Biotech firm looks to future
The Huntsville Times
August 22, 2006
Jim Hudson's vision for a Huntsville-based biotechnology research center also includes a program to attract Alabama youngsters to the biotech field.
Hudson and the Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology moved a step closer to realizing that vision Monday, announcing the hiring of Dr. Neil Lamb as director of educational outreach.
"Bolstering the education of Alabama students and teachers in the increasingly important field of biotechnology is a crucial role of the Hudson-Alpha Institute," said Hudson, the institute's president. "Dr. Lamb is an ideal fit for this position based on his Ph.D. in genetics and molecular biology and his past work in educational outreach.
Lamb, who served as the director of education for the Department of Human Genetics at Emory University in Atlanta, began work Aug. 1, according to an institute news release.
The Hudson-Alpha Institute was announced in August 2005 and broke ground in Cummings Research Park in January. The institute is expected to have between 500 and 600 workers when it opens and expand to some 1,600 people working on the campus with affiliated companies within 10 years.
Lamb's duties will include leading distance learning, summer biotechnology camps, high school accelerator programs and high school science teacher renewal sessions, the institute said.
Lamb said he looks forward helping raise the "genetic IQ" of Alabama's students and citizens.
"While the pace of genetic discovery expands, the public's understanding of genetics and biotechnology must keep pace," Lamb said. "Identifying the tools and approaches to facilitate this learning has been a long-standing passion of mine, and I welcome the opportunity to engage the public in a greater understanding of the 'genomic revolution.' "
The nonprofit institute will feature biotechnology research and space for housing for-profit companies that are expected to use the research to develop commercial biotechnology products.
The institute is being opened with $50 million from the state of Alabama and $80 million in private contributions and is in the process of hiring a scientific director.
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