Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant is on its way toward becoming a center of R&D in one of those little-known nano niches with much potential: Dendrimers, or dentritic polymers. Dendrimers are a new class of nanostructure that researchers believe offer great potential as tiny containers to deliver drugs to target specific diseases.
      Dendritic Nanotechnologies (DNT) was founded in 2003 based on technology developed at Dow Chemical. It found a home at Central Michigan University's incubator. DNT is now the anchor firm at the 300-acre (121-hectare) Central Michigan University Research Park, which qualifies as a Michigan SmartZone.
      "The thing that ties it all together goes back to when Central Michigan University decided to spin out the Central Michigan Research Corporation," says Bob Berry, DNT's CEO.
      Dendrimer technology is largely chemistry-based and the initial research came from Dow Chemical, headquartered in nearby Midland. DNT recently reached an agreement with Dow whereby DNT receives Dow's intellectual property in dendrimers in exchange for a significant equity stake in DNT.
      "Our ability as a startup to attract PhDs and chemists has been outstanding," Berry says. "More importantly, we are not in direct competition with a bunch of other startups to hire talent. Central Michigan is large enough to assist and partner with, but not so large it can act entrepreneurial. For example, DNT and the university worked together to raise $6 million in Department of Defense contracts."
      Berry believes Mount Pleasant offers quality of life aspects unavailable in the better-known research meccas of Boston or the Silicon Valley.
      "Scientific talent like the idea of working in a college town that's dominated by a university that has an academic feel about it," Berry says. "The quality of life here is outstanding. Here, we have a 'rush minute' that lasts about 30 seconds."
      Those aspects have helped DNT bring in talent from Texas, Germany, India and China among its current roster of 19. While Berry says the market economics are not quite there yet for commercialization of dendrimers, he believes it's on the horizon. Developments continue to drive costs down.
      "The application potential is so large, people will figure it out," Berry says.