Interdisciplinary bioengineering institute appoints Clemson’s first ‘PoP’

Published: April 28, 2010

CLEMSON — A Clemson University interdisciplinary institute that spans colleges to specialize in tissue and other biological engineering research is taking an innovative and a campus-first approach to economic development.

The Institute for Biological Interfaces of Engineering has appointed a retired business executive with nearly four decades experience as the university’s first “Professor of the Practice.”

A Professor of the Practice should have an industry or business background where the individual’s “real-world” acumen can aid the university’s mission.

Steve Hunter, who spent 39 years with General Electric, has joined the institute to help pair private-sector connections with its core researchers. Clemson students and faculty will benefit from his experience in the business world.

Karen Burg, the institute’s director, said Hunter’s appointment provides a new model of doing business at Clemson. It marks the first time the university has tapped the surrounding retired business community via a formal mechanism.

The area is rich with retired industry leaders who want to be involved in the community, Burg said. The university can benefit from their talent, experience and energy. The appointment provides a new business model and springboard for Clemson research and economic development, she said.

Hunter will introduce potential private partners to the institute to discuss mutually beneficial roles. Initially, he will target the cellular therapies and diagnostic sectors. In addition, he will mentor students on real-world applications for research.

“I will help the students in any way I can as they prepare to move from academia to industry,” Hunter said.

The Institute for Biological Interfaces of Engineering’s mission is to develop engineered tissues that can be used for diagnostic purposes. The goal is to predict if patients will react positively to a particular therapy by building a tissue system out of their cells and applying the therapy.

The end game is to develop a product that could be sold commercially. But first it takes innovation to develop processes with which to build the product. For any medical condition that requires a drug or treatment, one can design a system that’s customized for that condition, Burg said.

Therapies traditionally are developed as two-dimensional systems — growing cells on a flat surface, Burg said. But people are not flat, or two-dimensional. The goal is to take patient tissue from a small biopsy, grow it in the lab and make a tissue system, Burg said.

“This work is important because it yields a better diagnosis that’s personalized to the patient,” Burg said. “It can provide a cure for a disease. It can improve therapy for a disease. And it can make treatment or prevention less expensive.”

Hunter’s eagerness to be involved, and the fact that Burg also is the Clemson Hunter Endowed Chair, is no coincidence.

In March 1973, Thomas Hunter, Steve Hunter’s great uncle, created the chair in biological engineering that Burg now holds.

His grandfather, Joseph Hunter, was in Clemson’s first graduating class in 1896. He later became a professor and head of the math department at the university.

Steve Hunter was a business major at Western Carolina University, but his father, brothers, uncles, son and wife — now an English teacher at T.L. Hanna High School in Anderson — all attended Clemson.

After moving to Clemson in 2006 and retiring from GE three years later, Hunter met with Burg, who suggested development of a Clemson Professor of the Practice program.

“This is a great idea. I think the Hunters need to get involved,” he said.

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