Grant could make UM research hub; In a move that could thrust Florida into the limelight in genetic research, lawmakers are proposing to give the Univ

BYLINE: STEPHANIE GARRY AND YUDY PINEIRO, sgarry@MiamiHerald.com

State lawmakers are close to making an unprecedented $80 million gift to the University of Miami to help establish a genetics research institute that will target cures for common diseases and spur economic development.

Over the past year, UM has recruited top genomic researchers from North Carolina's Duke University, using South Florida's diversity as a lure to put Miami at the forefront of the ''genomics era'' -- what backers call the future of medicine.

Now, with the help of House Speaker Marco Rubio, the university is positioned to receive about $80 million after the Legislature approves its $70 billion-plus state budget next week. The leaders of both chambers have signaled that they support the gift, which would come from an account set up by former Gov. Jeb Bush to bring top biotech research such as the Scripps Research Institute to the state.

''We need to use the brain trust of every university in our state,'' said Senate President Ken Pruitt, adding he's confident that $250 million set aside in the Senate budget for innovation incentives will cover UM's request.

Supporters say the Miami Institute for Human Genomics will fill a unique, important niche in the study of common diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer's. They argue the state help is warranted because a biotechnology powerhouse would create high-paying jobs in South Florida and spur spinoff companies.

''This is so important -- not just for UM,'' said Dr. Pascal Goldschmidt, dean of UM's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. ``It really is something that will provide a huge opportunity to the people of Florida.''

JOB CREATION

Rep. David Rivera, a Miami Republican, has championed the project, claiming it will create 75 new high-paying jobs within months and 300 over a five-year span. He said the institute will partner with other universities and Scripps Florida and develop companies that capitalize on its discoveries. The state would receive 15 percent of profits made by spinoff companies, in a deal similar to the one with Scripps, which is establishing a research center in Palm Beach County.

''It's historic -- a first, certainly for the state of Florida and maybe even the nation,'' said Rivera, adding that the millions for UM would be worth it. ``How can you put a price tag on a potential cure for Alzheimer's and diabetes?''

So far, Goldschmidt -- who came to UM last year from Duke, where he was chairman of the department of medicine -- has lured about 20 researchers from the program at Duke.

He says UM could establish the kind of institute he wants -- preeminent in the nation and with more than 100 investigators -- but that it could take 10 to 15 years without the state money. With state help, Goldschmidt thinks the time frame would shrink to two or three years.

The money would be spent on equipment and to recruit the established and experienced team of Duke scientists, who will bring with them millions in federal research grants.

The thrust of the research has been to take what scientists learned through the Human Genome Project -- which identified nearly all human genes -- and apply it to common diseases such as macular degeneration, which leads to blindness; autism; Parkinson's; multiple sclerosis, and cardiovascular diseases.

Geneticists believe they can move medicine toward prevention by predicting a population group's susceptibility to diseases. They also believe they can improve treatment by individualizing it with knowledge of an individual's genes.

Goldschmidt said the diversity of South Florida will help as well. Evolution has caused commonalities in the DNA of certain populations. For example, sickle cell anemia, caused by a gene that helps prevent malaria, affects blacks primarily because malaria is prevalent in Africa.

''You don't want to just look at a common disease in Caucasian males,'' Goldschmidt said. ``The advantage of Miami is even locally we can access multiple population groups without having to go anywhere else.''

Goldschmidt expects the facility to study the genes of 10,000 people a year when the institute is fully established.

The project is the latest in Florida's push for biotechnology with public money. Led by former Gov. Bush, the state used $310 million in federal economic improvement money to lure Scripps, a renowned California biotech company, to open a center in Palm Beach County. After that, Bush set up an Innovation Incentive Fund to take advantage of opportunities like the UM institute, he said in an e-mail Tuesday in response to a Miami Herald query.

Robert Cruz, an economics professor at Barry University who has worked on studies of the state's efforts to lure biotech, said the economic development sparked by these initiatives would pay back the state's investment in about 20 years.

''Most of the economic impact comes from the potential spinoff jobs, and for a place like Miami-Dade County that would be a significant boost,'' Cruz said. ``These are really attractive economic development tools.''

A DIFFERING VIEW

But Joseph Cortright, an economist who co-wrote a 2002 report for the Brookings Institution on efforts to grow the biotech industry, said that because biotech is risky and loses money it tends to cluster in areas already known for biotech. That makes it hard for governments to lure biotech firms away.

''In the world of economic development, everybody is talking about how they're going after biotech,'' Cortright said. ``At any place that isn't already a biotech center it's a long shot.''

Mark Rosenberg, chancellor of Florida's public university system, said he's ''delighted'' the state has focused its biotech effort on a university -- even though UM is not a public university. ''I think that's a very solid development strategy, especially if it incorporates universities into the mix,'' Rosenberg said.

Though few people have publicly objected to giving public dollars to a private university, news that Florida is considering it shocked Marcy Speer, the interim director for Duke University's Center for Human Genetics, after which the Miami project is modeled.

Said Speer: ``Our group didn't have any state money because we're private.''

Miami Herald staff writer Gary Fineout contributed to this report.