UW-Madison college targets federal bioenergy initiative

The University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences is leading efforts to bring a new federal bioenergy research and development center to Wisconsin, the college’s dean told a group of bioscience industry leaders today.

The college’s strengths in life sciences and agricultural research is also helping fuel the growth of the state’s life sciences economy, Dean Molly Jahn told a group of 130 people during a reception in her honor at the MG&E Innovation Center at University Research Park.

“Our new Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative is a public-private partnership that aims to showcase and build on the college’s considerable efforts in bioenergy research, outreach and education, and to foster state and local efforts to attract and support companies working in the bioenergy sector,” Jahn says

The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced that it will invest $250 million in two new multidisciplinary bioenergy research and technology development centers and the UW System is a logical home for the new facilities, Jahn says. UW–Madison has faculty, staff and students working on projects related to bioenergy in disciplines that encompass biology, agriculture, engineering, natural resources and the social sciences.

Jahn also discussed her college’s commitment to the development of Wisconsin’s emerging life sciences-based economy.

To enhance these efforts, she announced the formation of a Life Sciences Advisory Group, chaired by Hector DeLuca, Steenbock Research Professor of Biochemistry. “This is an important step in the college’s efforts to strengthen and broaden its relationship with the life sciences business community. I’m looking forward to working with Dean Jahn on these new initiatives,” DeLuca says.

“According to our most recent assessment, more than 30 companies were founded by CALS faculty or based on CALS research. We are extremely proud of the economic impact that CALS scientists have had and continue to have in the biotechnology field,” Jahn says.

Jahn cited the importance of two new facilities in Madison’s biosciences industry. This fall, the new Microbial Sciences Building will open on campus. This $120 million complex will be an international center of excellence in microbial sciences. Starting in 2008, construction is expected to begin on the Morgridge Institute for Research and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, a public-private research enterprise made possible by a $50 million gift from UW–Madison alumni John and Tashia Morgridge, as well as matching gifts from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the state of Wisconsin.

Other advances in biosciences research, applications and training will continue to arise from current campus programs, such as the Wisconsin Biotechnology Center, the Food Research Institute, master of science in biotechnology, the Biotechnology Training Program, the Center for Eukaryotic Structural Genomics (CESG) and the world’s number one Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics program. Also contributing are National Institutes of Health training grants in genetics, nutritional sciences, and the chemical-biological interface.

“The UW College of Agricultural and Life Sciences has a renewed commitment to this important sector that employs thousands of people, generates millions of dollars to our state’s economy, and whose advancements are improving the quality of life for hundreds of millions of people around the globe,” Jahn says.