UF’s Sid Martin Biosciences Institute director is looking to involve UF students.
Mark Long, who was appointed director Jan. 4, said he wants to start an internship program for UF students. The Biosciences Institute and its biotechnology incubator help Gainesville residents create biotechnology startups, which can make medical devices to help others.
“The incubator gets (Gainesville residents’) ideas from concept to reality so that they can save lives,” he said.
Long will earn $150,000 a year, said UF spokesman Steve Orlando. The institute’s search committee picked Long through a series of interviews.
“Mr. Long was the unanimous preference of the search committee,” Orlando said.
Long previously worked with a biotechnology institute at Washington University in St. Louis.
He said he fell in love with helping others while there.
“It’s exciting when you see ideas go from an idea in someone’s head to going to a product, and that product becomes an actual business that may actually save someone’s life,” Long said.
Michelle Gittino, a UF health administration graduate student, said she thinks the incubator is an amazing idea.
“Once you have a great idea, it’s hard to set it into play,” the 23-year-old said. “But with a place like the incubator, you could go there and get help.”
