Bio-center's long-term potential could propel economy

Buffalo's proposed $200 million Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics has significant potential to boost Buffalo's economy, but it's going to take some years and more money before the region appreciates the benefits, experts say.

Gov. George Pataki announced during a stop in Buffalo on Dec. 6 that a collaboration of private companies and the state would build a facility that will establish Buffalo as a leader in scientific advancement and business growth while creating thousands of high-paying, high-tech jobs. The project "will transform Western New York into a 21st-century economy," he said.

But that transformation could be 10 years away, though officials here are busily gathering the building blocks to get the project under way, said Scott Morrison, Ernst & Young's national director of lifescience.

"It's a big step in the right direction but temper expectations because it won't happen overnight," said Morrison, who's based in Palo Alto, Calif. "Realistically, it'll take three to five years for meaningful business to get started and at least a decade for them to become established."

But he said it'll be worth the effort for Buffalo to get in on the emerging science of bioinformatics, which uses high-performance computers to analyze biological data, such as that coming from the ground-breaking identification of the human genome. It is seen as a major platform in the development of pharmaceuticals, but also has applications in the medical device and equipment, agriculture and energy industries, among others. The project will tie in with research being done at the University at Buffalo, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute.

The worldwide market for bioinformatics is about $1.4 billion, with $350 million of that happening in the United States, said Brad Peters, senior industry analyst for Frost & Sullivan, a marketing research and consulting firm in San Antonio, Texas. Growth in the industry has been clocked at 70 percent each of the past two years.

"Given the changes in the economy, we project growth next year will be 20 percent conservatively. But it should go back to 40 to 45 percent. It's a very, very hot area," Peters said.

Timeline

UB Provost Betty Capaldi, one of the leaders in the effort to land the bioinformatics center, said the obvious benefits of the project might be a few years away, but Buffalo's got all the elements, it's just a matter of bringing them together. There's plenty of activity now to make it come to fruition:

• Project leaders are waiting for confirmation of $3 million in federal aid and hope to have it in hand by January, she said. When the funding issue is settled, a salary offer can be made to the future director of the center, a prospect who is out of town and interested in relocating to Buffalo.

• Site selection for the 150,000-square-foot center is under way. The facility will house drug-design and research laboratories, high-performance computational facilities, 3-D visualization capabilities, product commercialization space and workforce training facilities, and will be built with the state's $50 million contribution, announced by Pataki.

An environmental impact study is being conducted and will help narrow the center's location, which officials "prefer" to be in or around the budding downtown medical corridor, said Mark Hamister, chairman of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership and one of the Buffalo businessmen involved in the project. Ground breaking is expected in 2004.

• The science of bioinformatics and development of procedures for commercialization will begin in the spring using UB's supercomputer and the computers and software contributed by the private company partners in the project. Space will be rented until a permanent home is located, Hamister said.

"The key of all this is speed. We're all in a big race here," Capaldi said, referring to other areas around the country equally enthusiastic about getting a foothold in the bioinformatics industry.

Jobs

Initially, employment opportunities will be on the scientific side with hundreds of positions for highly trained individuals and their assistants, who will develop the science of bioinformatics, said Hamister, president and CEO of National Health Care Affiliates Inc. in Buffalo.

Officials expect that those positions will be filled by a combination of people from the project's sponsors, recruitment from out of town and those trained locally, including the University at Buffalo and Canisius College.

Paula Dehn, professor and chair of the Canisius College Department of Biology, said the college planned the bioinformatics undergraduate degree three years ago anticipating interest in the industry, but unaware there was a center of excellence proposed for Buffalo.

"We're not a research institute. We can't participate the same way the other institutions can. We're interested in providing programs that will result in jobs for our graduates. We're going to be a nice feed into the work force here, as well as master's and Ph.D. programs," Dehn said.

And they'll be poised to be high wage earners. Bioinformaticists have a broad understanding of biology and computers and if they have a master's degree, they can make between $70,000 and $80,000 a year, Peters said.

The science then will lead to development of business ventures and product manufacturing, where thousands of jobs will be had in a few years, Hamister said. He predicted as many as 10,000 jobs will be added to he Western New York work force as a result of the bioinformatics venture.

Prognosis

What's impressive about the Buffalo project is the serious investment by private companies, which wouldn't have materialized if not for sophisticated research taking place at area facilities and ability to move that research to the marketplace in the form of products, said Morrison. Across the country, geographic areas like Buffalo with bioinformatic dreams are courting investments by big companies, and competition is tough, he said.

"The field is getting crowded, but usually great sciences will find applications. If it is set up in a way that's unique, there certainly will be a market for it," Morrison said.

No one should believe that the $200 million investment is the end of fund raising for the project. To give it a long life, officials need access to "immense" venture capital, which helped make similar bioinformatics projects in San Francisco and Boston successful.

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