In today’s Bulldog update of technology news: turning turkey droppings into energy; Personify moving to Raleigh; Durham startup Teamworks lands big deal; UNC at Chapel HIll gets plant immunity study grant.
Turkey droppings into energy
Prestige AgEnergy has proposed a plalnt that would make steam for its own use and for Duke Energy Progredss using turkey droppings from more than 50 East NC farms.
A 2007 NC law mandates use of power from poultry waste, but projects were delayed in 2012 and 2013. Currently there are five facilities in NC using poultry droppings to make energy. For the fuill story in the Raleigh News and Observer see: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article35253060.html
Recruiting firm moving to Raleigh
Personify, a Cary-based executive recruiting firm is moving its 70-person staff to the Dr. Pepper Complex in downtown Raleigh.\
Personify CEO Ryan Carfley told the Triangle Business Journal the move is necessary for his company to attract the young base of staffers he’s looking to hire. The average age of the staff is 26.
The newly renovated former Dr. Pepper plant offers something of the atmosphere of the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, Carlfey said.
For the full story see: http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/real-estate/2015/09/personify-moving-headquarters-downtown-raleigh-nc.html
Durham sports startup Teamworks nabs major deal
Teamworks, a Durham-based startup founded by Blue Devils offensive lineman Zach Marides, has inked a eal with Adidas Team Sales.
The partnership, its first with a branded footwear firm, means 2,500 Addidas sales reps will use Teamworks software.
The software helps large companies integrate the schedules of many disparate individuals into one schedule.
The company has more than 850 cliets. Annual subscriptions for the software range from four-figures to mid-six figures depending on the size of an athletic program, which has been the major use of the software. https://www.teamworksapp.com/
UNC at Chapel Hill researchers win grant to study plant immunology
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation awarded $2.3M to the Two Blades Foundation (2Blades), a charitable organization that supports the development of durable disease resistance in crop plants and their deployment in agriculture.
“This research has the potential to be a game-changer in our understanding of how plants combat pathogens in the face of continual evolution”
Four well-recognized research teams will investigate plant immunity in the United States and Europe. Jeff Dangl (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Brian Staskawicz (University of California, Berkeley), Jonathan Jones (Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, UK) and Detlef Weigel (Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, Germany) will lead the project at their world-class research institutions.
Understanding plant immunity is essential to helping reduce diseases that can radically alter the production and quality of food. With a rapidly growing global population, losses to important food crops, like potatoes and wheat, can be disastrous.
The research teams will focus on three agricultural plant systems found worldwide: Brassicas (mustard greens and their relatives), which are important model organisms in plant biology; nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes and their relatives); and domesticated wheat and related species.
As part of the project, the teams will develop a publicly available database containing sequence information on the plant species investigated. This open-access database will help other scientists and agricultural agencies around the world improve disease resistance in plants and better help address food security.
