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Get the most interesting and important stories from the University of Pittsburgh.Pitt’s BioForge Biomanufacturing Center was among several regional and national economic drivers that took center stage during the “Revitalizing American Industry: Place-based Innovation for Economic Development” event on April 24, sponsored by the Brookings Institution, Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University.
In her opening address, University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Joan Gabel said collaboration cannot be underestimated when it comes to the development of strong, inclusive economic growth and prosperity in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Pitt’s strengths in research and innovation position the University to take a leading role in that collaboration, she noted.
“The role that higher ed in particular has the opportunity to play, the fact that we are friends and colleagues and are in an intellectual environment that allows us to grow — we can’t underestimate what that means for us to be collaborators, for us to think about what it means for us to work together in this way,” she said.
Gabel also emphasized that two thirds of Pitt graduates stay in the region after graduating, an essential ingredient to growing the region’s workforce in sectors where talent is in high demand.
“We need to be creating the workforce of the future, not just in the humans that will do the work, but in the sectors that are going to grow and create the jobs that the students want to have. We need to rely on those students to create the jobs that we haven’t even thought of yet,” Gabel said.
Part of that push for workforce transformation will come from driving the growth of cutting-edge industry in the region with facilities like BioForge, the biomanufacturing facility Pitt is building in Pittsburgh’s Greater Hazelwood neighborhood. During a panel discussion, “Translating Pittsburgh’s Life-Science Research Strength into Commercial Prospects,” BioForge CEO Kaigham “Ken” Gabriel highlighted the regional and national role BioForge will play in addressing cost barriers associated with developing cutting-edge precision therapies.
These costs, which can range from $500,000 for some therapeutics up to as much as $5 million per treatment for neurodegenerative diseases, limit the potential impact of the therapies, Gabriel said.
BioForge will focus on manufacturing advanced precision medicines in less time, more efficiently and cost effectively, enabling access to these life-changing medicines for all.
“[BioForge is] an opportunity to create that kind of driver to be an organization that is focused on creating the breakthroughs and innovation in the manufacture of precision biological medicines to speed their delivery,” Gabriel said.
The facility is set to foster creative growth to address this problem and act as a hub for scientists, researchers, students and industry leaders to collaborate on cell and gene therapies, among other technologies — stimulating new startups and catalyzing new approaches to deliver life-changing therapies.
The core mission of BioForge, Gabriel explained, is to drive breakthroughs and innovation in biologics manufacturing.
“Manufacturing of these precision biologics is what needs to be addressed directly and deliberately,” Gabriel said. “[BioForge needs] to create the same potent type of innovations and breakthroughs in the manufacturing that are just as important as the innovations that came out of the research at the University of Pittsburgh and elsewhere.”
Other speakers at the event included Rick Siger, secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development, and Ben Pratt, regional competitiveness officer at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, as well as Brookings leaders, foundation officers and biotech and workforce development heads.
About BioForge
BioForge will be a two-story building expected to cover 185,000 square feet and stand 67 feet tall. Construction is slated to begin in 2024 with exterior construction scheduled to be complete in the first half of 2025.
BioForge is fueled by the world-class biomedical research conducted by the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences and enhanced by Pitt’s partnership with UPMC. The Richard King Mellon Foundation provided a $100 million grant to advance the Pittsburgh region’s life sciences economy through the support of BioForge. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company ElevateBio will be the founding anchor tenant at BioForge, operating a commercial gene and cell therapy biomanufacturing hub to be called Basecamp Pittsburgh.
The facility is just one of the many ways Pitt has partnered with the Greater Hazelwood community to generate educational and economic opportunities in the area.
— Donovan Harrell, photography by Kevin Lorenzi