Biotech in a Building Boom

This space could simply count the biotech related building projects across the country and have plenty to write about.

We've recently written about plans to create a facility to be called New York City's East River Science Park (see New Biology Economy, Aug. 11), and about a billionaire's plans to renovate the heart of a textile village in western North Carolina (see NBE, Sept. 13).

But, wait, there's more.

In Huntsville, Ala., entrepreneur Jim Hudson in August announced plans to build a $130 million campus to be called the Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology. In an article in the Decatur Daily on Sunday, Hudson said he had not determined the research focus for the facility, leaving that decision to the scientific director he will hire.

He told the newspaper that his vision is driven by the need to leverage the knowledge gained from the human genome project and the thrust to create personalized medicine.

"Our biggest challenge is how do we do personalized medicine? We know your genetic sequence. How do we use that information to treat you?” he told the newspaper.

The Hudson-Alpha facility, combining $80 million in private money with some $50 million in state funding, is expected to open in 2007.

Hudson is the founder of the genomics firm Research Genetics, also known as ResGen, a company acquired for $138 million by Invitrogen in 2000, and then consolidated to California after the hi-tech market bubble burst.

In New Haven, Conn., the Yale (University) Daily News on Friday reported that the school's new bioengineering department has opened, while many times zones west, the University of Hawaii's 10-acre John A. Burns School of Medicine is set for its dedication on Sept. 30, according to the Honolulu Star Bulletin newspaper.

It's clear from these articles and from previous coverage that as well as a housing boom, there is a biotech building boom. And, already there is some talk of using biotech as one of the keys to rebuilding New Orleans.