North Florida Wants Its Piece of Biotech Heaven

Jacksonville and North Florida are taking aim at the biosciences field, hoping to get their share of future growth associated with this sector. Could the city's colleges and universities be on their way to becoming revenue-generating research institutions? They hope so.

"It's in the realm of possibility," said Jacksonville University's Dr. Karen Jackson, who oversaw the recent construction of a $212,000 genetic, cellular and molecular biology laboratory where students will be able to perform, rather than simply watch, various experiments, including manipulating DNA. "We've been unchained."

So, too, has Florida Community College at Jacksonville, which will debut its new microbiology lab, part of the $25 million Advanced Technology Center, at its Downtown campus this term. The lab "will allow us to teach skills for biotechnicians, as well as prepare for an emerging job area called bioinformatics," said Edythe Abdullah, FCCJ's Downtown campus president. "It's all about managing data, information and problem solving that's currently being done in biological research."

And University of North Florida students are garnering recognition for their work with faculty-led research projects in various departments. Undergraduate student Erik Conrad's work recently was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Plus, faculty and students in UNF's Department of Public Health are conducting microbiological and molecular microbiological research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Defense to aid in fighting bioterrorism.

Who is the big plum in this part of Florida that could give commercial energy to these acadamic ideas? Try Mayo Clinic, who could make something happen in North Florida they decided to play a big role. That is the horse to watch in this race.

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