Nanotech veteran Kundahl named to lead NC nanobiotech group COIN

The Center of Innovation for Nanobiotechnology, the nonprofit North Carolina nanobiotechnology group better known as COIN, has named a nanotechnology industry veteran as its new executive director.

Griffith Kundahl comes to Durham, North Carolina-based COIN from the University of Denver School of Engineering and Computer Science where he worked as director of global programs. His experience includes serving as the general counsel of the NanoBusiness Alliance, the national trade association for the nanotechnology community; executive chairman of the Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance; and vice president for convergence (nanotechnology, biotechnology and IT) in the Life Sciences section of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. Kundahl’s appointment to COIN is effective today.

Kundahl holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s degree from the University of Alabama and a law degree from the University of Denver.

COIN is a non-profit organization that supports companies working in North Carolina’s nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine industries. The organization was created in 2009 with a $2.6 million grant from the Centers of Innovation program at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

“We will focus our efforts to hasten commercial development in this field which holds such tremendous potential for improving the human condition via breakthrough innovations in healthcare, energy, agriculture and the environment,” Kundahl said in a prepared statement.