| | | M-TEC to host key function in drug-discovery process
Another Southwest Michigan advantage for life-science research in the pharmaceutical industry is expected to be up and running by early summer of 2005 at the KVCC M-TEC.
Designated the Michigan High Throughput Screening Center (MHTSC), it will provide the computerized, high-speed and roboticized procedures that can potentially accelerate the drug-discovery process for small pharmaceutical companies, major research universities, and start-up enterprises. The new center may also prove of value to other companies, organizers believe.
Part of the M-TEC's network of services operating under the umbrella of its Emerging Technology Center (ETC), the new function will be based in 3,000 square feet of space on the upper floor of the east wing.
The concept of the new center was presented to the KVCC Board of Trustees at its Sept. 14 meeting and endorsed.
Michael Collins, vice president for college relations, estimated that the venture will cost about $3 million in start-up costs. The financial support will come from private donors and grants. He expects the new center to be in place by next June.
“It is designed to be a self-sustaining, not-for-profit, contract research organization,” said James DeHaven, the M-TEC's executive director. “It will be in sync with and complementary to what the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center is trying to accomplish in biotechnology and the life sciences.
“The drug-discovery process is complex and costly,” he said, “and this independent high throughput screening center will be a tool for the early discovery of what are called 'chemical hits and leads,' compounds that are starting points for accomplishing what is being sought in drug development. It can provide a starting point for the identification of those compounds that show promise in pharmaceutical research and development.”
DeHaven said major pharmaceutical houses have this kind of capability, but rarely allow it to be used by outsiders. He foresees the KVCC center being utilized by small biotechnology firms, by major academic institutions doing research in the life-science field and don't have such facilities, by government laboratories, by nonprofit organizations, and perhaps even by some of the major companies.
“Screening chemical libraries for biological activity has been the cornerstone of the drug-discovery process,” said Douglas Morton, chief executive officer of the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center. “Effective high throughput screening (HTS) has been primarily limited to large companies because of the high cost of establishing and running these facilities.”
Collins said that the high throughput screening operation based at M-TEC will be initially staffed by three people and will be “comparable to other centers in the pharmaceutical industry with respect to best practices. We will be offering clients something that other public screening facilities often do not - direct access to trained experts from the pharmaceutical industry who are highly skilled in the assay-development, screening, and data-interpretation processes.”
He said the board endorsed the project at this time so that those in the drug-discovery field will know that the M-TEC will be in “the high throughput screening business. Nine months out, they need to know about us so that they can begin developing plans for screening projects and lining up their funding sources and research grants. We are confided that the KVCC center will generate enough revenue to be self-sustaining.”
The screening center will join the KVCC Emerging Technology Center's inventory of services. It exists to provide business and administrative services to start-up and existing enterprises so they can concentrate on their prime missions of research, science and manufacturing.
By making arrangements for the essential nuts-and-bolts of running and managing a business, the ETC allows scientific researchers to pursue product development, new manufacturers to make and deliver their goods, and budding enterprises to market their services.
The ETC assists new and existing ventures with such core business functions as: accounting and billing; financial services including banking, cash flow and auditing; regulatory compliance; facilities operations; office management; human resources and benefits administration; information technology; financing and applying for grants; purchasing logistics; insurance and risk management; and such communications functions as advertising and public relations.
Clients are freed from many of the day-to-day administrative requirements of running a business. They can concentrate on what they do best -- pursue ventures and projects in research and development, in manufacturing, and in providing services. They are able to order what they need for their enterprises cafeteria-style, from soup to nuts. High throughput screening will become the latest offering next summer.
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