AdvantageWest Announces Creation of Life Sciences Wet Lab at AB Tech Enka Campus
Date Posted: 2/14/2005
ASHEVILLE—A partnership between AdvantageWest, Buncombe County and AB Tech will create a new wet lab on the campus of AB Tech Enka. The lab, which will be retrofitted into an existing building that was once a part of BASF’s Enka facility, is designed to attract high-growth businesses in the life sciences industries to western North Carolina. The lab will be occupied initially by promising Asheville startup Genesis Molecular Discovery, a client of AdvantageWest’s Blue Ridge Entrepreneurial Council and Blue Ridge Angel Investors Network.
AdvantageWest CEO Dale Carroll said that the lab would provide a new business with a head-start towards hiring staff and making capital investments, and that long-term the lab was a solid investment for western North Carolina economic development leaders. “After meeting extensively with our client Genesis Molecular, we learned that despite a strong interest in operating in western North Carolina, they were finding difficulty in securing suitable lab space for complex chemical operations,” Carroll said. “The AdvantageWest board commissioned construction & engineering consultant Lockwood Greene, a firm with extensive lab design and retrofit experience around the globe, to determine the feasibility of establishing a lab suitable for life sciences firms such as Genesis Molecular. We now have retrofit plans that will give western North Carolina its first truly world-class wet lab space for private sector life sciences applications. I would like to thank AB Tech and Buncombe County for their leadership in supporting the lab’s development.”
The lab retrofit project will take several months to complete and is expected to cost $110,000. AdvantageWest has committed $55,000 in matching funds to cover costs of the renovations. The $55,000 match will be provided by Buncombe County. The lab should be complete and leased to Genesis Molecular by AB Tech in June, 2005. The new wet lab infrastructure will remain in place for use by other life sciences clients after Genesis grows out of the incubator.
Genesis Molecular Discovery is an emerging company founded by scientists that will focus on providing chemical and molecular information and services to a range of clients, but with a special emphasis on the pharmaceutical industry. Genesis Molecular Discovery has a proprietary process that will significantly shorten the cycle of identifying compounds as potential drug candidates. The company’s principals include two founders of Winston-Salem-based Targacept, one of which is the architect and creator of the world’s leading computer-based drug discovery platform, and a third founder who is the current President of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists section on Drug Design and Discovery.
Genesis Molecular Discovery founder Dr. Jeff Schmitt said that the Blue Ridge Entrepreneurial Council has played an important role in the company’s early success, and helped convinced him to relocate his family to Asheville and to to locate the firm in Asheville. “AdvantageWest is working to help us secure needed capital for startup as well as locate an appropriate facility in western North Carolina that will suit our needs. We look forward to continuing to work with AdvantageWest as we enter the next phase of our business, which will involve significant capital investment and local job creation,” Schmitt said.
AdvantageWest also helped Genesis Molecular Discovery obtain a $15,000 Business Development Award from the N.C. Biotechnology Center. Genesis Molecular is the first western North Carolina firm to secure this award. AdvantageWest’s Jim Roberts, who is assisting Genesis Molecular in early-stage capital formation, said the Biotech Center Award ( low interest loan) and early interest from prospective investors shows promise for the company’s future in western North Carolina. “I expect local angel investors to step up and fund Genesis Molecular and to attract large institutional investors for later stages. The firm will make a nice addition to western North Carolina’s emerging technology sectors.”
Officials with AB Tech and Buncombe County said they were pleased the firm would locate in the AB Tech incubator space. “Having a life sciences firm the caliber of Genesis Molecular Discovery on our campus is an exciting development for AB Tech,” said Dr. K. Ray Bailey, President of AB Tech. “We appreciate the support of Buncombe County and AdvantageWest in retrofitting space on our Enka campus to make this day possible,” Bailey said.
Nathan Ramsey, Chairman of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, said, “This investment will pay dividends for the people of Buncombe County. We’ve significantly leveraged our funding by partnering with AB Tech and AdvantageWest, and we are building a facility that will attract world-class employers in what is among the fastest growing industry sectors in the nation. We look forward to seeing Genesis Molecular and our new wet lab put Buncombe County on the map when it comes to cutting-edge life sciences industries.”
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"As a life-long resident of western North Carolina I can’t imagine a more beautiful or diverse place to live and work."
D. Samuel Neill
Attorney-At-Law & AdvantageWest Board Member
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