SRI International to open biotech research facility in Harrisonburg

by Heather B. Hayes
for Virginia Business
February 2007

Virginia's reputation as an emerging biotech hub got a boost with the December announcement that SRI International will locate a Center for Advanced Drug Research in the Harrisonburg area.

SRI researchers at the facility will rely on an emerging approach to drug discovery called proteomics to develop faster and more effective therapies for "orphan diseases" such as tuberculosis, malaria and other ailments neglected by drug companies and other research organizations.

Once new therapies are developed and proved in a lab setting, SRI will partner with a biotech firm or a pharmaceutical company to test it in clinical trials and develop it for FDA approval and patient use.

Dr. Curtis Carlson, president and CEO of the Menlo Park, Calif., company, says that the effort will also be expanded to include research into transitional education. That project will examine how workers who failed to obtain requisite skills in school can retrain to get higher quality jobs. The center also is expected to eventually conduct research in nanotechnology, energy, information technology and homeland security. "We will initially start out as a research institute, but when it grows up, it will hopefully become our center for innovation in the region," Carlson says.

SRI will begin research work early this year in rented space at James Madison University. The company plans to move into its own facility (currently in the design phase) at the Rockingham Center for Research and Technology by the end of 2008.

The facility will create at least 100 jobs paying an average annual salary of $85,000 during its first 10 years in operation, according to Carlson. The company is already looking for qualified biologists, chemists, engineers and computer scientists.

SRI chose the Harrisonburg area largely because of James Madison and its ability to provide resources in biotech and high-tech research areas. Other selling points were the area's proximity to Washington, D.C., and its relatively low cost of living.

Another perk: financial incentives. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership pledged $19 million to SRI - a nonprofit organization - to bring the project to Virginia.

SRI has long been involved in biosciences research. Among other things, its work led to the discovery of the first effective treatment for malaria and successfully demonstrated the use of human liver tissue to test the safety of new drugs.