A decade or two ago, North Carolina was known for few things: tobacco farming, furniture building, and the first flight of the Wright brothers. Most of all, North Carolina held a reputation as the training ground for astounding basketball players, including Grant Hill, Michael Jordan, David Thompson, and many others. The cognoscenti, however, imagined a new status for the state. Even as early as the mid-20^th century, teams of academic scientists, government officials, and industry leaders were working on a new transition, in which science and technology would drive North Carolina's economy.

Forward-thinking leaders in North Carolina's government helped drive this biotech transition, as described in a series of articles starting here. In September 1956, the Research Triangle Committee started a process that turned forest into future biotech success. With the strong support of three governors and a wide range of industry leaders, today's Research Triangle Park houses more than 100 research and development organizations. Moreover, the success of one research park spawned others, including Centennial Campus in Raleigh, the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, the Piedmont Triad Research Park in Winston-Salem, and University Research Park in Charlotte.

North Carolina is leveraging teamwork to build an even broader and larger biotech community. A collection of articles starting here reveals the state's strong academic and industrial groups. And Pharma and Biotech are busy spinning off ideas and companies, many of them benefiting from the increasing interest that the state attracts from venture capitalists.

North Carolina offers natural opportunities for technology. The mountains provide flora and fauna with potential therapeutic benefits. The coast puts North Carolina's scientists in a position to explore the sea for disease-fighting compounds. Today, nearly every corner of the state pursues biotechnology in some way.

Each of those corners also benefits from a virtual circle of success. Features of North Carolina set off the initial biotech explosion, and it has fed back to further improve the state's biotech resources, which drives even more opportunities down the road. As described in several articles starting here, biotechnology is turning some economically troubled towns in North Carolina into industrial communities. The state's voracious appetite for biotech-trained employees is also prompting an education system that offers a strong focus on science from grade to graduate school. Moreover, many of the successful biotech companies also give back to the state, both by contributing money to social causes and encouraging employees to volunteer, from making time to teach to helping out at a soup kitchen.

Today, North Carolina can truly call itself a state of science, thanks to so many people and groups working together. Likewise, this supplement grew from a wide range of collaborations, including the support of Talecris Biotherapeutics.