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UD receives $70 million federal grant: largest research grant in university's history

The University of Delaware is receiving $70 million federal dollars over the next five years for a new biotechnology institute, unveiled Friday.

 

The grant for a Manufacturing USA Institute is the largest research grant UD has received in its over 200-year history.

 

And while officials call the $70 million in federal funding a catalyst for innovation, US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker says states and private funders are required to chip in at least $129 million for the multi-state initiative.

 

While 11 Manufacturing USA Institutes across the country have now been opened - including the one in Delaware announced Friday - Pritzker said NIIMBL (the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals) is the first to receive Department of Commerce dollars, not Department of Energy or Department of Defense dollars.

 

"Open topic is what the Department of Commerce is doing where the industry is coming to us and saying, here's where we could really use a catalyst to bring us together where we can make big innovations that will benefit Americans and American business," Pritzker said.

The federal initiative was inspired by Germany's Fraunhofer Society, and seeks to help America stay competitive with countries like Germany and China.

 

"Our largest challenge [in the United States] is much of the cutting-edge R&D has gone overseas to chase where the manufacturing is happening," said Delaware Senator Chris Coons.

 

That's why Lee says one key goal of the initiative is to accelerate biopharmaceutical drug manufacturing in the United States from inception to when patients can access it – especially in cell and gene therapy.

 

“These are transformational medicines that will really benefit a lot of patients, but right now there really aren’t established commercial manufacturing paradigms and processes," Lee said. "So how are we going to develop those so that we can allow that manufacturing to happen here in this country?”

 

Lee showed Pritzker and Delaware’s congressional delegation what three-dimensional cells look like Friday.

 

“So we use microscopes like this – this is called a focal microscope, it can image fluorescence for us in real time as cells are alive," Lee said.

Lee says biopharmaceutical drugs are unique because they involve biology, and a more complicated molecular makeup.

 

“Most medicines are manufactured using chemistry but there’s a large number that are manufactured using biology," Lee said. "And there’s a number of challenges in bringing those medicines to market in terms of manufacturing a safe and reliable supply of those medicines.”

They toured the institute as UD announced its role as the central hub of the consortium involving over 150 companies like Eli Lilly, Biogen and Dover-based ILC, and 25 states.
Lee notes the advancement of the center will not only have an impact economically, but also in the arenas of public safety and national security.
 

"The ability to know and anticipate what a threat is and be able to get medicine manufactured is one aspect of it," Lee said.

 

Another potential for this hub: manufacturing drugs with a longer shelf life if they need to be stockpiled during public health crises.

 

The consortium will also focus on training - helping develop a skilled manufacturing-plant workforce.

 

"This is an industry that arguably has the jobs available but it has a hard time finding the workforce," Lee said.

 

The University of Delaware is now part of two Manufacturing USA Institutes – this one and one announced earlier this week involving chemical manufacturing.
 

 

 
 

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