West Virginia to see growth in bioscience

DATELINE: MORGANTOWN, W.Va.

West Virginia is a state whose economy has been centered around agriculture, tourism and recreation, but a study at West Virginia University has proven a shift is imminent. Bioscience jobs are growing rapidly in the state, bringing aid to a sluggish economy.

The study, titled "An Economic Profile of the Biosciences Industry in West Virginia," has found that the bioscience industry can support more than 21,000 jobs in West Virginia, mostly in Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown and Tyler County. The economic impact from all these jobs could be as high as $7.2 billion.

"We have found that West Virginia has a lot of pieces in place right now to support bioscience institutions that allows us to make human capital and that is essential to growing the bioscience industry and economy," said Tom Witt, the director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at West Virginia University.

Protea, a company committed to studying an area of science called proteomics, is making the state economy more productive along with university research. Proteomics deals mostly with understanding proteins in the body in order to develop new drugs.

One of the key points of the study shows that in the job areas of drugs and pharmaceuticals as well as agriculture, feedstock and chemicals, West Virginia has more opportunities than the nation as a whole. The boost in the economy comes from not only research conducted by WVU, Marshall University and the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, but can also come from Gov. Joe Manchin's "Bucks for Brains" initiative.

"Bucks for Brains is terribly important, not just for WVU and Marshall but for the state to make a transfer of an industry-based economy to a knowledge-based economy," said WVU President Mike Garrison.

Gov. Manchin's initiative will give $50 million in matching funds to research programs in bioscience and help recruit scientists and researchers to the state. This will help West Virginia rise to a higher national ranking than 48th in research funding and 50th in financial capital.

According to the study, some of WVU's and Marshall's newest additions will help the bioscience industry grow in West Virginia even more.

The Blanchette Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute at WVU and the Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center at Marshall are only some of the ways the universities are bringing bioscience into West Virginia and potentially keeping native students in state after graduation.

"This illuminates opportunities for students to stay here in West Virginia because a lot of people don't recognize the types of jobs this new science will create," said Stephen Kopp, president of Marshall University.

The U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends $55 billion on research each year, making the shift to an economy focused partly on bioscience a huge move for West Virginia. While the economic side is one of the most positive aspects of the shift, the health benefits for West Virginians are also prevalent.

"The economic side of this (is) important, but you also have to look at the side that shows that this research will help some West Virginians live longer... it could turn some of our uglier statistics around," said Billy Tauzin, CEO of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

For now, WVU has designated bioscience as an area for growth and faculty recruitment and will continue pushing its research to further expand the economy, according to President Garrison.

(C) 2008 The Daily Athenaeum via U-WIRE