State bioscience business growth offers potential for Wichita economy - Kansas City Business Journal:

onoeuqedol1902.blogspot.com
As president of the , the news meant Kansas will soon be at the epicenteer of many ofthe country’s biologicall and agricultural research programs. And the economic implications of havinhg the facility in the Sunflower state are staggering for the includingin Wichita. Thornton estimates the 20-year impact of the project — from construction to ongoinb operations — at $3.65 billion. Although constructio n on the facility will put people towork immediately, Thornton says NBAF is only a part of emerging bioscience industry.
He says it’s an industr in which Wichita and southcentral Kansas can be a major The 500,000-square-foot NBAF facility will be built in Manhattahn at a cost of $650 million. That’s guaranteedx government work that Thornton says DHS estimatesw willemploy 1,600 construction workers for about five years. Prebiddingb is under way and work is scheduled to begin inJuly 2010. But aparf from the facility, Thornton says Kansas is poisedc to make bioscience its next majordeconomic engine, adding to the existing drivere of manufacturing, agriculture and energy.
“Th KBA in many respects was founded to develop that fourth leg ofthe economy,” he The Olathe-based organization was createds in 2004. Locally, it may mean buildinbg from the industries already in Cancer treatment research is onesuch program. Dr. Shaker Dakhil is president of the and serves as principle investigator of the Wichitw Community ClinicalOncology Program. Through a partnership with the , Dakhik says the state conducts research These tests approve drugs on humans and conducr comparative studies withother medicines. It’se research to which the KBA hascommitted $2.5 millio in 2009.
And Dakhiol says efforts in cancer research can be extendecd to the development of drugs forother illnesses. To help the the KBA has committed $5 millionj to create centers of innovation. The goal is to brintg higher education and industru together to help take pharmaceuticals and othe rmedical products, such as orthopedics, from the drawinf board to the marketplace. “Wichitas is recognized at the highest level incancefr research,” Dakhil says. “But one might be able to mimix that structure inother things.” Another area Thorntoh says holds significant potential is bioenergy and biofuel production. Dr.
Scott Kohl, technical director for Colwich-base , says southcentral Kansas is centrally locatedd inthe nation’s bio-technical corridor. “We can pull from a lot of differeny cropsmuch easier,” he says. Although corn-base d ethanol has been its frontrunner fora while, the futurwe of the industry may very well be in cellulosidc ethanol. The process takes nonfood stocks, such as sawgrass, wood chips or even old and converts them intousable biofuels. Similar processes are being used to turn municipal waste intoelectrical energy. Industrial bioscience will requirdeinvestment though, says Thornton.
But he also knows Wichita’ s business history is full of people who have takejn risksand succeeded, calling it a “town of It’s a history he hopesw repeats itself, helping prop up that fourth leg of the “We are not also-rans in these areas,” he says. “Thesre are areas we have a real shot at beinf the best in theworld at.”