The commonwealth’s biotechnology and innovation footprint is expanding, thanks to an award from the state’s GO Virginia economic development program and a close partnership between the University of Virginia and CvilleBioHub.
The award will add a vital business component to the state’s existing biotech ecosystem to bolster the success of high-potential, early-stage life sciences companies.
GO Virginia approved a $14.3 million funding package to three Virginia biotech accelerator organizations in response to a multiregional proposal called “Project VITAL: Virginia Innovations and Technology Advancements in Life Sciences.”
Each organization is collaborating with nearby research universities to build on biotech research and expansion in their regions.
CvilleBioHub, a regional, industry-led organization, received $4.3 million of the award and is partnering with UVA to establish the region’s first laboratory accelerator at North Fork, a UVA Discovery Park.
The accelerator will attract, build and prepare promising life sciences companies for commercialization of human health innovation in therapeutics, medical devices, tools and digital health aids to solve unmet needs in large markets.
“GO Virginia’s investment in CvilleBioHub will enable an important expansion of the biotech industry in the Charlottesville region,” UVA President Jim Ryan said. “I’m grateful to these organizations for their partnership in building on the vision for the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology in speeding medical discoveries in the lab and bringing them to market so that patients can benefit.”
The University will supplement the $4.3 million award with a $750,000, three-year lease for a state-of-the-art wet lab space. An additional $100,000 from UVA’s recently established entrepreneurship initiative, UVA Innovates, will support the accelerator’s programming.
Shared equipment and space in the state-of-the-art wet lab will support emerging life sciences startups. (Contributed image)
The total project funding exceeds $7.5 million with additional support from private donors and economic development agencies in Albemarle County and Charlottesville. The collaborative support demonstrates the benefits of public-private partnerships to generate new jobs, improve lives through innovative research and treatment and strengthen the local economy.
“GO Virginia’s award represents a very major opportunity to support UVA life sciences startups by offering top expertise, shared equipment and space, and programming to achieve increased success,” Nikki Hastings, CvilleBioHub’s co-founder and executive director, said. Hastings also directs the McIntire School of Commerce’s biotechnology track and is the Shumway Business Health Science Fellow.
“Our organization is dedicated to bringing biotechnology research goals to life, and this partnership with UVA is a game-changer for promoting the growth of the biotech industry in Charlottesville and the commonwealth,” Hastings said. “Creating new space of a similar caliber to what exists at North Fork would take years, and we are so excited to initiate this progress now.”
Collaborative space will bolster the success of life sciences entrepreneurs. (Contributed image)
Launched in late 2023, UVA Innovates aims to ease navigation of the entrepreneurial ecosystem for students, faculty, staff, alumni and investors.
“The Commonwealth BioAccelerator will be a critical addition to our local entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said Mike Lenox, the Donna and Richard Tadler University Professor of Entrepreneurship, special adviser to the provost on entrepreneurship, and the Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of Business. “It will be a catalyst for advancing technologies and solutions from UVA’s labs into the world, such as those that will be emerging from the new Manning Institute.”
The Commonwealth BioAccelerator and similar Project VITAL accelerators across the state will build on a $112 million state investment in research institutions since late 2023. That investment included $46.5 million from the general fund for UVA’s Manning Institute of Biotechnology, which is in addition to the state’s original investment of $50 million for the institute.
