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APOPKA - Across from the shores of Lake Apopka in a campus of laboratories, classrooms and greenhouses, scientists are cultivating the seeds of what business advocates hope will grow into a biotechnology industry for Central Florida.
Researchers and business leaders are convening Jan. 12 to develop a vision for building a biotech industry with the University of Florida's Mid-Florida Research and Education Center at the hub.
Biotechnology, a key component of many of the nation's high-tech centers such as Boston and North Carolina, does not exist in Central Florida.
Using Apopka's agribusiness and existing horticultural research base as a springboard will help change that, says John McClure of the Economic Development Commission of Mid-Florida.
The research center, which last year completed a multimillion-dollar expansion, has been instrumental in the success and development of foliage businesses and plant tissue culture labs in the Apopka area.
Scientists at the center focus on developing better strains of plants, finding the best ways to grow crops and plants, and uncovering solutions for combating plant pests and diseases.
Florida's warm, wet climate means more problems with plant pests and destructive bacteria and fungi.
To combat the maladies, scientists in Apopka have turned to biological controls - such as ladybugs that prey on destructive aphids - and genetic modification to create disease- and pest-resistant strains.
The expansion in Apopka came about as University of Florida research operations in Leesburg and Sanford merged with the center, which has about 80 employees and a budget of about $3.5 million - $2 million in taxpayer money.
Private research grants and technology licenses make up the rest.
"These guys are asked to create new knowledge," says Donn Shilling, research center director.
Its labs and greenhouses are the origination point for new ideas and discoveries, including an experimental blue azalea, bacteria-resistant grapes and a fungus that attacks insects.
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