Every week, 52 weeks a year, somebody's cancer cure leaves the cauldron of a nuclear reactor in the middle of Missouri. Radio isotopes that will eventually infiltrate and destroy cancer cells in thousands of patients around the world acquire their killer properties week in and week out in the hot flux of MURR, the University of Missouri's 10-megawatt reactor - the most powerful research reactor of its kind among the nation's college campuses. A hundred and fifty highly trained staffers at the University of Missouri conduct the flawless choreography that produces, then transports, these short-lived and delicate substances from their point of origin to the patients who rely on them for cancer treatments, radiology, and diagnostics. And when they're not making TheraSphere(r) to combat liver cancer or Quadramet(r) to fight bone cancer, they're conducting research into new uses for radioactive materials, such as nuclear batteries or archaeological dating.
The hot science happening around the University of Missouri's reactor is just one of hundreds of hotbeds of life science research happening across this diverse state in the middle of the country. In fact, it would be fair to say life sciences have been a part of Missouri's history for at least the last 200 years, as Lewis and Clark began their journey in what is now St. Louis, chronicling the flora and fauna they found in the new Missouri Territory that was part of the Louisiana Purchase.
The Donald Danforth Plant Science Research Center (foreground) and the new lab and research building (background) nearing completion at the Bio-Research & Development Growth (BRDG) Park in suburban St. Louis
Today, not far from where they embarked on their historic mission of discovery, similar missions are being conducted in the laboratories of Washington University in St. Louis, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Monsanto Corporation, Pfizer, Barnes Jewish Hospital, and the Missouri Botanical Gardens, to name just a few. Monsanto and the Danforth Center have set before themselves the audacious goal of developing plant hybrids that could one day feed the world. Drought and disease resistance, they believe, will enable crops that can provide nutrition where little is available now. Someday you may run your car on oil derived from algae developed in the Danforth Center's labs.
Heading south from St. Louis, Missouri's "Boot-heel" region in the southeastern quadrant of the state offers some of the finest alluvial soil for crop development. In fact, at the University of Missouri's Delta Center in Pemiscot County, research is underway on the ironic prospect of using tobacco plants, noted for causing cancer when smoked, to produce proteins that may one day offer a cure for ovarian cancer. Similar research on rice, soybeans and cotton hybrids is underway utilizing the rich soils and temperate climate of the region. This southeastern corner of Missouri is the northernmost portion of the country where cotton and rice can be grown.
Experimental corn hybrids growing in a research greenhouse at Monsanto Company (based in St. Louis).
It's impossible to talk about life sciences in Missouri without mentioning the fact that nearly a third of the $15.2 billion global animal health industry is centered around the Kansas City region. At Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., for example, in St. Joseph, the company's biotechnically produced veterinary vaccines are manufactured for the world market.
The Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City is rapidly becoming one of the country's leading biomedical research laboratories. The Institute conducts basic research on genes and proteins that control the fundamental processes in living cells with the objective of unlocking the mysteries of diseases and finding the keys to their causes, treatment and prevention. The Institute was endowed by Jim and Virginia Stowers, cancer survivors and founders of American Century Investments. They've dedicated their fortune to supporting the Institute's basic research mission. Open only since 2000, today the Stowers Institute employs over 470 people, including more than 100 postdoctoral research associates and graduate students.
This three-legged stool of companies, educational and research institutions, and qualified people is what makes Missouri a very real nexus of life science activity. Today, nearly 33,000 Missourians work in bio and life sciences. That number has grown by almost 18 percent in the five years between 2002 and 2007. Average wages in the field are over $72,000 per year. But the real advantage for bio-science companies considering the ideal location is the fact that they will find all the support required to be successful. The intellectual and physical infrastructure exists in Missouri and is growing. In fact, nearly 1,100 life sciences companies call Missouri home, with more being born daily in the twelve incubator facilities located around the state.
Combine Missouri's low cost of living, low energy costs, logistics advantages and quality lifestyle in rural or urban settings, and it's no wonder the bio sector is growing here. Washington University's School of Medicine is ranked third in the nation by US News and World Report, and the school is the fourth largest recipient of NIH dollars among 123 U.S. medical schools. With companies like Covidien, Pfizer, Aventis, Monsanto and Bayer thriving here, and research centers like the Donald Danforth Center, Stowers Institute, Washington University and University of Missouri churning out innovative ideas, Missouri itself could be seen as a giant Petri dish, growing the new generation of bio ventures.
IAMC Notes