Analytical Bio- Chemistry Laboratories, Inc. may be the model for university- based economic development. Sprung in 1968 from the work of University of Missouri- Columbia biochemistry professor Dr. Charles Gehrke and two graduate students, Jim Ussary and David Stalling, the firm today is a full- service contract research and development company that provides analytical and biological services in support of U.S. and global product registrations for the pharmaceutical, agricultural, animal health, and chemical industries. ABC Laboratories employs over 250 people at its 56- acre (23- hectare) complex in Columbia. Now it's going to be the anchor tenant on 11.5 acres (5 hectares) in the community's new 1,452- acre (588- hectare) Discovery Ridge Research Park – the latest in a family of research parks that has been producing great results for the university and for the state's economy.
   Like North Dakota State's new park, Discovery Ridge was once an agriculture experiment station, having only recently designated 114 acres (46 hectares) for research park development in October 2005. ABC Labs will initially pay $100,000 and an additional $400,000 within five years of the lease signing date, and the lease will be for 99 years.
   "We applaud the leadership of the University of Missouri, Governor Blunt, and the various state, county and city representatives, for having the vision and commitment to make this project a reality," Dale Creach, ABC Board Chairman said. "The relocation of ABC's corporate headquarters and pharmaceutical labs to Discovery Ridge will be an important milestone in Missouri's quest to become a hub for life sciences."
   "This is wonderful news for Missouri's economy, the University and most importantly for students, whose education will benefit from enhanced employment prospects," said Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt. "My administration is committed to these types of public- private partnerships to diversify our state's economy and to help

John Gardner

us remain at the forefront of health sciences research."
   John Gardner, the university system's vice president for research and economic development since late 2005, tells Site Selection that the new momentum at the state university's signature campus comes in part because the school system's board of curators named economic development as the institution's fourth mission just last year, creating his position among other things. Discovery Ridge is just one aspect of multifaceted growth, beginning with the system's legacy park, Missouri Research Park in St. Louis, which was created in the late 1980s.
   "It's about mature now, and it's probably going to go into another phase, though it's not really well- defined yet in terms of land acquisition," says Gardner of MRP, which recently welcomed pet food flavor company AFB International to a new site. Elsewhere in St. Louis, the research park adjacent to the University of Missouri- St. Louis has seen major investment from Express Scripts' new campus. Incubators are on the drawing boards for the system's campuses in Rolla, Columbia and Kansas City, the latter looking to garner $12 million in funding for an incubator run in partnership with K.C.- based life sciences powerhouse Midwest Research Institute. Monsanto is also participating in funding for a system incubator. The state funding is part of an overall plan involving between $350 million and $450 million to support life sciences research and commercialization.
   That growth is taking place amid a more general revival of the state's network of public and non- profit research institutions as a network for technology and economic development, says Gardner, boosted by the Lewis & Clark Discovery Initiative, which may see final funding approved in a special legislative session in January. The initiative is funded by virtue of a state student loan program called the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA), "and that particular business, in Missouri and across the country, has been fairly profitable," says Gardner. "MOHELA has built up significant assets. The idea is to not only let MOHELA continue, and grow, but also for some of their assets to be used to fund infrastructure and to enable universities to be as good an economic engine as possible. Missouri is competing for a firm foothold in an innovation- based economy, and this governor, along with the private sector are firmly convince we have the capabilities, but there are some gaps in facilities. There is $350 million in funding for that critical infrastructure next year alone."
   Not all has been smooth in past funding scenarios: The proposed Missouri Center of Excellence for Plant Biologics that was to have taken shape on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville had its funding significantly cut, which in turn caused a planned corporate location from California- based Ventria Biosciences to falter. However, the region is still seeing activity from Ventria, as in September it opened a new bioprocessing facility in Junction City, Kan., adjacent to the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan.
   Gardner says the buy- in from University of Missouri faculty for the growing tech transfer and economic development mission has been "surprisingly positive," which he attributes in part to pent- up demand, and in part to their participation in the process from the beginning.
   A controversial constitutional amendment allowing certain types of stem cell research to be conducted in the state passed by a close margin in the November elections. Gardner says institutions like Kansas City's Stowers Institute will now be able to gear up on therapeutic cure development.
   "Stowers wants to take an ethical approach, but wants to have a predictable regulatory environment, compatible with the federal rules, and not subjective or subject to year by year, bill by bill changes, especially with funding. That's what the constitutional amendment will allow. It sets up the funding, and sets up our approach to transparency and ethics in conducting that research."