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Kansas is poised to become an impressive nexus in the Midwest for the biotechnology and life science
industry. Life science activity in the Sunflower State is heavily influenced by agriculture and
animal health, as well as the tremendous potential for biofuels. Kansas benefits from a combination
of academic institutions, private corporations, and associations dedicated to furthering the industry
for the state.
The Kansas Bioscience Authority
was initiated by the state with the goal of advancing bioscience research, development, and
commercialization to make Kansas a national leader in the biotechnology and life science industry.
The Bioscience Authority has earmarked $580 million towards this goal. Important priorities for the
Authority include a federal bioterrorism lab complex and aiding biotech startups for raising
investment money.
Several biotechnology and life science companies reside in Kansas, particularly in the Wichita and
Kansas City areas. Among these are SAFC Biosciences in Lenexa; IBT
Reference Laboratory in Lenexa; the ethanol fuel company ICM, Inc.; pharmaceutical company CyDex, Inc. in Lenexa; ImmunoGenetix
Therapeutics, Inc. in Lenexa; Clinical Reference
Laboratory in Lenexa; IdentiGEN North American,
Inc. in Lawrence; and Quintiles, Inc. in
Lenexa, among others. Additionally, OncImmune
plans to locate its North American headquarters in Lenexa.
Many prestigious academic institutions provide ground-breaking life science research for Kansas.
The University of Kansas (KU) offers many beneficial
resources for biotechnology and life science, such as the Higuchi Biosciences Center, which encourages interdisciplinary research. Also at
KU, the Multidisciplinary Research Building is a $40 million, 106,000 square foot (9,847 square meters
or 0.98 hectares) building housing more than 200 scientists, students, and other research staff
covering a range of subjects such as drug discovery and delivery, bioinformatics, stable isotope
geology, and nanoscience. The University of Kansas
Medical Center is also home to the new Life Sciences Innovation Center, a $57.2 million, 205,000
square foot (0.019 square kilometers or 1.9 hectares) facility designed to promote collaborative
research focusing on liver disease, reproductive science, neuroscience, diabetes, and proteomics.
At Kansas State University, the Biotechnology Core Facility provides
centralized services to plant and animal researchers at the university and elsewhere. The laboratory
is equipped with over $3 million worth of automated scientific equipment to enhance the biotechnology
capabilities of the university.
Organizations also help to foster the biotechnology and life science industry in Kansas. The
Association of Genetic Technologists
is a non-profit professional organization that encourages information exchange and collaboration
between researchers in classical cytogenetics, molecular and biochemical genetics, and includes a
network of approximately 1,200 technologists, supervisors, and lab directors. The Kansas Bioscience Association, or KansasBio, represents the bioscience research to
commercialization process, and accelerates and enhances bioscience business, while attracting and
retaining bioscience talent and companies. KansasBio is affiliated with the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).
With so many resources at its disposal, Kansas seems assured of great promise as a future
biotechnology and life science industry hub.
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