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Leaders, scientists break ground virtually for HudsonAlpha's biotech campus expansion

Expansion includes 90,000 sq ft. for Discovery Life Sciences, and 13,000 sq ft. of lab and greenhouse for HudsonAlpha's Plant Science and Sustainable Agriculture.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Big changes are coming to HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. Both local and state leaders, along with scientists held a virtual groundbreaking today to expand the campus.

Gov. Kay Ivey, initially scheduled to attend, but due to conflict of scheduling called in by phone. The governor says "This new institute for biotechnology campus expansion is not only an investment, not only in HudsonAlpha, but it's securing Huntsville's place in the international arena in our world-class biotech research."

Funding was secured from state legislators House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, and Senator Arthur Orr. Funding was included from two budget bills, and a bond bill presented last year, according to Orr.

Leaders at HudsonAlpha share how much of an impact this will have in the Alabama.

"We have the global headquarters for Discovery Life Sciences is going to be in this new facility. We're able to combine all of our lab capabilities across the U.S. and so it's exciting," says Discovery Life Sciences Executive Vice President, Marshall Shreeder,Jr. 

Discovery Life Sciences leaders say this expansion greatly impacts their research.

"We help them from early discovery all the way through clinical trials, and so the way I think about this is that we are trying to shorten the timeline in bringing new drugs and diagnostics to a patient care setting. So that's what we do, we provide everything from cell to sequencing to support research, says Shreeder.

The expansion also includes seven greenhouses at 6,000 square feet. Research there will help farmers struggling with their crops. 

"What we're trying to do is take this collection of information we've been building over the years and figure out how can we directly apply it accelerate crop development for Alabama," says HudsonAlpha Faculty Investigator, Jeremy Schumtz.

Leaders say this not only impacts the Tennessee Valley, but the state.

"We have a large scale barley trial going on right now, which is with Alabama A & M, and also Auburn University at the field station, and that's to evaluate barley germ plasma; that's varieties of barley to see how they do in Alabama under current weather conditions and current climate conditions in Alabama,: added Schumtz.

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