By Bethanie Glover, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. January 15, 2025 - 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.
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