Category: Waltham
The Center’s Flagship Investment Program provides working capital to early-stage companies
For Immediate Release: Date: February 24, 2010
Contact: Angus G. McQuilken, MLSC VP for Communications
Phone: (617) 921-7749 Email: amcquilken@masslifesciences.com
Waltham, MA – The Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center today approved the launch of the 2010 Accelerator Loan Program, the second year of the Center’s flagship investment program that provides working capital to early-stage life sciences companies. The Center will begin accepting online applications on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 with an application deadline of Wednesday, March 24, 2010. A subsequent round will be conducted in the fall, with application dates to be announced. Applications will be accepted via the Center’s web site at www.masslifescience.com.
The Program has been capitalized with $5.5 million for 2010. This year’s program will offer loans of up to $750,000 per company, an increase from the 2009 maximum loan amount of $500,000. The Program seeks to “de-risk” start-up companies that are in need of financing to serve as flexible working capital or for the purchase of capital assets to help selected companies achieve product development milestones and obtain private investment. In addition, the loan terms will now include a warrant which will give the Center the right to purchase equity in the company at a specific price within a certain time frame.
For Immediate Release: Date: 02/24/10
Contacts:
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center
Angus G. McQuilken, Vice President for Communications
Phone: 617-921-7749 Email: amcquilken@masslifesciences.com
WPI/Gateway Park
Michael Cohen
Phone: 508-868-4778 Email: mcohen@wpi.edu
Grant leverages $25 million private investment for development of a new facility that will create jobs, house young companies and provide training programs in the life sciences
Waltham, MA— The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Board of Directors today awarded a $6.6 million grant to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) to support the next phase of life sciences related development at Gateway Park in Worcester. The grant leverages $25 million in private investment for the development of a new 80,000-square-foot life sciences facility anticipated to create 120 construction jobs and 142 new permanent jobs at completion.
The grant supports the development of WPI’s Biomanufacturing Education and Training Center (BETC); a new incubator for Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI); and expanded academic and research space, including new facilities for the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science. The BETC is planning a 10,000-square-foot facility that will provide hands-on biomanufacturing training to support industry workforce development. MBI is planning to expand its incubator resources by developing a new wet-lab core facility to help more companies launch, grow and provide jobs. MBI currently operates three life sciences incubators in Central Massachusetts (one of which is located in the first Gateway Park building) and has graduated 30 companies, creating 265 new jobs since 2000.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Date: 1/27/10
Contact:
Angus G. McQuilken
Vice President for Communications
Cell: 617-921-7749
amcquilken@masslifesciences.com
$3 million available to match federal grant funding for early-stage life sciences companies
Waltham, Massachusetts –The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, a quasi-public agency tasked with implementing the state’s ten year, $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative, today launched a new Small Business Matching Grant (SBMG) program that will match federal small business grant funding for early-stage life sciences companies in Massachusetts. $3 million will be made available for the program for Fiscal Year 2010. The Center will begin accepting on-line applications for the new program on Monday, February 1, 2010. Applications will be submitted via the Center’s web site at www.masslifesciences.com.
Workforce Development Program will provide internship opportunities for Massachusetts students and recent graduates in summer 2010
For Immediate Release: Date: January 12, 2010
Contact: Angus G. McQuilken, Life Sciences Center VP for Communications
Phone: (617) 921-7749 Email: amcquilken@masslifesciences.com
Waltham, MA – The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center today announced the launch of the Center’s Internship Challenge Program for the summer of 2010, the second year of a workforce development program focused on enhancing the talent pipeline for Massachusetts life sciences companies. The program will provide paid internship opportunities at life sciences companies for up to 150 students and recent college graduates who are considering career opportunities in the life sciences.
Center Awards $25 million to foster job growth in the
Massachusetts Life Sciences Supercluster
For Immediate Release:
Date: December 23, 2009
Contact: Angus G. McQuilken, MLSC VP for Communications
Phone: (617) 921-7749 Email: amcquilken@masslifesciences.com
Waltham, MA – Governor Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced today that the Center’s Board of Directors has awarded $25 million in Tax Incentives to twenty-eight life sciences companies. The companies receiving tax incentive awards have committed to creating a combined 918 new jobs in the Commonwealth over the coming year.
When I last spoke with Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, President and CEO, Susan Windham-Bannister, the Center was in the midst of celebrating their one year anniversary of the $1 billion, ten year initiative. In 2008 The Center invested $46 million and leveraged an additional $350 million in public and private funds. Since June, the Center has been fairly busy. They have:
• Continued funding for the International Stem Cell Registry.
• Announced the awarding of New Investigator Matching Grants to 10 young scientists.
• Matched 104 interns with 59 life sciences companies within the Commonwealth with The Center’s Internship Challenge.
Just the other day I spoke with Angus McQuilken, Vice President for Communications at Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. We talked about the Center, and the recent initiatives that they have been pursuing. He said that additional investment of $695,000 in the International Stem Cell Registry is a supplement to last year’s investment of $570,000. Since the Obama administration has lifted restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and Congress has appropriated $8 billion in NIH research grants; when you combine this recent investment with the $7.7 million investment in the Massachusetts Stem Cell Bank, Massachusetts is very well positioned to compete for federal funds.
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has also completed the second round of the New Investigator Matching Grants that seeks to support young scientists as they set up their labs and get their research underway. They have provided an additional 10 researchers with grants of up to $100,000 for the next two years that are matched dollar for dollar by the researcher's institution. Angus said that the Center is doing this to attract top scientists to Massachusetts and to keep good young scientists in the field, this second round is in addition to the grants from last year to 11 new investigators, so far assisting a total 21 researchers with $12 million coming from The Center and a total of $24 million when you include the matching funds.
In addition to those initiatives the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has also started the Internship Challenge program matching college students in The Commonwealth with local life sciences companies and providing a stipend for the summer to those interns. 104 interns have been placed with 59 companies, Angus said, that the program has been more successful than anybody could have imagined. Many of these young companies don’t have the infrastructure to recruit interns for the summer, and the Center has created a user-friendly system where these companies can go out and find talent much more easily. The hope is that funding for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center will increase by next year so that they will be able to continue and build upon their many initiatives, including the Internship Challenge, which is essential to ensuring a large, qualified workforce for The Commonwealth.
Angus said that the programs that they provide are really targeted at providing the supports that are needed for the Massachusetts life sciences industry. The Center is funding innovative young researchers, they are building new infrastructure to keep resources within The Commonwealth ahead of the game and they are making sure the supply of qualified workers remains overabundant. “The research has to take place so that research can be translated into commercialized products and therapies, so that those products and therapies can be brought to the marketplace,” Angus said. “Each step of the process creates an opportunity to create jobs and leverage private and federal investment in our state.” Angus continued, “Really our goal is to identify gaps where they exist and to help play a role in filling them, whether that be working capital for young companies, providing support for scientists, or helping companies and institutions find a way to collaborate so that translational research can go forward.”
We also talked about the Center providing support for the establishment of a Professional Science Masters Degree, University of Massachusetts has just received funding from The Sloan Foundation to expand on their operations in that area. This would provide a hybrid degree to increase the pool of people who have the expertise to address both scientific and business opportunities. In addition to the support of workforce development and support for the basic sciences, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center is currently reviewing the 84 applications to the tax incentive program. The Center is going to provide $25 million in tax incentives for life sciences companies; over the ten years of the initiative, that totals $250 million that The Center is going to be awarding. Those awards will be made on September 23, so we’ll just have to wait and see what comes next.
Three additional awards brings second round to nearly $2 million
Waltham, MA – The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has completed its second round of New Investigator Matching Grants by awarding $600,000 to three Harvard-affiliated researchers. These grants supplement the $1,380,256 awarded last month to seven other young scientists. The Center’s New Investigator Grants advance the careers of New Investigators who are working on innovative life sciences research at Massachusetts research institutions.
Participation comes from academic institutions and companies across the state
Waltham, Massachusetts, (July 22, 2009)- The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center’s Internship Challenge has received an overwhelming response since its February launch, with more than 500 applicants looking for internships this summer. Dozens of companies and research institutions from all sectors of the life sciences community have combed through hundreds of resumes, held numerous interviews, and selected interns to hire. Through the Challenge, 104 interns have been matched with 59 life sciences companies and research institutions.
Last month The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center celebrated it's one year anniversary. On June 16,
the day of the anniversary I caught up with
President and CEO Susan Windham-Bannister and The Center’s VP for Communications Angus McQuilken to talk about this past year and what is planned for next year.
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center is a quasi-public agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts tasked with implementing the Massachusetts Life Sciences Act,
a ten-year, $1 billion initiative that was signed into law in June of 2008. The Center’s mission is to create jobs in the life sciences and support vital scientific research that will improve the human condition. This work includes making financial investments in public and private institutions that are advancing life sciences research, development and commercialization as well as building ties between sectors of the Massachusetts life sciences community.
For more information, visit www.masslifesciences.com.
Investment will help the University of Massachusetts Medical School move forward with international stem cell database
Waltham, Massachusetts – The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (the “Center”) Board of Directors today approved $695,000 in continued funding for the International Stem Cell Registry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The investment continues the relationship between the Center and UMass Medical School in Worcester to bolster Massachusetts’ leadership position in stem cell research. In September of 2008, the Center and UMass Medical School announced the launch of the Registry, supported by an initial Center investment of $570,000. This project, combined with the affiliated Massachusetts Stem Cell Bank, has put Massachusetts at the forefront of stem cell research, and positioned the state to compete effectively for newly available federal funding under the Obama Administration’s recent change in federal policy regarding embryonic stem cell research.
