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Biotech institute dedicates Rockville building

Friday, Sept. 22, 2006

The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute’s new $60 million building was dedicated Thursday in the wake of a national survey that shows the state has a ways to go to reach the top tier of biotech commercialization centers.

The 140,000-square-foot building — known as CARB II — is in the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology in Rockville.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony featured accolades from UMBI President Jennie C. Hunter-Cevera; William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland; William A. Jeffrey, director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and Aris Melissaratos, secretary of the state Department of Business and Economic Development.

The officials joined others in the crowd of about 150 welcoming the facility as much needed in serving as a catalyst for research, education and biotech commercialization in the state.

Asked about Wednesday’s report by the Milken Institute of Santa Monica, Calif. — which ranked the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and several California institutions at the top with the University of Maryland, College Park, ranking 51st and Johns Hopkins University 37th — assistant DBED secretary Chris Foster said CARB II can help improve the state’s tech transfer activities.

‘‘I think we understand that [CARB II] is a key to taking the next step for the state,” Foster said. ‘‘We have been very ‘fed-centric’-oriented, focusing on specific projects, because of all the federal grants that we get here in the state that are tied to a specific project, instead of being product-centric.”

Foster called UMBI’s partnership with the national standards institute, which was a key player in developing CARB II, ‘‘a great help in that cultural shift we are taking.”

UMBI Director Ed Eisenstein said the CARB II facility will help promote commercialization of products from state biotech research, but more public sector funding is also needed.

‘‘We’re setting the table, but we need more help,” Eisenstein said.

The Milken Institute study, in other categories, ranked Harvard University first in biotech research, in terms of citations and papers, and the University of Texas first in its patent index, with the University of California at San Francisco second and Johns Hopkins third.