Governor
Malloy steps to the plate for bioscience
A
message from CURE President Paul Pescatello
 In
a press conference May 17, Governor Dannel Malloy announced
plans to invest $864 million in Connecticut bioscience. The
funds will be used to reinvent the UConn Health Center,
creating jobs, increasing access to health care, graduating more health care professionals, and attracting more
research grants to the state.
"The
proposal will help make Connecticut a leader in the
bioscience industry," the Governor said.
The
proposal will be paid for by a combination of current
bonding, new bonding, private financing, and UConn Health
Center resources.
Click
here for Governor's press release.
Click
here for financial details.
Click
here for coverage in the Hartford Courant.
Governor
Malloy's May 17 remarks reinforce what he said March 22 in
Farmington to the audience of scientists, businesspeople, and investors
assembled for the StemCONN 2011 stem cell symposium. He said
then
not only that he supports the state's continued role in stem
cell research funding, but that he is determined to
find ways to attract business investment to Connecticut.
"Connecticut
is a small state," he told the StemCONN audience,
"but it's always been at the forefront. "There's
precious little we won't do to compete." See
CURE News report for further details.
It
was great to see and hear the Governor at StemCONN, which showcased leading stem cell researchers from
both within
and without Connecticut. "The state’s investment in
stem cell research ... is paying dividends ...," said
Dr. Laura Grabel, chair of the StemCONN 2011 Organizing
Committee and professor of biology at Wesleyan University. See
CURE News report for further details.
As
important as the scientific progress being made are the
steps toward commercialization of stem cell research that
are beginning to be taken. In introducing my StemCONN 2011
stem cell research commercialization panel, I underscored
that "the insights and basic
research findings of our universities are turned into
therapies and cures only by industry. The hard and
difficult work of developing and honing small and large
molecule compounds and building and channeling stem cell
lines into clinical treatments is in its way as hard and
difficult as the basic early stage research about the
fundamental mechanisms of stem cell action." See
CURE News report for further details.
Governor
Malloy's actions show his commitment to fostering an environment
where the full potential of the Connecticut bioscience industry can be realized.
Paul R. Pescatello is President and CEO of CURE.
ppescatello@curenet.org
Link
to Paul's other columns
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