The University of Vermont officially opened a new Biolabs Innovation Center providing life sciences startups infrastructure and equipment. The facility is especially innovative in a rural place like Northern Vermont.
James Stafford, the director of UVM’s new BioLabs Innovation Center, led a tour of the offices and labs at the center.
The lab is about 2 miles from UVM’s main campus in Burlington. Stafford says those using the lab will also have access to resources on the main campus.
“So that means people get access to our microscopy core, proteomics, sequencing, all of those things for similar rates that an academic might. And that’s really unheard of across industry and networks. So that’s a huge draw for companies here,” Stafford explained. “A big draw for companies is also our access to interns and student populations. So as we get this off and running we hope to fill this with students as well that are working alongside those companies to provide development opportunities but also a good source of workforce development for those companies as well.”
The site is intended to foster innovation in life sciences. Despite the official opening being on Tuesday, three companies have been using the facility. The Honey Pot is a women’s intimate care company producing plant-based products. While standing in one of the labs, Vice President of Research and Development John Milligan said they needed to expand their ability to experiment and prototype products.
“We began having more questions than we could get answers to so we realized that we needed to expand our network, experiment, develop the next generation of technology,” Milligan said. “UVM having its own medical team is a really beneficial thing for a health business like ourselves because we’d like to get those insights from professionals in the medical field so we can develop better solutions for human health.”
Sarcometrics has been using the facility since May, according to its Chief Scientist Brad Palmer.
“We offer drug screening services to pharmaceutical companies who are trying to evaluate their drug candidates before going to clinical trials. We’re specifically focused on heart muscle function and so they’ll send us drugs that they hope to improve heart muscle function and we’ll be able to evaluate that.”
The last stop on the tour was The Honey Pot’s space. Milligan is optimistic that the facility will lead to groundbreaking research in his field.
“In terms of the way we view the world of a better for you holistic care solution to vaginal health, the industry’s asleep. And so we’re asking questions people don’t have answers for. Vaginal care is not even a topic for most people. So we are at the tip of a spear. We’re trying to find a path that’s never been done before. So hence a lab and hopefully lots of ideas. Just to have this first leg up is a really huge, huge help,” Milligan said.
The center is a two-year collaborative effort between the UVM Office of the Vice President for Research and BioLabs, which is supporting similar labs across the globe.
Just prior to the ribbon cutting officially opening the center, Kirk Dombrowski, UVM Vice President for Research and Economic Development, noted this is the first such facility in a rural state.
“What we’re talking about today is an opportunity to elevate UVM’s national research profile and our leadership in the innovation space. This is something that I think is just critical nationwide,” asserted Dombrowski. “The BioLabs Innovation Center places UVM among a select group of universities with world-class incubator structure and signals a bold commitment to research commercialization and biotech entrepreneurship. As the first rural university in the BioLabs network, UVM is now aligned with institutions in Boston, New York and San Diego, cities known for their biotech excellence.”
University of Vermont President Marlene Tromp:
“Here we are in a space that is going to open up incredible new opportunities for entrepreneurs, for researchers. We are not tapping enough of the talent that is coming from places where their perspectives are different. We are going to build a new future with those new insights, explore the edges of what’s possible.”
