Life-science nonprofit joins S.C. Research Authority

An Upstate-based nonprofit group that works to expand South Carolina’s life-science industry has been merged into a local affiliate of the S.C. Research Authority, it was announced Monday.

SC Bio of Greenwood is now part of SCRA’s North Charleston-based Advanced Technology Institute. SC Bio’s business incubator center will remain in the Upstate.

Ambrose Schwallie, the nonprofit’s chief executive officer, was named a vice president and member of the senior management team at ATI.

SC Bio is a public-private partnership that focuses on commercializing promising technologies and supporting the creation new life-science businesses. It works with public research centers around the state, including the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations’s Hollings Marine Laboratory on Janes Island.

SC Bio offers technology reviews, market evaluations and other services to early-stage biotechnology companies.