Biotech funds on the horizon

By Mike Mcauliffe

04/28/2008- The Republican

SPRINGFIELD - Dr. Paul Friedmann stood in a huge room at the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute yesterday, a place he hopes will be teeming with entrepreneurs before too long.

"You can see it. You can hear it. You can smell it. You can taste it," Friedmann said shortly after a press conference in which officials talked about pending state legislation that may soon result in the institute receiving several million dollars to furnish and equip the 15,000-square-foot space for biomedical entrepreneurs.

A joint House-Senate conference committee on Beacon Hill will pound out the details after the House approved $5 million and the Senate $6 million for the institute as part of a 10-year, $1 billion bond bill. Sen. Stephen J. Buoniconti, D-West Springfield, said the final package will include at least $5 million to draw entrepreneurs to incubator space at the institute.
 
Buoniconti is confident Gov. Deval L. Patrick, who proposed the bill last April and said it is critical to help the state remain prominent in scientific research, will approve the package and that the money should be delivered before the leaves turn this fall.

"We expect the money to get released as soon as late summer, early September," Buoniconti said.

The funds would be used to furnish and equip space where it is hoped entrepreneurs would make breakthroughs in biomedical research that could ultimately lead to more jobs and strengthen the local economy.

"Eventually we'll look forward to a biotech park of some kind," Friedmann said during the press conference.

The institute, located at 3601 Main St., is a joint venture involving Baystate Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Work at the institute includes research in diabetes, breast cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.

Friedmann said working at the institute would provide entrepreneurs access to the expertise of medical professionals from Baystate and academics from UMass.

"These are entrepreneurs, biotech entrepreneurs, and they're going to go wherever it's best to go," Friedmann said.

The institute received $1.6 million this year in federal funding for laboratory expansion, bringing to $10.2 million the total in federal funds received since 2001. On Monday, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, presented a ceremonial oversized check for $1.6 million to institute officials.