Permanent jobs associated with the facility total more than 6,800 over 20 years, including 300 direct jobs within 10 years and 600 direct jobs within 20 years. The total 20-year capital and research budget for the institute is projected to be $1.1 billion, with Jackson Laboratory providing $809 million through federal research grants, philanthropy and service income, and the State of Connecticut contributing $291 million ($192 million in a secured construction loan and $99 million in research partnership participation). For every $1 dollar the state is spending on this project, Jackson Laboratory will spend $3.

“This is how we begin to reinvent Connecticut: by propelling our state into the forefront of an emerging industry. By investing in a smart, strategic project like Bioscience Connecticut, as we did in May, the state sent a loud and clear message around the world to companies and research institutes like Jackson Laboratory that we are ready, willing and able to be a partner in this up-and-coming industry,” said Gov. Malloy. “We have laid down our marker and this immediate return on our investment will help attract other companies to do the same. We have the infrastructure, the talent and the drive to make Connecticut a leader in this emerging science, and I’m pleased to welcome Jackson Laboratory to our state.”

“Without the State of Connecticut’s investment in its Bioscience Connecticut program, which strategically links Storrs, Farmington, New Haven and points in between, we would not have chosen Connecticut for our new Genomic Medicine facility,” said Edison T. Liu, M.D., JAX’s president and CEO. “The state made a compelling case to establish this lab here and because of its ideal location between New York City and Boston, its world-class colleges and universities, and its existing work in the bioscience field, it made perfect sense to come to Connecticut.”

The Bioscience Connecticut initiative, launched earlier this year, will help link the state’s bioscience and research facilities at UConn’s main campus in Storrs, its Health Center campus in Farmington and the work being done in this field at Yale and points in between. JAX Genomic Medicine will combine JAX’s strengths in mammalian genetics and genomics technologies with the clinical care and biological research strengths of UConn and Yale University. By deciphering the genomic complexity of human disease and testing emerging discoveries in disease models, Yale, UCHC, JAX and the state’s clinical providers can jointly deliver on the promise of personalized medicine.

The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution and National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center based in Bar Harbor, Maine, with a facility in Sacramento, California, and a total staff of about 1,400. Its mission is to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human disease, and to enable research and education for the global biomedical community.  Annual research grants awarded to JAX during the 2010 fiscal year totaled $62.7 million.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the personalized medicine industry currently is worth $284 billion per year, and it is growing by 11 percent annually. By focusing on personalized medicine, JAX Genomic Medicine will produce high-paying jobs, new business and investment opportunities and bioscience-based spin-offs and start-ups. JAX Genomic Medicine is a sound and strategic asset that will help to position Connecticut as the major U.S. hub for genomic and personalized medicine.

**Attached: A New Bioscience Connecticut Collaborative: Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine

**Attached: Portrait of Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine at University of Connecticut Farmington Campus

In its role as a consortium member, STSI will provide solid human tumor samples to JAX, which will graft them into mouse models for scientific study. STSI scientists will then have access to the models to conduct research on how to better understand and treat cancer, including the potential for tumor-specific therapies.

JAX will perform the initial genomic characterization of the tumors and will share this data with all participating institutions. STSI is a major research collaboration involving the nonprofit Scripps Health system and The Scripps Research Institute, both of San Diego.

JAX launched the Primary Human Tumor Consortium in 2009. Other participating institutions include the University of Florida, the Swedish Neuroscience Institute in Seattle and UC Davis Cancer Center.

But, if you don’t need a couple hundred million dollars to get your project moving, there is probably no better time than now to consider Sarasota County for a new facility or expansion. The community has been talking about the benefits of biotech. Political leaders are up-to-speed. USF and Sarasota Memorial Hospital are eager to move forward with partnerships. And the Gulf Coast Community Foundation is primed to make something happen.

There are only so many Jackson Lab projects out there. But it would not surprise me to learn that other biotech operations are right now including Sarasota County on the short list of potential locations for other, more modest, expansion.

Charles E. Hewett, Ph.D.

The Jackson Laboratory announced today that it will withdraw its request for $100 million in state start-up funding for an expansion facility in Sarasota County, Florida. Laboratory officials based their decision on the lack of funds in Florida’s severely constrained state budget, which provides only limited funding for economic development activities.

Charles E. Hewett, Jackson’s executive vice president, said that senior economic development officials were supportive but did not have access to sufficient funds to ensure a successful launch of the proposed research institute. ”We were invited to submit a much-reduced proposal to the Florida Innovation Fund, but the amount available in that fund now, and the uncertainty of future funding, made such a venture too speculative to undertake responsibly.”

Hewett said, “We are grateful to Governor Scott and the Florida legislature for considering our proposal in the midst of a challenging legislative session. We respect that the state had to make difficult priority decisions in order to balance the budget this year. While we regret that we cannot pursue our project, we hold the state and its officials in the highest possible regard.

“We are deeply grateful to our many friends in Sarasota County,” he said. “Their belief in our cause and their willingness to act on that belief has been truly inspiring. We can never fully repay the hospitality and kindness that have been extended to us. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our partners—the University of South Florida, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. The Sarasota County commissioners and their executive leaders were superb, and the Sarasota legislative delegation provided invaluable advice on the process.”

Hewett indicated that this would be the final chapter in the Laboratory’s Florida venture. “We understand Florida’s budget situation, and we will turn our attention to other priorities,” he said.

Keyes also started a web-based “grassroots” organization called RenewAmerica to support his radio program. RenewAmerica has recently released two reports declaring the Jackson Lab deal to be “defeated.”

Jackson Lab project defeated in Florida — a major victory over the U.S. eugenic establishment

Jackson Lab project defeated in Florida, Part II

Part 2 here NewsMakers: Tammie Nemecek, Part 2

Ruh joins the Laboratory from the Nevada Cancer Institute in Las Vegas and was previously CIO at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. — both, like The Jackson Laboratory, designated as Cancer Centers by the National Cancer Institute.

“My recent time with the Nevada Cancer Institute, and previously at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, helped me to develop the skills and the experience that I need to contribute as a member of the Jackson team,” Ruh said. “Information technology is an always-changing area further complicated by the dynamic and unique research environment at the Laboratory. I look forward to the challenge.”

The current Jackson CIO, Scott McNeil, is retiring after eight years in the position. “IT at The Jackson Laboratory has come a very long way under Scott’s tenure,” Hewett said. “He has enabled us to provide outstanding information technology for our operational functions while expanding IT support for our research endeavor.”

In light of researchers’ rapidly growing needs for data capture and storage and high-speed computation, IT support will become even more critical in the years ahead, Hewett said. Professor Carol Bult, Ph.D., has agreed to serve as science IT strategy advisor to Ruh, who will start her new job in May.

Because Florida state and county investment would give The Jackson Laboratory—Florida start-up funds, JAX is offering a 10 percent royalty on intellectual property licensed by The Jackson Laboratory—Florida during its first 10 years of operation. This royalty will be split between the state (5 percent) and county (5 percent).

Assuming this is sitting on Rick Scott’s desk right now, I wonder if he is going to negotiate? And I wonder just what points he will choose to negotiate… The next few days should be very interesting.

The research, published in the March 25 issue of Science, also demonstrates the first connection between RNA granules and glaucoma, as the humans and mice in the study developed glaucoma.

In the laboratory of Jackson Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Simon John, Ph.D., study coauthors Stephen Kneeland, Ph.D., and Gareth Howell, Ph.D., identified a malfunctioning gene in a mouse strain that develops both cataracts and glaucoma. The gene, Tdrd7, fails to build an essential protein and disrupts the development of the mouse eye lens. Mice missing the protein developed high intraocular pressure and optic nerve damage–the hallmarks of glaucoma–as well as cataracts.

Jackson Laboratory’s hopes of getting approval for $100 million in state funding from the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott this year is doomed, barring a last-minute political miracle.

So science is waiting on a miracle…