North Carolina Co. Relocating to UBuffalo's Center Of Excellence

Medcotek Inc., a North Carolina-based medical technology company, is relocating to the University of Buffalo's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences as the result of a recently formed strategic partnership between local companies Buffalo BioSciences and E-Capital Financing. Medcotek is the first major client signed by the partnership, which aims to help the two-year-old Medcotek grow in the global medical imaging and archiving markets. Medcotek currently provides medical software and networking technology solutions to hospital clients in the Gulf Coast region and Warsaw, Poland. The company said it was considering several cities for its relocation, including San Diego, but was drawn to Buffalo because of the emerging biotech industry there. Medcotek and seven employees will move next month from Charlotte to the second floor of the Center of Excellence on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus in downtown Buffalo. The plan is to grow the company to 30-35 science, marketing, sales, technology and administrative employees in 18 months, then move to another Buffalo-area location, said Medcotek CEO Fredric Zeigler. Michael R. Koeppel, founder of West Seneca, N.Y.-based ECapital Financing, will serve as Medcotek's senior vice president and CFO as the company establishes operations in Buffalo. The company will also work with University of Buffalo computer scientist Vipin Chaudhary to develop technologies for digital transmission and remote diagnosis of x-rays and other medical images.