Biotechnology Boom

This February, Affymetrix Inc., manufacturer of the revolutionary GeneChip System, bought more than nine acres in West Sacramento to build a fabrication plant. The company produces glass chips covered with genetic probes that may be used to diagnose and adjust treatments for diseases, and to facilitate drug design. The new facility could employ several hundred people.

Right: The "Life Sciences Corridor" extends along Interstate 80 from Vallejo to Roseville.

Meanwhile, Monsanto Co. of St. Louis, which recently acquired the Davis-based biotechnology company Calgene Inc., is considering expanding Calgene's facilities, possibly on one of the approved enterprise zones on the UC Davis campus. If Monsanto selects a UC Davis site, it will be the first private business to build on the campus. The company is expected to make a decision in the next few months.

All of this is great news to SACTO, the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization, which has identified biotechnology as its single biggest target area for 1998.

Both SACTO and SEDCORP, the Solano County Economic Development Corporation, consider Uc davis to be a magnet for attracting biotechnology companies to the region. The companies are eager to employ highly skilled graduates of the campus's academic programs in biology. They also benefit from being near the campus's technical facilities and services; library; seminar programs; and research programs, which offer expertise in a broad range of fields.

SACTO recently turned to the campus for help in encouraging German biotechnology companies to establish facilities in the region. In March, Mark McNamee, dean of the Division of Biological Sciences, and SACTO's deputy director Barbara Hayes traveled to Germany to tell representatives of 12 biotechnology companies about the campus and the region. "Germany is really making an effort to build its biotechnology industry," says McNamee. "All of the companies had an interest in what's available in Northern California."

Closer to home, UC Davis is forging relationships with the biotechnology industry that directly benefit its students. This winter, scientists from six Northern California biotechnology companies were guest instructors in a graduate course, "Current Techniques in Biochemistry," offered through the division. Professor Jerry Hedrick of Molecular and Cellular Biology says the course enabled students to learn from scientists who are working on the frontier of research technologies. It also exposed them to how research is done in the private sector.

In a seemingly reciprocal arrangement, UC Davis offers corporate scientists training during the summer through one-week courses provided by the Biotechnology Program, says Martina McGloughlin, the program's director. The campus also offers the Advanced Degree Program, which enables qualified employees of biotechnology companies to earn a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology while remaining employed with the company.

McGloughlin, who accompanied McNamee and Hayes to Germany, works tirelessly to facilitate interactions between the campus and biotechnology industry. Among her current activities is helping a consultant assess the feasibility of a biotechnology "incubator" in Davis. Scientists and small companies would rent laboratory space and the incubator would provide them with access to campus resources while they establish their businesses.

Also being studied is a proposal for a business park in southwest Davis. PG&E Properties, an affiliate of PG&E Corp., wants to develop a 585-acre parcel along Interstate 80 as a high-technology campus that would be closely allied with UC Davis.

McNamee is optimistic that 1998 will be a bright year for the region. "We continue to look for a stronger presence in research and development, which remains heavily focused in the [San Francisco] Bay Area," he says. "But that's farther down the road. Every time a company like Affymetrix establishes a presence here, it helps draw others."