4 advanced science firms breathe life into old Pfizer facility

Oct. 15--The vacant Pfizer Inc. facility in Ann Arbor will soon be occupied by four life science companies and University of Michigan researchers that will form a new wet lab incubator.

Officials at Ann Arbor SPARK and the university said three of the four companies -- OncoImmune Ltd., SensiGen LLC and Genomatix Software Inc. -- have signed leases to move into the new spaces. A fourth company is still negotiating terms.

Wet labs are highly sophisticated, climate-controlled, specially ventilated research facilities. They are more expensive than typical office space and it is rarely cost efficient to build a lab on the smaller scale a brand new company might need.

U-M and SPARK, the economic development and marketing organization for greater Ann Arbor, with the help of a $1 million state grant, have assumed Pfizer's lease of a 34,400 square-foot lab space at the Traverwood office park on Huron Parkway, north of Pfizer's main Ann Arbor campus.

SPARK and U-M have already begun taking over the space, with plans for SPARK to sublease up to 12,000 square feet to startup companies within the next few months as U-M medical researchers move into the remaining 22,400 square feet.

"The facility will be shared cooperatively with the University of Michigan School of Medicine to house several exciting new health sciences companies," said U-M Vice President for Research Steve Forrest in a statement. "Its wet lab space is already fully spoken for by interested companies, forming an important nucleus from which to grow the 21st Century Michigan knowledge based economy.'"

OncoImmune is an Ohio-based company that licenses patents for U-M and Ohio State University. It will open its Ann Arbor office with three or four researchers working on treatments for multiple sclerosis and cancer.

SensiGen of Ann Arbor uses proprietary technology invented by David Kurnit U-M professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases. The technology works on ways to improve the ability of researchers to diagnose early state kidney disease and cervical cancer.

Genomatix Software, an Ann Arbor unit of Germany-based Genomatix Software Gmch, works with U-M, Wayne State University and Pfizer has 40 employees.

"This is a concrete example of the power of Michigan's University Research Corridor to harness our existing talent to create new jobs and help new companies grow," said U-M President Mary Sue Coleman, referring to the alliance of the state's three research universities, U-M, Michigan State University and Wayne State University.

Contact ALEJANDRO BODIPO-MEMBA at 313-222-5008 or abodipo@freepress.com

To see more of the Detroit Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.freep.com Copyright (c) 2007, Detroit Free Press Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.