billionaire David Murdock, who owns both Castle & Cooke and Dole Food Co.

Leath, who was tapped by UNC President Erskine Bowles to oversee the system's partnership with the campus, said his job hasn't been easy.

The campus faced logistical issues, as well as "big philosophical issues," he said. "Who do we want? How do we get them here?"

As campuses in the UNC system agreed to send faculty to Kannapolis, Leath said he knew they would face "cultural differences."

Land-grant institutions like N.C. State University and N.C. A&T State University have service missions, with faculty and staff accustomed to working away from the main campus.

But for other schools like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "it was very difficult for them to send faculty and staff to a totally remote location," Leath said. "They struggled with issues like tenure."

Murdock and the UNC System announced their partnership in 2005. Now, universities are working together on projects like mapping the blueberry genome, which involves the agriculture expertise of N.C. State, computer power of UNC-Charlotte, nutrition focus of UNC-Chapel Hill and instrumentation of the Murdock Research Institute.

The combination of eight universities willing to collaborate and access to state-of-the-art technology helps sell the campus, Leath said.

"No company will come here just because we have good facilities or just because we have good faculty," he said. "But both of those things together are extremely attractive."

Companies anywhere can hire the Research Campus to conduct their science. A business might contract with the Murdock Research Institute or award a grant to a faculty member in Kannapolis to investigate a particular scientific question.

But Leath and Safrit and other developers also want companies to consider moving to Kannapolis.

Emphasizing collaboration helped land flagship tenant Monsanto, a global agricultural giant, Leath said.

"From the university side, we presented how the science is relevant to the company's needs," Leath said. "While we were doing that, the Castle & Cooke team worked on the equipment side."

Dr. Michael Luther, president of the Murdock Research Institute, and his team sold the capabilities of the Core Lab.

"We proved that we are seamless and that we all work together," Leath said.

Monsanto agreed to establish a laboratory in Kannapolis to develop better-tasting and more nutritious fruits and vegetables.

The partnership was a coup for the campus, where development stalled during the recession and major tenants PepsiCo and Pharmaceutical Product Development pulled out.

The campus had courted Monsanto for several years.

"Monsanto and others did get cold feet," Leath said. "It was not a good time to expand, especially in what was considered a risky environment."

Monsanto eventually decided to "get primo space and build relationships early," Leath said. "They became convinced that if they came and others came, the flood gates would open."

Some companies that shied away from the campus are interested again, he said.

"Activity breeds activity," Safrit said. "There are a couple of companies we have on the radar for Mr. Murdock to talk with that have renewed interest because of Monsanto."

Murdock, 86, is talking with the companies this week. Although he lives in California, he spends about one week each month at his farm, Pity's Sake, in Rowan County.

Safrit predicted that a combination of small, large and "hybrid" companies would join the campus this year.

"It's not going to be huge pharma taking up whole floors of buildings," she said.

The campus will attract companies that are "working smart and navigating through this economy," she said. "I am cautiously optimistic."

The most pressing needs for the campus this year are more venture capital, or investors willing to put money into biotech start-up companies, and affordable housing for graduate students, Leath said.

"We do need to raise our profile regarding venture capital and our ability to deliver stuff to the marketplace," he said.

The campus last year won a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund 20 graduate student positions. Faculty expect additional graduate students to begin work at the campus.

"Each of the university partners is looking to this campus to train the young minds of the future," said Dr. Mary Ann Lila, who leads N.C. State's research in Kannapolis.

The campus needs incentives for graduate students to make Kannapolis their home, Lila said.

"The students will die to come here for the facilities," she said. "But graduate students are poor by nature. They need subsidized housing."

And a coffee shop, she added.

The campus also might need to work on its relationship with Cabarrus County, where commissioners last weekend questioned whether the project can live up to Murdock's vision.

"The whole economic model on which it was based is gone," Cabarrus County Manager John Day said during a retreat. "The biotechnology industry and pharmaceutical industry is not what it was."

Cabarrus commissioners asked Day to set up a meeting with Castle & Cooke and Kannapolis City Manager Mike Legg to discuss the future of the campus.