Science in the Triangle

A new speakers’ series is starting Sept. 15 at Research Triangle Park headquarters with Moritz Beckmann, chief executive of XinRay Systems.

The series, which is open to members of the Triangle Area Research Directors Council, or TARDC, taps executives from RTP area companies and leading university researchers who are advancing technology in various fields including medicine, drug development and diagnostics.

TARDC luncheon meetings featuring the speakers are held at noon every third Tuesday from September to May at 12 Davis Drive. Memberships are $275 per year.

During the coming program year, TARDC members will also hear from:

• Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University,
• Rudy Juliano, director of the Carolina Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence and pharmacy professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and
• Troy Nagle, founding chairman of the joint department of biomedical engineering at N.C. State University and UNC-CH.

The RTP area is best known for drug development, but clusters of medical device and nanotechnology companies have been emerging.

XinRay, an RTP startup that spun out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007, uses carbon nanotubes to develop X-ray machines that are smaller, simpler and able to produce more detailed pictures. Existing equipment still uses vaccuum tubes.

The company’s nanotube technology, which was developed in the laboratory of Otto Zhou, professor of materials sciences and physics at UNC-CH, could also be used for security screening ast airports and by engineers checking the structure of materials.

Beckmann, a Siemens executive, oversees XinRay’s efforts to build prototypes and bring them to market. Siemens Medical Solutions, which has operations in Cary, is a partner in XinRay.

For more information about TARDC go here.