Check out the article here.
“Their names seemed to be pulled out of a science-fiction novel: Rift Valley Fever, exotic blue tongue, Chinese porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome.

“But on Monday at the Biosecurity Research Symposium in Kansas City, Mo., animal researchers warned that those viruses were a very real threat to national security.

“They could arrive by animal or terrorist, cost the livestock industry billions of dollars and put human lives at risk.

“And, one day soon, many of those diseases could come to Kansas as researchers study ways to prevent, diagnose and protect against them.

“That research will take place in high-security labs at Kansas State University’s Biosecurity Research Institute, which is now working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to gain approval to study some of those diseases.

“That lab’s work will prepare for the arrival of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, a $650 million project that will be operational in Manhattan in the next decade.

“Right now the country doesn’t have a facility that can study the most dangerous biological agents on animals. That will change with NBAF.

“The work done in these laboratories protects the country, said Larry Barrett, who is the director of Plum Island Animal Disease Center, the aging facility in Long Island, N.Y., that NBAF will replace.

“People think we are the threat. But the threat is the 50 million people coming into the country that could be bringing other diseases in,” he said…”

Leading the Way In Bioscience
Strategic investments in the Kansas City area and the state fuel growth in the bioscience industry

Many people talk about vision. But Kansas has vision—and lots of it.

Five years ago, in fact, the Kansas Legislature set forth an extraordinary vision for national bioscience leadership and committed $581 million to achieve it.

Fast forward, and never has it been more clear than during the serious economic downturn that bold action in 2004 positioned Kansas for bioscience success today.

Our region’s research base is expanding. We have asserted ourselves as a national leader in key bioscience clusters. Entrepreneurs are developing cutting-edge products to fight cancer and address other health care challenges. Foreign companies and researchers are moving to Kansas. Investors nationally are betting on Kansas companies.

Indeed, as other states are pulling back from investments in innovation, Kansas has been able to vault ahead because of its foresight and ongoing commitment to bioscience growth.

Building on our traditional strengths in agriculture, aviation and energy, we are doing nothing less than making bioscience the fourth leg of our state’s economy and leading the state’s economic recovery.

Fulfilling the Vision
At the Kansas Bioscience Authority, the question is no longer, “Can this work?” Instead, the question has become, “Just how big will this be?!”

There is ample reason for the excitement.

In 2009, a national site selection magazine once again highlighted Kansas’ success by placing us in its Top 10 list of states for biotechnology, moving us up to No. 9 in the nation, alongside powerhouses such as California, Massachusetts and Illinois.

Kansas has been officially selected on the merits as the home of the $650 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, which will have a multi-billion dollar economic impact as it becomes the world’s preeminent scientific center for research to protect the food supply and agriculture economy. The magnetic affect of this designation was felt quickly when a second federal research lab announced it would relocate to Kansas to accelerate its research efforts.

The realized outcomes of the KBA’s investments in bioscience companies and research organizations are growing as well, with a cumulative impact of 1,170 new jobs, $112 million in capital investment, $46.6 million in research funding, $30.8 million in equity investments in bioscience companies and an estimated $76.7 million in new wages (through December 2009).

The result is a $7.59 return to the state’s economy for each $1 invested by the KBA. And as more milestones are achieved by companies and researchers, the outcomes will rise dramatically in the coming years.

By setting clear priorities and pulling together a range of public and private partners, the state has established a new way of doing business, and it is working.

The Vital Role of the Kansas City Region
The Kansas City region has a vibrant bioscience economy, which plays a vital role in our economic success.

Nearly one-third of total sales in the $19 billion global animal health sector takes place in the KC Animal Health Corridor stretching from Manhattan, Kan., to Columbia, Mo. The corridor is home to more than 120 animal health companies—including 37 global leaders—employing approximately 13,000 animal-health specialists.

Adding the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility to the region will further expand this sector and cement our international reputation for animal health leadership in both research and commercialization.

The area from Kansas City to Lawrence, Kan., is another key bioscience corridor.

Although the Kansas City metropolitan area ranks 27th in the nation in population, it is 7th in the nation when it comes to the amount of clinical research conducted. According to a recent study, it is in the top 10 in the nation for clinical trials and drug development activities. The University of Kansas School of Pharmacy is perennially ranked among the best in the nation, and the region benefits from strong capabilities stemming from the many spin-offs of the former Marion Laboratories.

With these industrial and research capabilities, and a strong concentration of clinical research organizations, we are investing in the tremendous potential to address international health challenges more efficiently, effectively and profitably in this community.

The University of Kansas Cancer Center and its partners, for example, are striving to bring cutting-edge cancer treatments closer to home, while offering unique cancer fighting capabilities to the nation.

We also are strategically jumpstarting the flow of venture capital into high-potential bioscience companies in the Kansas City area and across Kansas to help them successfully bring new products and services to the marketplace.

With these investments and others, the Kansas City region is staying on course with a strategy that invests heavily in commercialization, while recognizing the vital importance of R&D, because each builds on the other.

Kansas also remains committed to concentrating its investments in sectors in which the state has existing strength: animal health, bioenergy, biomaterials, plant biology and human health.

This approach has positioned Kansas to address national bioscience challenges and has created an environment in which bioscience researchers and businesses can thrive.

“The good news … is the fact that our nation has successfully conducted research on dangerous, even deadly, human diseases at places such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta for decades…

“…An increase in potential diseases threatening the food supply and human health, along with a lack of adequate up-to-date research space, is clearly not a positive combination. But thankfully, a consensus has emerged regarding the urgent need to bring our animal disease research facilities into the 21st century.

“…With strong bipartisan support, this investment has continued each year as the departments of Homeland Security and Agriculture have undertaken the exhaustive and exacting process of developing a state-of-the-art lab focused on discovering new and more effective animal disease vaccines and countermeasures. The lab also will pay special attention to diseases that can jump from animals to humans.

“This process determined Kansas to be the best place on the merits to accelerate the NBAF research mission, and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano visited our state early in her tenure to express unwavering support for keeping the project on track so important research is not delayed.

“All of these actions have put us on exactly the right course, a course we must continue, even as we examine modern research capabilities and safety. The reality check throughout this process must be our commitment to safeguarding America’s dinner table…”

Click here to read the whole article.

Here are the highlights:
“Mr. Thornton says that the roots of the new NBAF project can be traced back to the 9/11 terrorist attacks upon the US. The nation had to quickly reappraise its preparedness against threats from both human and natural sources and, as a result, its potential exposure to animal disease became more obvious. The US’ animal disease work has been carried out at the secure premises on Plum Island off New York State since the 1950s. However, this site is now deemed outdated and inadequate in terms of its facilities and the scope of its programs, to support and address the 21st century threat from animal disease. At the same time, the developing “One Health” policy in the US acknowledges that that 70% of animal diseases can also affect human health, and so the prevention and control of animal disease can offset costly outbreaks …

“… Twenty-nine US sites expressed interest in providing a home for the NBAF. A selection process whittled this list down to eighteen candidates, then a shortlist of five, with Manhattan, Kansas emerging as the best location on the merits in early 2009. The Kansas region believed it was an obvious choice for the project, with its strength in animal health research and commerce …

“More importantly, [the KBA] could provide two things that fundamentally accelerated the bid…

“One was the offer to allow the DHS and its partners the use of its bioscience research facilities during the interim period while the new laboratory was constructed and commissioned. This includes the most modern BSL3 level agricultural biosecurity institute in the US. “Therefore, researchers for the new federal facility can already be embedded in the region and ‘plugged in’ to the local animal health network, allowing the NBAF, when it opens in 2015 or so, to hit the ground running” … The new facility will be directly adjacent to BSL3 lab, close to a vet school, next to a science park, on a campus with strong agricultural programs and located within the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor (KCAHC).

“Second is its links to existing businesses in the Corridor, estimated to contain around one-third of the global animal health industry. “For example, inside the NBAF there will be vaccine trial facilities,” notes Mr. Thornton. “Meanwhile, the commercial entities that will commercialize the vaccines that emerge from this national R&D investment are close by – the whole chain is already in place. The DHS is very excited about the close connection to the animal health corridor…Kansas offered a solution, not just a site.”

“…The DHS intends to start building the NBAF in mid 2010, with completion scheduled for 2015. Once it has been certified and approved by the US Department of Agriculture, DHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other relevant agencies, it should be fully operational by 2017-18.

“Since landing the NBAF contract, the KBA has successfully pursued and helped to attract two other large scale federal animal health R&D projects to Kansas,

“… In November last year, the US Department of Agriculture made the decision to relocate the Arthropod-Borne Animal Disease Research Laboratory to Manhattan, Kansas. This will focus on vector-borne diseases. Then, in February, Kansas State University was awarded $12 million for the Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases. Both will be multi-agency approaches, including human as well as animal health”

You can read the whole article here.

Here are a couple of highlights:
Porcine circovirus associated diseases cost pig producers around the world hundreds of millions of dollars each year…

“That’s why Kansas State University virologists Dick Hesse and Bob Rowland have been working to create new vaccines to tackle such complex diseases… Later this month, they will begin testing their next-generation vaccine against circovirus at K-State’s Biosecurity Research Institute, or BRI, in Pat Roberts Hall…

“Without the BRI, Hesse and Rowland would have to go elsewhere to conduct an experiment of this scale. They said the ability to do the research at the BRI will mean that the remedies for disease can be available to producers sooner.

“…The BRI has some unique capabilities and opportunities for our research,” Rowland said. “As a result of having access to these facilities we can accelerate our work and infectious disease research at K-State….”

You can listen to it here.

This is a view reinforced by numerous other experts such as veterinarian Bob Larson, who has said that a combination of factors, such as increased world travel and trade, as well as the threat of terrorism aimed at agriculture, has created a “very real” risk of accidental or intentional introduction of animal diseases to the U.S.

Because our nation must safeguard the food supply and agriculture economy, the federal government has been moving forward strategically with plans to accelerate the discovery of vaccines and countermeasures with a state-of-the-art animal disease research center called the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF).

In 2006, Congress appropriately began funding the development of the NBAF in line with Homeland Presidential Security Directive 9. With strong bipartisan support, this investment has continued each year as the departments of Homeland Security and Agriculture have undertaken the exhaustive and exacting process of developing a modern lab that can safely and effectively achieve a modern research mission.

Congress has invested $82 million in the NBAF to date, and President Obama included another $36 million for the NBAF in this year’s budget. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has expressed her unwavering support for keeping the project on track so important research is not delayed.

All of these actions have put us on exactly the right course, and it is important for Congress to continue NBAF funding this fall because the mission of protecting the American food supply and agriculture economy is too important to delay. The NBAF will conduct the research necessary to enhance our nation’s protection from diseases that could cause tremendous financial disruption that would ripple throughout the economy.

This is a challenge we are ready and able to meet. As veterinarian Kelly Lechtenberg, a third-generation Nebraska livestock producer, has pointed out: “Infectious disease agents can be ravaging, but they are not magic. Our challenges lie in obtaining the most complete understanding possible of the infectious agents of national security interest. Our opportunities for a safer future lie in our ability to learn more about the risks we face, to educate those involved, and continue to develop procedures and technologies that mitigate risks posed by our enemies. These opportunities will be realized most completely, most efficiently and most securely in Manhattan.”

Here’s the editorial:

“A ranking released this week by a national site selection publication is great news for people who envision a bright future for Kansas in bioscience research and industry.

“Business Facilities magazine called Kansas’ jump into fifth place in the magazine’s rankings for biotechnology strength “one of the most significant improvements” in its annual rankings. Kansas was ranked ninth last year.

“Kansas clearly has shown that it is a biotech force to be reckoned with,” said Business Facilities editor Jack Rogers, “and it has staked a claim to a leadership position for years to come.”

“We like the way this magazine thinks.

“Business Facilities focused on the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility and other animal health efforts under way in Manhattan, which it also has ranked as No. 2 among its top 10 metro areas for economic growth potential. The magazine also cited the Kansas Bioscience Authority for its “impressive and expanding program … that brings together industry, higher education and government in a coordinated targeted effort.”

“That’s all good news for Kansas. The KBA, meeting in Overland Park this week, took steps to push two major bioscience efforts in the state: agricultural research and the drive to obtain National Cancer Center status for the Kansas University Cancer Center. On the agriculture front, Kansas will become one of nine partners in a new U.S. Department of Agriculture network designed to connect research to potential commercial products…

“… Success breeds success, and the national attention Kansas is receiving for its efforts in biosciences certainly has the potential to open new doors for the state. The new NBAF facility and other animal health research programs at Kansas State University are setting the pace. Hopefully, KU and its cancer center won’t be far behind.”

Check out the highlights from the announcement:
“Kansas entrepreneurs, startups, researchers and various commercial enterprises will be able to tap into the world’s most prolific agricultural research operation for knowledge, under a partnership announced Monday with the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

“The authority is among nine partners in the new Agriculture Technology Intermediary Partnership (ATIP), a USDA network designed to connect the department’s $2 billion of annual research and development with others who can use the information to create commercial products designed to help the nation’s food supply and more.

“We are an agricultural state,” said Tom Thornton, president of the bioscience authority, during a break in the authority’s annual meeting today in Overland Park. “It makes sense for us to partner.”

“The connection will help Kansas build upon its existing bioscience strengths, Thornton said: animal science, bioenergy and plant science.

“The state already is preparing to welcome construction of the new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, a $650 million project to accommodate research designed to protect the nation’s food supply. Work is expected to begin next year in Manhattan, home to Kansas State University and two other federal labs that already have agreed to locate at Kansas State, following the NBAF decision.

“The 470 staffers at NBAF — the bulk of them researchers and other scientists — will be part of the ATIP networks, just as such scientists are who now work at the existing NBAF lab in Plum Island, N.Y. Plans call for that lab to be phased out.

“Adding the authority to the network will help Kansas get a head start on NBAF’s important work and promising economic benefits, Thornton said, even before NBAF construction begins …

“…The key will be to continue to focus on the core areas of bioscience that Kansas already thrives within, he said. Among them: animal health, bioenergy and drug delivery.”

You can read the whole article in the Lawrence Journal World.