Friday, June 21, 2013

Animal Study Shows Promising Path to Prevent Epilepsy

Duke Medicine researchers have identified a receptor in the nervous system that may be key to preventing epilepsy following a prolonged period of seizures.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

World Food Prize shared by Syngenta founder

 A pioneer in plant genetics engineering, the Durham Research Triangle Park-based researcher Mary-Dell Chilton (along with two others) was named the 2013 World Food Prize Laureate, an award for improving the quality, quantity or availability of food.

Lilly Pulitzer Opens at Southpoint Mall

The Streets at Southpoint has opened a Lilly Pulitzer store which sells brightly colored women's clothing.

Durham Biotech Startup Receives $1.5M in Grant Funding

 Eboo Pharma, a young Durham biotechnology company has landed a grant of up to $1.5 million from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Duke's Pratt Engineers Awarded Four Department of Defense Grants

Engineers at the Pratt School of Engineering have been awarded four five-year $1.5 million Department of Defense Grants for research ranging in topics from transparent conductors to acoustic cloaking in water to undersea sensing.

Charlotte investor buys Durham office building for $5M

The Durham office building at 2605 Meridian Parkway has been sold to a Charlotte real estate investor for $5.2 million.

Rose's Meat Market and Sweet Shop to Open Friday

The whole-animal butchery and pastry shop Rose’s Meat Market and Sweet Shop will open on Friday at 121 N. Gregson St. in the Brightleaf Square area.

El Rodeo at Brightleaf Re-Opens After Fire

Brightleaf Square’s El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant has re-opened. The restaurant closed in March after a fire.

Monday, June 17, 2013

MetLife Finds Temporary Home in Durham

MetLife has found a temporary home for the 250 information technology workers it plans to hire by the end of this year and will be establishing its first base of operations at the Imperial Center office park in Durham.

Sam's Quik Shop Planning to Open South Durham Shop

Sam's Quik Shop is planning to open a location in South Durham on NC 54 across from the Hope Valley Commons Shopping Center.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

NC IDEA Awards $98,000 in Grants to Two Durham Startups

The Durham-based economic development group NC IDEA has awarded Durham  "Food GPS" startup INRFOOD a $42,000 grant and neuromarketing technology startup NeuroSpire a $46,000 grant. The grants are non-dillutive for the company owners are are intended to help accelerate business growth.

Durham Lions Club Presents Awards

The Durham Lions Club honored Johnny Fitch and Kaaren Johanson with the Melvin Jones Fellowships from Lions Club International.  The Durham Lions Club Achievement Award was presented to Greg Bolt.  The Service Award was awarded to Vic Moore.  The Lion Cub of the Year, was presented to Kevin Klein.

Durham Priest Appointed to Episcopal Diocese Leadership

The Rev. Anne E. Hodges-Copple will be consecrated as bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, a jurisdiction that includes the state’s two largest cities. The ceremony will be held Saturday at Duke Chapel.

Duke Hospital adds 160 Rooms for Critically Ill Patients

Duke's new Medical Pavilion has 608,000 square feet of energy-efficient space, a new ground-floor café and a serene interfaith chapel.

Duke's Coach K receives Enberg Award

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, the winningest coach in the history of NCAA Division I men’s basketball, was honored as the recipient of the 2013 Dick Enberg Award, presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Quintiles Wins $1 M Research Grant

Quintiles has won a $1 million research grant to compare the effectiveness of treatments for uterine fibroids, a condition common among women of childbearing age.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Apricot Lane, Vans to Open at Streets at Southpoint

A store selling Vans-brand skateboard shoes and clothing is planned to open this summer at The Streets at Southpoint along with Apricot Lane, a women's clothing store.

Duke enters partnership with Say Yes to Education

Duke was announced as a partner school of Say Yes to Education, Inc., a non-profit group that helps underprivileged children apply and pay for college.

Venture Firm Interstate to Move Downtown

The early-stage venture capital firm Intersouth Partners is moving into Historic Fire Station #1 at Rogers Alley in downtown Durham.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Hope Valley Square Sold for $7.7 Million

The Hope Valley Square retail center,  located at 3710 Shannon Rd. and anchored by one of the busiest U.S. Postal Service offices in Durham, has been sold to DNA Partners of Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. for $7.7 million, more than triple the price paid for the property five years ago. The retail center is 40,524-square-feet with tenants that include the U.S. Postal Service and three popular Durham restaurants: Only Burger, Bull Street Gourmet & Market and Pop’s Backdoor South.

Duke Women's Basketball Hires Van Gorp, promotes Planells

Duke women's basketball coach Joanne P. McCallie has promoted Hernando Planells to assistant coach and hired Michele Van Gorp as director of recruiting operations.

Kevin White Named National AD of the Year

Duke University Vice President and Director of Athletics Kevin White has been named one of four NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision recipients of the Under Armour AD of the Year Award announced on Tuesday by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

Monday, June 10, 2013

Mechanics and Farmers Bank Announces Founders Awards

Mechanics and Farmers Bank honored William A. “Billy” Marsh Jr., the bank’s former general counsel. and Vivian Patterson with the 2013 Mechanics and Farmers Bank Founders Award.

RTI Forensic Research Scientist Honored

John Collins, forensic science policy and management advisor at Durham's RTI International, has received the 2013 Briggs J. White Award for excellence in forensic sciences management.

Duke to co-lead research network on resistant bacteria

Duke has received a commitment of up to $62 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) to launch a program that will advance research in treating antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Triangle Startup Factory Changes Name to Startup Factory

Chris Heivly and David Neal are rebranding the Durham-based startup accelerator as "The Startup Factory" as part of a strategy to broaden its appeal to new companies and possible investors in those emerging ventures.

Surgeons at Duke University Hospital Implant Bioengineered Vein

In a first-of-its-kind operation in the United States, a team of doctors at Duke University Hospital helped create a bioengineered blood vessel and transplanted it into the arm of a patient with end-stage kidney disease.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Parsons Promoted to Assistant Director of Sales

Danielle Parsons has been promoted to Assistant Director of Sales at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel in Durham.  Previously Parsons was Sales Manager at the hotel.

Indy Week Releases "Best of the Triangle 2013"

The Indy Week has released its "Best of the Triangle 2013 Readers' Choice Poll Winners and Finalists.

PE firm invests in Durham’s BioAgilytix

BioAgilytix Labs has nabbed a yet-to-be-disclosed sum from Riverside Partners. The Durham-based contract laboratory, which works with customers in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agriculture industries, plan to use the funds to accelerate growth.

15 Duke Teams Honored by NCAA for APR Achievement

An ACC-leading 15 of Duke's intercollegiate athletic programs were honored Wednesday with NCAA Public Recognition Awards.

Duke Judicial Studies Center receives $5 million grant from The Duke Endowment

The Duke Endowment has committed $5 million to the Duke University School of Law to support the operations of its Center for Judicial Studies.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Salvadoran Restaurant Opens in Durham

There’s a new restaurant called El Portal Salvadoreno at 821 N. Miami Blvd. in Durham.

Used Furniture Store Opens

Patina, a used-furniture shop opened in mid-May at 2695 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd. across from the gourmet food market and cafe Foster’s Market.

Counter Culture Coffee to Hold Taster Challenge

The Durham-based coffee roasting company Counter Culture Coffee is holding its second official Cup Tasters Challenge on Thursday. The challenge will start at 7 p.m. Thursday at the company’s Training Center at 4911 S. Alston Ave., where it holds coffee education programs. The challenge is $5, open to the public and free to watch.

Esposto Joins Duke Staff as Head Diving Coach

Duke swimming and diving head coach Dan Colella has announced the addition of Nunzio Esposto to the Blue Devil coaching staff. A successful coach on the Olympic, national and collegiate levels, Esposto will serve as the program’s head diving coach.

Triangle Curling Club Buys Land for Rink Near RTP

Triangle Curling Club leaders took a step closer to realizing their vision of building a dedicated curling facility in Durham with the purchase of 7 acres on So Hi Drive near the Research Triangle Park.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Durham's Smith Breeden to be Acquired by French Company

An agreement has been signed to make Durham's Smith Breeden Associates a subsidiary of Amundi, a Paris-based firm that had about $955 billion in assets under management as of March. The Durham firm, which has about $6.4 billion in assets under management, will change its name to Amundi Smith Breeden following the acquisition, which is expected to close by the end of September.

Durham Approves $400,000 G.E. Aviation Incentive

Durham’s City Council approved a $400,000 incentive Monday night for G.E. Aviation to expand its assembly plant on South Miami Boulevard.

Duke Will Co-Lead NIH Research Network on Antibacterial Resistance

Investigators at Duke Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco have been selected to oversee a nationwide research program on antibacterial resistance, which includes a focus on the growing unmet challenges associated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and E. coli.

Duke Nursing Dean to Step Down in 2014

Duke University's Catherine L. Gilliss, Dean of the School of Nursing announced Monday she will be stepping down in 2014, after leading the school for 10 years

Duke to Induct Seven Into Athletics Hall of Fame

Duke University will induct seven new members into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, October 11. The following are slated for induction: Matt Andresen (fencing), Wes Chesson (football), Julie Exum Breuer (tennis), Jay Heaps (soccer), John Rennie (coach), Dr. Georgia Schweitzer Beasley (basketball) and Jason Williams (basketball).

Duke Divinity Receives $5.74 Million for Clergy Health Initiative

The Duke Divinity School has received $5.74 million to continue its work with the Clergy Health Initiative.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Zaxby's Planned for Southern Durham

Plans have been filed with Durham City-County Planning for a proposed second Zaxby’s restaurant to be built in southern Durham on Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway near Walmart, McDonald’s and the Valley Creek Center.

Tijuana Flats Will Open on Ninth St. in Late Summer

A location of the Tex-Mex restaurant chain Tijuana Flats is planned to open in 2,468 square feet of renovated space on 703 Ninth Street at the Shops at Erwin Mill in late summer.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC to Move All Offices to Durham

The state’s largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, is planning to vacate its longtime Chapel Hill headquarters and consolidate its Triangle operations in Durham on University Drive where it already owns and occupies six buildings.