Colorado BioScience Association, Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, Tech Council of Maryland, Science Foundation Ireland, BayBio, Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus

• €7.4 million to Alexander Evans, University College Dublin, for Reproductive Biology Research Cluster.
• €5.3 million to UCD’s David Brayden for Irish Drug Delivery Research Network.
• Nearly €7 million to Kieran Hodnett, University of Limerick, for Solid State Pharmaceuticals Cluster.
• €7.2 million to UCD’s Kenneth Dawson for BioNanoInteract.
• €4.3 million to Abhay Pandit , National University of Ireland, Galway, for Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials.
• €7.5 million to Kingston Mills, Trinity College, Dublin, for Immunology Research Center.
• €4.7 million to UCD’s James MacElroy for Advanced Biomimetics for Solar Energy Conversion.

BayBio Launching VC Series, Golf Tournament, Breakfast Meeting Series for 2008

BayBio, the Northern California life sciences association, said it will launch in 2008 a new series of breakfast meetings focused on therapeutics and medical devices, while its BayBio Institute will launch a new Venture Spotlight series as well as a new golf tournament in May.

In addition, BayBio said, it will expand its Executive Series of talks by top life sciences executives and its Gene Acres tours, with the intent of providing more insight into the latest developments at top companies and increased opportunities for members and others to see first-hand the region’s newest life sciences facilities and their innovations.

BayBio will continue its quarterly BayBioSolutions seminars, as well as marquee events such as its annual Pantheon Awards ceremony, and its BayBio and Gene Acres annual conferences.

Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus Studies Options for Newly Acquired Trico Property

The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus will update its master plan to incorporate into its strategy for future growth the 15-acre former Trico Products complex, to which it took title Nov. 14 — nearly two months after it submitted the winning $4.3 million bid for the site at a US Bankruptcy Court auction.

BNMC Executive Director Matthew Enstice told the Buffalo News the industrial site offered new development possibilities for the adjacent downtown Buffalo biotechnology campus, which over the past six years had grown as much as had been projected to occur within 10 years: “This additional space presents a significant opportunity to grow a knowledge-based economy in Buffalo and we will work proactively to make that happen.”

BNMC has contracted with Chan Krieger and Associates of Cambridge, Mass., to update the growth blueprint. The firm had developed the campus’ original 100- acre master plan in 2002.

The former Trico windshield wiper plant — bordered by Goodell, Washington, Ellicott and Virginia streets — is across Virginia from the southern edge of current medical campus perimeter. Completed in 1935, the plant consists of a 540,000-square-foot, six-story building, and a four-story structure of more than 100,000 square feet. Both buildings have state and national historical landmark status, and are served by a 5.3-acre parking lot within the property.

Short-term plans call for renovating some 80,000 square feet of space in the smaller building for biotech ventures. With that project in mind, the medical campus has applied for a $6.5 million “Restore NY” grant from the state Empire State Development Corp. Long term, the building requires immediate roof line and brick repairs as well as environmental remediation, Buffalo’s economic development chief Richard Tobe told the News.