Three biotechnology research and recruiting institutes worth a total of $100 million will open in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh in less than a month.
Those institutes are the result of a two-year push by University President Judith Rodin and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge to improve life science research in the state, particularly in the southeast.
University Associate Vice President Jack Shannon worked closely with Rodin in garnering support for the project.
"I think we all have great hopes and expectations for the greenhouse and in the long run, we expect to create further economic benefits and tax revenues and in the short-term make a return on the investment," said Shannon.
The institutes, or "greenhouses," are branches of the Biotechnology Greenhouse Corporation of Southeastern Pennsylvania. BGC is the benefactor of Pennsylvania's multi-billion dollar tobacco settlement and the brainchild of Rodin and Ridge.
The Philadelphia branch, located in the Port of Technology building on 37th and Market streets, will work in collaboration with Penn, Temple, Drexel and Thomas Jefferson universities, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Fox Chase Cancer Research Center and the Wistar Institute.
The greenhouses will work in collaboration with regional companies and research institutions not only to build up the surrounding job market, but to educate professionals in biotech or related fields.
"I think this is a tremendous opportunity to stimulate the life sciences as a commercial endeavor in the area," said Gary Kurtzman, who is one of two managing directors and chief operating officers at the Philadelphia institute.
The Philly "greenhouse" has two main plans for this year -- to launch a bioinformatics initiative and to make an investment in marketable technology.
Director for the Center of Bioinformatics Susan Davidson, a computer and information sciences professor, will help run the bioinformatics initiative, which is meant to process new information in the life sciences.
The initiative's goal is to provide a platform for scientific advancement with monthly seminars and yearly retreats for professionals in biotech or related fields. The program will also offer fellowships available to graduate students in bioinformatics and internships at the masters or graduate level.
"I think it's a very exciting project because more is happening in Philadelphia than any one of us realizes, and an exercise like this is going to do a lot to pull our talents together." Davidson said.
Kurtzman and fellow Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Barbara Schilberg will oversee the second portion of their center's plan. Schilberg and Kurtzman will invest $21 million for developing human therapeutics or medical devices. The devices will eventually become part of a venture capital fund in which area life science companies can invest.
Schilberg will begin reviewing applications for products from research institutions next month. She predicts that many of the applications will involve oncology or cancer research.
"It will be interesting for us to find out what the projects will be about. This is just the beginning," Schilberg said.
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