NEWSCLIPS & PRESS RELEASES
BioSurplus Raises Capital for Expansion into Boston area
On May 10, 2012, BioSurplus, Inc., a leading provider of equipment management services and pre-owned laboratory instruments, announced the completion of the majority of its $1.5 million capital raise from KI Investment Holdings. The funds will be used to fund an East Coast expansion into Boston. Read the press release here >>
Sony DADC BioSciences opens Massachusetts office
Sony DADC Biosciences announced the opening of a new US office, located at 2 Canal Park, 5th Floor, in Cambridge, Massaschusetts. The company, headquarted in Austria, develops and manufactures the advanced polymer-based smart consumables that form key components for modern healthcare diagnostic systems. Read the press release here >>
UMass Lowell Awarded $10 million for Emerging Technologies Center
On April 30, 2012, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced the approval of a $10 million capital grant to support construction of UMass Lowell's Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center. The 84,000-square-foot, $70 million Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center (ETIC) is scheduled to open this fall. Read the press release here >>
Center awards $2.3 million in Accelerator Loans
On April 24, 2012, the Center awarded $2.3 million in loans to five early-stage life sciences companies through the Center’s Accelerator Loan Program. The Accelerator Program provides loans of up to $750,000 to promising early-stage companies engaged in life sciences research and development, commercialization and manufacturing. This was the Center’s fifth round of Accelerator loans. Read the press release here >>
Pluromed, Inc. Is Fourth Company To Repay Center Loan
On April 11, 2012, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and Pluromed, Inc. announced the Woburn-based company's repayment of the Center's Accelerator loan, with interest.
In 2009 Pluromed, Inc. was awarded a loan of $500,000 from the Center. The loan has been repaid in full, with interest, for a total repayment of $654,228.
Read the press release here >>
4s3 Bioscience, Inc. Repays Center's Accelerator Loan
On March 16, 2012, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and 4s3 Bioscience, Inc. announced the Medford‐based company’s repayment of the Center’s Accelerator loan, with interest.
In June, 2010 4s3 Bioscience, Inc., an emerging Boston-area biotechnology company focused on developing genetic disease therapies for orphan neuromuscular disorders, was awarded a loan of $600,000 from the Center through a program that provides working capital to promising early‐stage life sciences companies. The loan has been repaid in full, with interest, for a total repayment of $685,134. The repayment comes after 4s3 Bioscience was successful in securing $20 million in private financing from an affiliate of Alopexx Enterprises LLC earlier this month.
Read the press release here >>
The 2012 BIO International Convention comes to Boston
Join 15,000 biotech professionals from around the globe this June 18 - 21 at BIO International Convention at the Boston Exhibition and Convention Center. The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center will be attending the four-day industry event, and will be located within the Massachusetts Pavilion. Learn more about the event here >>
Center Announces Tax Incentives Targeting Growth at 28 Companies
On February 22, 2012, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced that the Center's Board of Directors has awarded $21.2 million in tax incentives to 28 life sciences companies. The recipient companies have committed to creating mroe than 940 new jobs in the Commonwealth this year. Read the press release here >>
Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts receives $50,000 Center grant
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has awarded a $50,000 grant to the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts. The grant will allow for a 10-week module in STEM within the FaB Factor Program, which is an early intervention and prevention program for at-risk, inner-city girls ranging from five to 17 years old. Read the press release here >>
Center announces 2012-13 Internship Challenge
On February 1, 2012, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center launched its 2012-13 Internship Challenge. The workforce development program, now in its fourth year, focuses on enhancing the talent pipeline for Massachusetts life sciences companies and will provide paid internship opportunities at life sciences companies for students and recent graduates. Read the press release here >>
Center awards $10 million grant to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has awarded Dana-Farber Cancer Institute a $10 million grant to support the expansion of its pioneering cancer imaging research program. The MLSC grant will help fund the establishment of the Molecular Cancer Imaging Facility, a $20 million research initiative to develop new molecular imaging probes. The facility will ultimately allow physicians to better diagnose and characterize cancer, choose targeted
therapies, monitor treatment efficacy, and improve the outcomes of adult and pediatric patients with cancer. Read the press release here >>
Center awards $5 million for the Museum of Science's Hall of Human Life
On January 25, 2012, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center awarded the Museum of Science, Boston with a $5 million grant toward the construction of the Hall of Human Life, scheduled to open in 2013. This grant was awarded as part of the Center's 2011 Capital Project Matching Grant program. Read the press release here >>
Center provides $5 million grant to Joslin Diabetes Center
On January 25, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced a $5 million grant to the Joslin Diabetes Center. The grant and matching funds will be used to build an innovative Translational Center for the Cure of Diabetes. Read the press release here >>
IDBS opens its Healthcare Center of Excellence in Burlington
On January 20, 2012, Governor Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center joined officials from IDBS to open the company's Healthcare Center of Excellence and to celebrate the expansion of the IDBS business in Massachusetts. Read the press release here >>
Center launches Third Year of Small Business Matching Grant Program
On January 4, 2012, the Center opened the third year of the Center’s Small Business Matching Grant (SBMG) Program. The Program provides grant funding to match federal small business grants for early-stage life sciences companies in Massachusetts. $3 million is available for the program in this round. Read the press release here >>
MedicaMetrix wins first-ever WPI Venture Forum Business Plan Contest Life Sciences Track
MedicaMetrix has been awarded $10,000 in the first-ever WPI Venture Forum Business Plan Contest Life Sciences Track competition. The new track, added to the competition for the first time this year, was funded through a sponsorship from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. MedicaMetrix produces urological medical devices with demonstrated “comparative effectiveness” to reduce the cost of healthcare while improving clinical outcomes. Read the press release here >>
Center Awards Grant to Expand MedTech IGNITE Program
The Center has awarded a $50,000 grant to MedTech IGNITE, a business-coaching program launched in 2007 by MassMEDIC, the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council. The grant will allow the MedTech IGNITE Program to expand to new areas of Massachusetts, including the Pioneer Valley, Merrimack Valley, SouthCoast, and Worcester regions, and to help nurture more medical device entrepreneurs at the early stage of their companies’ development. Read the press release here >>
Avaxia Biologics Opens New Facility in Lexington
The Center joined with Avaxia Biologics, a development stage company focusing on oral antibody therapeutics that act locally within the gastrointestinal tract, to host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the company’s new office and lab space in Lexington. The company received $375,000 in early-stage loan financing through the Center’s Accelerator Program in 2010. Read the press release here >>
Progenika officially opens their new offices in Medford
Spain-based genotyping microarray producer Progenika has officially opened the company’s new US headquarters in Medford. The grand opening included a tour of the facility, with participation from President of the Basque region of Spain Patxi Lopez. Read the press release here >>
Cohen, Dagi and Roberts join the Center’s SAB
The Center has announced the addition of three new members to the organization’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB is chaired by Dr. Harvey F. Lodish, Member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Professor of Biology and Professor of Bioengineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The three new members are Dalia Cohen, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Asterand, Inc., T. (Teo) Forcht Dagi, M.D., Partner at HML Venture Partners, and Carmichael Roberts, Ph.D. Partner of North Bridge Venture Partners.
Read the press release here >>
See a full listing of SAB members here >>
Izon opens new US Headquarters in Cambridge
New Zealand-based nanotechnology instrument manufacturer Izon Science recently announced the opening of the company’s U.S. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts to further support their expanding client base in 23 countries. The new office is located at One Kendall Square in Cambridge. Read the press release here >>
Life Sciences Center Begins Accepting Applications under Massachusetts-Israel Innovation Partnership
The Center has begun accepting applications under a new international partnership with Israel, the Massachusetts-Israel Innovation Partnership (MIIP). The joint solicitation seeks applications for funding for industrial Research & Development (R&D) collaborations between Massachusetts and Israeli companies. Learn more here >>
EarlySense announces plans to locate US
headquarters in Waltham
Governor Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center joined officials from EarlySense and MetroWest Medical Center to launch the hospital’s new patient safety and quality initiative, leveraging innovative technology developed by EarlySense, Inc. The event marked the first commercial installation of the EarlySense patient monitoring system in Massachusetts. At the event EarlySense named Waltham, Massachusetts as the location of the Israel-based company’s new U.S. headquarters. Read the press release here >>
Internship Challenge Participants Celebrate on the SouthCoast
UMass Dartmouth and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center highlighted the work of Massachusetts student interns and the companies they have been working with in the SouthCoast region this summer through the Center’s Internship Challenge Program. The Internship Challenge is a workforce development program focused on enhancing the talent pipeline for Massachusetts companies engaged in life sciences. Read the press release here >>
Benz and Caret join Center’s Board of Directors
Governor Deval Patrick has appointed Edward J. Benz, Jr., M.D., President and CEO of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, to the Center’s Board of Directors. In addition, Robert Caret, Ph.D., the new President of the University of Massachusetts, has joined the board, assuming the seat previously held by outgoing UMass President Jack Wilson. Read the press release here >>
Center Opens Application Period for 2011 Life Sciences Tax Incentive Program
Applications are now being accepted for the 2011 Life Sciences Tax Incentive Program. All applications are due by noon on October 7, 2011. The Program offers tax incentives to companies engaged in life sciences research and development, commercialization and manufacturing in Massachusetts. The Life Sciences Initiative authorizes the Center to award up to $25 million in tax incentives each year.
For more information, or to apply, click here >>
Governor visits Ipsen Biomeasure in Milford
In July 2011, Governor Deval Patrick visited the facilities of Biomeasure, Ipsen’s US subsidiary focusing on research, development and manufacturing in Milford, Massachusetts. The Governor met with company leaders and discussed the role that the Life Sciences Initiative has played in advancing the company’s scientific research and product development. Ipsen Biomeasure was successful in applying jointly with Brigham & Women’s Hospital for one of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center’s Cooperative Research Matching Grants in the program’s first round. Read the press release here >>
Center opens new round of Accelerator Program applications
The Center has opened a summer 2011 round of the Accelerator Loan Program, with applications due by noon on August 5th. Click here to learn more >>
Center Announces the Expansion of
Internship Challenge Program
Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray and the Center have announced an expansion of the Center's flagship workforce development program, the Internship Challenge. The formerly summer-only program will now be available to students year-round, starting in the Fall semester.
Read the press release here >>
Center Announces 2011 Small Business Matching Grant (SBMG) Program Awards
The Center has awarded $2 million in Small Business Matching Grants to four life sciences companies. Each company will receive $500,000 from the Center that matches federal small business grant funding that the companies have been awarded previously. The grants represent the second round of awards issued under the Center's Small Business Matching Grant ("SBMG") Program. Read the press release here >>
Center approves second round of Cooperative Research Matching Grants
The Center has awarded $1 million in cooperative research matching grants to support two innovative research collaborations between industry and Massachusetts’ world-class academic institutions. The Center’s Cooperative Research Matching Grant Program funds collaborations among scientists, academic institutions and industry that promise significant commercial potential and are scientifically meritorious. The grants will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the industry partners associated with each collaboration. Read the press release here >>
EarlySense Selects Massachusetts As Location For
U.S. Headquarters Following Governor Patrick’s Trade Mission to Israel
MetroWest Medical Center’s Framingham Campus will become the first facility in Massachusetts to commercially implement EarlySense’s contact-free patient monitoring system
Boston and Framingham, MA and Ramat Gan, Israel, April 14, 2011 --- EarlySense, Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced today that Israel-based EarlySense, developer of the EverOn contact-free patient monitoring system, has chosen to locate its U.S. headquarters in Massachusetts. Read more >>
Center authorizes 2010 round of tax incentives
The Life Sciences Center Board of Directors has authorized $23.9 million in 2010 tax incentives to encourage job growth at 30 life sciences companies. The companies have collectively committed to creating nearly 1000 new jobs during calendar year 2011. Read the press release here >>
Governor Patrick, Life Sciences Center Celebrate Opening of Organogenesis’ New Headquarters In Canton
Governor Deval Patrick and Massachusetts Life Sciences Center President & CEO Susan Windham-Bannister joined state and local officials, Organogenesis, Inc. CEO Geoff MacKay and employees recently to celebrate the completion of the company's new headquarters building at 85 Dan Road in Canton. Read the press release here >>
Center Launches Equipment Matching
Grant Program for Skills Training
Program will fund lab equipment for life sciences job training at Massachusetts vocational schools, community colleges and workforce training programs
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has announced a new Equipment and Supplies Program for Skills Training and Education that will match industry partner funding for the purchase of lab equipment at vocational technical schools, community colleges and workforce training organizations in Massachusetts. The Center will begin accepting on-line applications for the new program on Monday, October 4, 2010 on this website. Read the press release here >>
Governor Patrick Highlights Job Creation, Research And Development Expansion At Cubist Pharmaceuticals
LEXINGTON - September 8, 2010 - Governor Deval Patrick and Massachusetts Life Sciences Center President & CEO Susan Windham-Bannister today joined company employees and local officials at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in Lexington to highlight the company's expansion in Massachusetts. Read more >>
Center Celebrates Opening of Nuclea Biotechnologies’
Genomics Center in Pittsfield
The Center recently joined Nuclea Biotechnologies, MassBio, and local officials to celebrate the grand opening of Nuclea’s new Genomics Center in Pittsfield. Read the press release here >>
Celniker appointed to Center’s Board of Directors
Abbie Celniker, Ph.D., CEO of Cambridge-based Taligen Therapeutics, has been appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. Read the press release here >>
Center celebrates completion of Loeb Laboratory
renovations at MBL
The Center is celebrating completion of a $25 million renovation of the Loeb Laboratory, the Marine Biological Laboratory’s central research training facility, and the establishment of the new Eugene Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering. The renovation, funded by a $10 million grant from the Center that leveraged a $15 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), has transformed Loeb into a state-of-the-art facility that will serve as a national resource for science training and discovery. Read the press release here >>
Internship Challenge Matches 164 Interns
with 93 Life Sciences Companies
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center’s 2010 Internship Challenge has received an overwhelming response since its February launch, with nearly 900 applicants seeking internships this summer. Through the Challenge, 164 interns have been matched with 93 life sciences companies, a more than 50% increase from the 104 interns selected in 2009. Participation comes from academic institutions and companies across the state. Read the press release here >>
Life Sciences Center Board Approves 2010 Accelerator Program Loans for Early Stage Companies
In June of 2010 the Center awarded $2.48 million in loans to four early-stage life sciences companies. The Center’s 2010 Accelerator Program provides loans of up to $750,000 to early-stage companies engaged in life sciences research and development, commercialization and manufacturing. Four companies were authorized to receive loans out of thirty-nine applications that were submitted to the Center and competitively peer-reviewed. A second round of the Program is scheduled for the Fall of 2010.
Read the press release here >>
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Provides $50,000 Grant to Support Life Sciences Collaborative’s Biomanufacturing Initiative
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center is providing a $50,000 grant to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Collaborative to support an initiative aimed at strengthening the state’s biomanufacturing sector through a Massachusetts Biomanufacturing Roundtable and the development of a comprehensive Biomanufacturing action agenda during the 2010 calendar year. Read the press release here >>
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Supports MIT $100K Life Sciences Track and Winner Aukera Therapeutics
Cambridge, MA - Aukera Therapeutics has been named the 2010 MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition Life Sciences Track Winner. Aukera also won the Audience Choice Award, based on voting by the 1,000 attendees at the Competition’s finale. Read the press release >>
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Announces 2010 Small Business Matching Grant (SBMG) Program Awards
Center Awards $1.5 million to foster job growth and technology commercialization in the Massachusetts Life Sciences Supercluster
Waltham, MA (May 28, 2010) – The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center’s Board of Directors today awarded $1.5 million in Small Business Matching Grants to three life sciences companies in Massachusetts. Read more >>
Center Announces Investment Partnership
with sanofi-aventis
At Bio 2010 in Chicago the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and sanofi-aventis announced a new investment partnership, with the company joining the Center's Corporate Consortium Program. Sanofi-aventis will contribute $500,000 over two years to support the Center's investment activities. Read the press release here. Read the press release >>
Center welcomes NeoStem to Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE, MA (April 23, 2010) - Today NeoStem, Inc (NYSE Amex: NBS) (“NeoStem” or the “Company”), an international biopharmaceutical company with operations in the U.S. and China, officially launched its new facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Company officials were joined at the ribbon cutting ceremony by Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center President & CEO Susan Windham-Bannister, and MassBio President Bob Coughlin. Read the press release >>
Center approves $6.6 million grant for
Gateway Park project in Worcester
February 24, 2010 - The Life Sciences Center has awarded a $6.6 million grant to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) to support the next phase of life sciences development at Gateway Park in Worcester. The grant leverages $25 million in private investment for the development of a new 80,000-square-foot life sciences facility anticipated to create 120 construction jobs and 142 new permanent jobs at completion. Read the press release here >>
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Announces 2010 Internship Challenge Program
January 12, 2010--The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center today announced the launch of the Center’s Internship Challenge Program for the summer of 2010, the second year of a workforce development program focused on enhancing the talent pipeline for Massachusetts life sciences
companies. Read the press release >>
Life Sciences Center Awards $25 million in tax incentives
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Board of Directors has awarded $25 million in Tax Incentives to twenty-eight life sciences companies. The companies receiving tax incentive awards have committed to creating a combined 918 new jobs in the Commonwealth over the coming year. Read the press release >>
Life Sciences Center Welcomes Two International Companies to Massachusetts
CYTOO Cell Architects, a French biotechnology company focused on applications in cell based assays, recently opened their U.S. subsidiary, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. Read the
press release here >>
Center welcomes Systagenix to Quincy
Systagenix Wound Management, a leading medical device company that specializes in cutting-edge chronic wound care solutions, is expanding its operations by opening a North, Central, and South American Headquarters in Quincy, Massachusetts. Read the press release here>>
Center's Investment Leverages Federal Grant Funding for MBL
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) $802,500 in federal stimulus funds to support the recruitment of scientists specializing in regenerative biology, along with a second grant providing $557,000 for the Laboratory’s intensive Frontiers in Stem Cells and Regeneration training course. Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray visited MBL to participate in the grant announcements. Read the press release >>
Center Approves $7.7 Million Grant for Phase II of Framingham Economic Development Project
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Board of Directors has approved a $7.7 million grant to the Town of Framingham for Phase II of a wastewater management project. The project will facilitate the contruction of a Genzyme biomanufacturing facility in the Framingham technology park. The Genzyme facility will create more than 300 new jobs, and the Genzyme and wastewater projects combined will create 165 jobs in construction.
Read the press release here>>
Biocell Center Opens North American
Headquarters in Medford
Biocell Center, a European biotechnology company that is the only firm in the world to harvest and preserve amniotic stem cells, opened its North American headquarters and laboratory in Medford, Massachusetts on October 22, 2009. The company has other facilities in Italy and Switzerland. Read the press release >>
Mass General Hospital scientist receives Nobel Prize
Jack W. Szostak, PhD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Molecular Biology and Harvard Medical School has been named a recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Dr. Szostak is being recognized for work predicting and then discovering telomerase, an enzyme that builds and maintains the protective caps at the tips of chromosomes. Read press release >>
Bio Convention to return to Boston in 2012
Governor Deval Patrick, Boston Mayor Tom Menino, Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Executive Director Jim Rooney, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center President & CEO Susan Windham-Bannister, and Massachusetts Biotechnology Council President Robert Coughlin joined together on September 28, 2009 to announce that Bio International, the world's largest life sciences trade show, will return to Boston in 2012.
Read the press release here >>
Center to provide $90 million in capital funding for Sherman Center Project at UMass Medical
Governor Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center have announced the approval of $90 million in capital funding toward the construction of the $405 million Albert Sherman Center Project at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS). A key targeted investment in the Life Science Act, the facility will further bolster the pioneering life sciences research and medical education taking place at UMass Medical School in Worcester. Read the press release here >>
MBL breaks ground on Loeb Laboratory renovations
Senate President Therese Murray, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and key state officials gathered recently at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) to break ground on a $25 million renovation of the MBL's central research training facility, the Loeb Laboratory. This renovation will create 250 regional construction jobs over the next 15 months and will greatly enhance the MBL's and the state's ability to attract and retain top scientists. The Center is providing a $10 million grant toward the costs of the renovation project. Read the press release here >>
Two Accelerator companies receive FDA approval on medical devices
Two of the Center's seven Accelerator portfolio companies recently received FDA approval for innovative medical technologies. Wadsworth Technologies announced in September, 2009 that their DermaLOC wound closure system had been approved by the FDA. Pluromed announced shortly thereafter that they had received FDA approval for BackStop, a device used in ureteroscopic kidney stone management procedures.
Read the Wadsworth press release here >>
Read the Pluromed press release here >>
Life Sciences Internship Challenge Receives Extraordinary Response
The Center's Life Sciences Internship Challenge has received an overwhelming response since its February launch, with more than 500 applicants looking for internships this summer. Through the Challenge, 104 interns have been matched with 59 life sciences companies and research institutions. Read the press release >>
Second Round of New Investigator Grants Completed
The Center has completed its second round of New Investigator Matching Grants by awarding $600,000 to three Harvard-affiliated researchers. Read the press release >>
UMass receives grant to establish Professional Science Masters Degree programs
Congratulations to the University of Massachusetts on being awarded a $124,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to create 10 life sciences Professional Science Masters Degree programs. The initiative will span all five campuses and multiple academic concentrations. The need for such programs was a key finding of the Life Sciences Talent Initiative (LSTI) study that the Center co-sponsored last year. Read the press release >>
View the LSTI report >>
Center awards $1.4 million in New Investigator Grants
On June 24, 2009, The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Board of Directors awarded $1,380,256 in New Investigator Grants. The Center’s grants will support seven young scientists working at research institutions in Massachusetts.
Center to continue funding
International Stem Cell Registry
On June 24, 2009, The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Board of Directors approved $695,000 in continued funding for the International Stem Cell Registry. The Registry is a comprehensive database of current information on stem cells managed by the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.
Read the Press Release >>
Learn more about the ISCR here >>
MLSC Accelerator Program Receives Strong Response
The MLSC has received eighty-eight applications for the Center's Accelerator loan program for early-stage companies. The first round of applications began on January 1, 2009 and closed on March 6, 2009. Click here to read the press release. Read the press release >>
Life Sciences Head Looking For Answers
Worcester Business Journal | September 10, 2008
Susan Windham-Bannister, president and CEO of the new Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, says the center is still working out the principles it will use to distribute the $500 million it is responsible for.
During the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Venture Forum Tuesday, Windham-Bannister told entrepreneurs and funders that the center is still in its formative stages and is wrestling with questions about how to use the $250 million in investment funds and $250 million in tax incentives it controls under the state's new $1 billion life sciences initiative. Read more >>
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Announces Newly Appointed Board Of Directors
New board votes to approve first-of-its-kind state investment of nearly $7M in
Massachusetts-based Research Matching Grants
BOSTON -July 23, 2008 – The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) announced its newly formed Board of Directors at the board’s July meeting today, the first meeting since Governor Deval Patrick signed landmark Life Sciences legislation on June 16th. The $1 billion investment package positions Massachusetts as a global leader in the industry and tasks the Center with realizing the vision of the initiative. As one of its first acts, the board voted to approve the recipients of two 2008 Research Matching Grants, totaling nearly $7 million, that will go to foster and grow the scientific research enterprise of the Commonwealth. Read more >>
The $1 billion question Life Sciences Center chief sees herself as state standard-bearer
Boston Globe | July 20, 2008
Susan Windham-Bannister, 57, has a big job before her: spending $1 billion. The longtime healthcare industry consultant was just tapped to run the new Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the agency charged with overseeing the state's new $1 billion life sciences initiative. The agency is so new that the Carlisle resident is just the second employee. (Melissa Walsh, the center's chief of staff, is the other.) Globe reporter Todd Wallack sat down with Windham-Bannister recently to find out her vision for the job. Read more >>
WELL APPOINTED
Life Sciences Head To Market Commonwealth
Windham-Bannister brings little lab time, but a wealth of public policy experience, to new post
By Eileen Kennedy
Worcester Business Journal Staff
06/22/08
At first blush, Gov. Deval Patrick’s appointment of Susan Windham-Bannister to head the state’s Life Sciences Center might seem a little unusual.
After all, as head of the center she will be put in charge of the state’s recently passed $1 billion life sciences initiative. And although she’s worked within the biotechnology industry for years, she’s never been the one handling the test tubes and pipettes. Read more >>
Patrick keeps a promise to the biotech industry
Governor set to sign $1b benefit plan
By Todd Wallack
Boston Globe
June 16, 2008
When the world's biggest biotechnology trade show opened in Boston last year, Governor Deval L. Patrick unveiled a bold proposal to pump $1 billion into the state's growing life sciences industry over the next decade.
Today, Patrick is headed to this year's convention in San Diego to tell biotech executives he is finally delivering on that promise. Read more >>
Mass. governor signs life sciences law before conference
Monday, June 16, 2008
The Associated Press
House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, Nobel Prize winner Craig Mello and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft joined the governor as he signed the landmark legislation at the Joslin Diabetes Center. Kraft has funded medical research, and Mello is a University of Massachusetts researcher who won the 2005 Nobel Prize for medicine. Read more >>
Life sciences industry lauds Deval Patrick
$1 billion biotech measure sets Massachusetts apart
Boston Herald
By Christine McConville | Monday, June 16, 2008
What a difference a year makes.
Last May, Gov. Deval Patrick announced ambitious plans for an economic stimulus package to position Massachusetts as a leader in the life sciences industry.
Today, he is expected to make good on that promise, by making that stimulus package a law. Read more >>
$1B Life Sciences Plan Now Law
By Jim O’Sullivan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
BOSTON, JUNE 16, 2008…. Massachusetts has offered the life sciences industry $1 billion worth of incentives over the next decade, hoping that cutting-edge companies can offset losses in more traditional industries and develop innovative medical technology, as Gov. Deval Patrick on Monday signed into law his signature economic development priority. Read more >>
Life sciences bill could boost region's economy
Eagle Tribune
June 15, 2008
By Edward Mason
BOSTON — A $1 billion bill, aimed at making Massachusetts a leader in the cutting-edge life sciences industry, could create thousands of jobs locally and fund a long-envisioned Interstate 93 interchange project.
The life sciences bill, a key part of Gov. Deval Patrick's economic strategy, will be signed into law tomorrow, just before the governor and top state lawmakers jet off to the Bio2008 conference in San Diego to pitch Massachusetts as a place for life science companies to prosper.
Read more >>
Mass. Life Sciences Center Creates
Scientific Advisory Board
Peer review board to be chaired by
renowned researcher Dr. Harvey F. Lodish
BOSTON (March 26, 2008) – The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) today announced the creation of a Scientific Advisory Board to provide scientific and technical advice and oversight, and to ensure scientific credibility and transparency for the Center’s activities and grant-making decisions. The Center has appointed Dr. Harvey F. Lodish, Founding Member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Professor of Biology and of Bioengineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to chair the new board. Read more >>
State House News Service
March 26, 2008
Personnel File [Excerpted]
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Board has appointed MIT scientist HARVEY LODISH as chair of its Scientific Advisory Board. Lodish is a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and a professor of biotechnology and bioengineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The advisory board is charged with making investment recommendations to the center board, the governor and the Legislature. Lodish plans to recommend a list of 12 advisory board members from academia and the venture capital and pharmaceutical industries over the next several weeks. "Our C-list would be the envy of most states," said Lodish.
Life sciences grant program launched in Mass.
NECN
February 13, 2008
(NECN) - Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and other state officials announced Thursday the launch of $12 million grant program to help spark life sciences research in the state. Read more and watch video >>
State Leaders: Billion-Dollar Life Sciences Bill Remains A Work In Progress
By Catherine Williams
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
BOSTON, FEB. 11, 2008....As his $1 billion life sciences proposal continues to undergo committee review, Gov. Deval Patrick said Monday he has been "continually assured that the bill is on track for passage soon." The bill was outlined last May and filed last September. Read more>>
Stalled Life Sciences Bill Affecting Search for Life Science Center Director
By Catherine Williams
State House News Service
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, DEC. 18, 2007...A languishing life sciences bill is hobbling an administration-led recruiting effort to hire a life sciences guru to head up a new center dedicated at making state-funded life sciences research and industry investments, state officials say. Read more >>
Lawmakers Say Patrick's Life Sciences Bill May Be Unbalanced
By Michael P. Norton
and Jim O'Sullivan
State House News Service
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, DEC. 17, 2007.....Top Patrick administration officials on Monday defended Gov. Deval Patrick's $1 billion life sciences industry bill against claims that it was unconstitutional, favored out-of-state companies, and offered preferential tax treatment to one industry but not others. Read more >>
Better deal elsewhere would lure Mass. life-science firms
The Boston Globe
BUSINESS IN BRIEF
December 12, 2007
More than three in four life-sciences companies would consider leaving Massachusetts, according to preliminary results of a Massachusetts Life Sciences Collaborative survey. The survey found 78 percent of respondents would consider leaving, and 63 percent have already been contacted by other states about moving. The majority of respondents said the state could help them stay put by offering increased tax credits and other financial incentives, better transportation, low-cost space, and improvements in infrastructure. Companies said Massachusetts is attractive because it has a strong workforce and resources for research, but is also expensive. The survey comes at a time when lawmakers are considering Governor Deval L. Patrick's $1 billion proposal to boost the life sciences sector. (Todd Wallack)
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center in the News
Genzyme expansion in jeopardy
$260m Framingham plant faces hurdles on water, sewage capacity
By Todd Wallack, Boston Globe | November 21, 2007
Genzyme Corp., one of the state's largest biotech companies, has quietly drafted plans to build a $260 million biotech drug manufacturing plant in Framingham, similar in size to the one it built in Allston 11 years ago. Read more >>
Life sciences memorandum could sub for bill
By Jim O’Sullivan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
BOSTON, NOV. 19, 2007….If the Legislature does not approve timely pieces of Gov. Deval Patrick’s $1 billion life sciences plan before breaking this week until January, Beacon Hill leaders could enter into a unusual memorandum of understanding promising legislative benefits to a small number of companies. Read more >>
Together again, leaders optimistic on life sciences bill
By Jim O’Sullivan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, NOV. 7, 2007….Reprising the scene of togetherness when they joined six months ago to announce the plan, Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi stood Wednesday with Gov. Deval Patrick to play down differences over his $1 billion life sciences bill, but reserved their rights to make changes. Read more >>
Guv Asks for Help on Life Sciences Bill, Senate Prez Sees ‘Legislative Input’
State House News Service
October 3, 2007
Gov. Deval Patrick asked biotechnology industry leaders to help him push lawmakers to pass his $1 billion life sciences plan, which faces review from lawmakers who are talking more openly about expanding its scope to other industries, with House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi saying Wednesday he wants a version of the bill finalized within two months. Read more >>
State taps NY firm to hire life sciences director
Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology
September 13, 2007
Massachusetts state officials plan to spend $75,000 to hire an executive director of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, which is expected to manage a $1 billion fund dedicated to growing the life sciences industry in the Bay State. Read more >>
Life Sciences Board Pushes Ahead on Stem Cell Registry
By Gintautas Dumcius
The State House News Service
September 13, 2007
“As Gov. Deval Patrick's request for funding to fuel a first-in-the-nation stem cell bank awaits legislative action, the administration is fast-tracking a proposal for an international stem cell registry and setting the stage to move quickly on the proposed bank at UMass Worcester.” Read more >>
Broad Massachusetts Life Sciences Workforce Study To Begin
June 8, 2007
To ensure that Massachusetts has the skilled workforce it needs to sustain its life sciences supercluster, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council boards voted yesterday to fund the Life Sciences Talent Initiative, a broad life science workforce study conducted by the UMass Donahue Institute that will guide the state for the next decade. Read more >>