$110M therapeutics center on tap for UC San Diego campus

UC San Diego officials have unveiled ambitious plans to erect a sparkling new facility to house life sciences startups and academics focused on cancer research. Xconomy reports that plans for the $110 million center have sparked interest in the academic and industry communities alike.

The center is expected to be affiliated with Moores Cancer Center and include 110,000 square feet of space, half for academic researchers and the other half for companies, Xconomy reported. A contract research organization has already expressed interest in being a tenant, and the plans call for offering biotech and device startups housed in the facility access to lab equipment at Moores.

The plans for the facility, dubbed the Center for Innovative Therapeutics, come amid a surge in academic-industry tie-ups in life sciences. Drugmakers are looking to academic groups in their searches for new ways to access innovative science outside of their own four walls, and universities have seen industry partnerships as a way to fund research and advance academic discoveries to the commercial realm.

- get more in the Xconomy article