To help train future scientists and support cutting-edge research in health and environmental issues, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell is recommending $109.5 million in the FY11 capital budget for the University of Alaska Life Sciences Facility in Fairbanks. The multi-purpose teaching and research facility would house the Department of Biology and Wildlife and accommodate a wide-range of research programs, reports Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Lawmakers last week passed a $74.5 billion FY14 budget that expands efforts to commercialize research and boosts funds for life sciences and space-related investments. Under a sweeping new education bill, universities can qualify and receive additional resources as preeminent research universities. The measure also designates some higher education funding based on performance, and allows colleges to create low-cost degree programs.

With a commitment of $25 million over the next two years to establish a biosciences institute, Indiana lawmakers gave their stamp of approval to a major policy goal touted by Gov. Mike Pence during the campaign. The governor and lawmakers hope to build an endowment of $300 million to $400 million over the next five to seven years drawn from corporate and philanthropic sources.

Governor Mike Pence has released details on Indiana's statewide public-private collaborative life sciences partnership. The estimated $360 million Indiana Biosciences Research Institute will receive $25 million for the biennium from the state of Indiana to cover startup costs, which will be augmented by another $25 million from industry and philanthropic sources (see the May 8 issue).

A new report published by BIO, Battelle and the Biotechnology Institute finds that student achievement in biosciences varies widely between and within states. It also finds that many states lag behind in programmatic efforts to improve bioscience education, even as the life science industry grows in stature as a common priority for TBED initiatives.

Gov. Charlie Crist signed Florida's $66.5 billion 2009-10 budget into law last week, providing a mixed bag of funding outcomes for the state's existing economic development programs.

During the last week of the legislative session, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed two bills into law - one dealing with R&D tax credits and the other authorizing the development of a statewide biotechnology strategic plan.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have announced a four-year plan to invest approximately $70 million a year in a nationwide network of life science research centers. The Molecular Libraries Probe Production Centers Network will employ high-tech screening methods to identify molecules that can be used as probes to explore the functions of cells. This research is intended to help increase the pace of discovery in the field of chemical probes, which have become a key resource in fighting disease.

The demand for highly qualified talent in Massachusetts' bioscience industry will add more than 10,000 life sciences workers to the state's workforce by 2014, according to a recent report prepared by the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute.

For several years governors across the country have announced life science and biotech initiatives that are as broad as they are large. The devil is in the details, and in most cases related to bio-based economic development, so are the opportunities.

In the 2002 report Signs of Life: The Growth of Biotechnology Centers in the U.S., Joseph Cortright and Heike Mayer suggested it would take more than a decade for biotech investment strategies to yield fruit  - as measured by NIH funding and biocommercialization efforts.

During the debates over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the Health Care Reform Bill, there was much discussion of whether or not reform would hinder innovation in pharmaceuticals and medicine. As a result, the final legislation included some measures to support research and commercialization in the life science. One such measure, the Therapeutic Discovery Project Credit, offers a 50 percent tax credit or cash grant for qualifying research projects and small- and medium-sized companies.

During the first year of the current U.S. recession, the bioscience industry continued to create jobs, according to a recent report from the Battelle Memorial Institute and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). While overall employment fell by 0.7 percent in 2008, U.S. bioscience employment grew 1.4 percent. Though the authors acknowledge that the full impact of the crisis was not felt until 2009 (for which employment data is not yet available), evidence indicates that biotech companies were not as negatively affected as other firms.

Life sciences advocates in Arizona are celebrating the passage of HB 2272, a measure to tighten open records laws that require details of intellectual property be disclosed. Passage of the legislation will protect against the loss of current research contracts or the possibility of missed opportunities due to concerns over the state's previous law, according to a statement by the Arizona Bioscience Industry Association (AZBio).

Lawmakers last month approved a $19.3 billion state budget for FY13, which includes funding for many of the recommendations from a task force convened by Gov. Nathan Deal to enhance the state's innovation economy. Specifically, the budget boosts funding for the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) to recruit researchers and allocates $5 million for cancer-related research. The legislature also passed a measure expanding the Georgia Jobs tax credits and R&D tax credit.

Last week, the White House released a comprehensive national strategy to guide federal investments and collaborations with the private sector in the life sciences. The National Bioeconomy Blueprint identifies five strategic objectives that will inform administration efforts to boost the bioeconomy. Key among these objectives is the expansion of foundational, cross-disciplinary research, which will require improved funding mechanisms that are flexible enough to support many kinds of collaborations and that encourage high-risk/high-reward research.

According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has signed off on the creation of a new program, InnovatePA, which will auction off $100 million in tax credits to generate state revenue that will be invested in the funding of tech and biotech startups.

A continued trend toward improved fiscal conditions gave rise to targeted and riskier investments in research for several states this legislative session. In particular, lawmakers dedicated funds for life sciences research and for initiatives aimed at commercialization through partnerships with higher education and the private sector. Other states dedicated additional funds to expand promising research and technology-focused initiatives already underway.

Lawmakers continued to provide support for life sciences at a reduced level in the recently enacted budget; however, other technology areas did not fare as well. In some cases, funding was eliminated for tech-based initiatives, and lawmakers allowed a tax credit for early stage investors to expire. Meanwhile, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center plans to consolidate activities and redouble efforts to keep things moving in the wake of a 27 percent reduction to their budget.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a new initiative to fund the exploration of using Big Data to improve national health care outcomes. NIH will provide $24 million per year for four years to establish six to eight Big Data Centers of Excellence. The centers will be used by researchers and students for training in data science and testing the use of large and complex datasets to create tools, methods, and software that can improve health care processes.