Biotechnology

Biomedical research is undergoing a fundamental change. With the results of the Human Genome Project and other gene sequencing efforts, researchers are now decoding growth, function and disease at the most fundamental level. From such understanding will come new therapeutic, diagnostic and preventative interventions--improved health care. For a region with high incidence rates of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, this could touch lives close to each and every one of us.

Successful participation in this "biomedical revolution" can also provide significant economic benefit for the region. The federal government has significantly increased funding for biomedical research through its National Institutes of Health (NIH). Academic research is a recognized source of industry innovation, economic development and new job formation. The UC Medical Center, based on the most recent (1999) figures, already creates a total economic impact of $3.05 billion on the Tristate. The potential economic impact of new biotech activities on the Tristate could be in excess of $100 million over the next ten years.

To firmly establish the Tristate's leadership in the biomedical revolution, the Medical Center has created the "Millennium Plan." Its goals include:

• double externally-funded research by 2006
• substantially expand state-of-the-art research space
• create a Research Institute linked with industry
• recruit or develop 260 internationally recognized researchers/clinicians who are competitively funded
• advance the biomedical industry in the region by commercialization of research findings

Success towards these goals has been growing. The Genome Research Institute has been established at a laboratory complex donated to the University by Aventis Pharmaceuticals. Recent recruitment includes a new Chair of Surgery and a director of the Center for Genome Information. A new Department of Biomedical Engineering has been established as a joint effort of the College of Medicine and the College of Engineering. A grant has been received from Sun Microsystems and the Ohio Board of Regents to fund a Supercomputer Center for pediatric research at Children's Hospital. Programs developed and sponsored by the Office of Entrepreneurial Affairs expose the university research community to resources for technology transfer and commercialization of their discoveries.

For more information on these and related initiatives at UC Medical Center, please contact the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost for Health Affairs at (513) 558-6052.