By Jacob Barker, St. Louis Post-Dispatch – December 24, 2020
ST. LOUIS — A $3 million federal grant will fund BioSTL’s launch of a new Center for National Pandemic Resiliency in Biosciences, the local bioscience industry booster announced Wednesday.
The U.S. Economic Development Administration grant, backed by a $750,000 match from BioSTL, will fund an initiative focused on accelerating technology that can help control future pandemics. The new center will work with Washington University, St. Louis university and others to accelerate the commercialization of technologies designed to predict, monitor, and mitigate the impacts of future pandemics.
BioSTL, based out of a recently rehabbed newspaper printing plant in the Cortex tech district, plans to hire a new director and several staff members to run the new center. Its investment arm, BioGenerator, provides affordable lab space and invests in young tech companies.
”This year, as the global pandemic evolved, it became clear to us that we have the infrastructure, relationships, and expertise to help provide solutions that will address, monitor, and potentially mitigate future pandemic crises,” said Dr. Eric Gulve, executive vice president of BioSTL and president of BioSTL’s investment arm, BioGenerator.
The announcement comes just a few months after BioSTL won a $1.5 million EDA grant for a new entity called the Center for Defense Medicine.
Search
