Research Coast hasn't given up on Burnham
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By Jim Turner
Posted at 11:43 AM on April 04, 2008
The Burnham Institute for Medical Research may have spurned Port St. Lucie, but the research center hasn't forgotten the area.
Shirley Pomponi, director of Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch effort in Fort Pierce, said Thursday during the second annual Research Coast's BioTech Conference in Tradition, that scientists from Burnham's growing Orlando effort are making the drive to the coast for their work.
"They really wish they were here," she said. "They're working with Harbor Branch, they want to work on marine biotech." She added, as a joke, "They're Research Coast wanna bes."
But on a serious note, she added that she has been subtly courting the scientists to establish a Research Coast branch even as they await the completion of their new facility in Orlando.
In 2006, Burnham opted to set up its East Coast campus in the Lake Nona community of Orlando, taking the more than $100 million offer from the Central Florida community over the near matching proposal from the Port St. Lucie headed effort. Both efforts included the $155 million state match.
Posted at 11:43 AM on April 04, 2008
The Burnham Institute for Medical Research may have spurned Port St. Lucie, but the research center hasn't forgotten the area.
Shirley Pomponi, director of Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch effort in Fort Pierce, said Thursday during the second annual Research Coast's BioTech Conference in Tradition, that scientists from Burnham's growing Orlando effort are making the drive to the coast for their work.
"They really wish they were here," she said. "They're working with Harbor Branch, they want to work on marine biotech." She added, as a joke, "They're Research Coast wanna bes."
But on a serious note, she added that she has been subtly courting the scientists to establish a Research Coast branch even as they await the completion of their new facility in Orlando.
In 2006, Burnham opted to set up its East Coast campus in the Lake Nona community of Orlando, taking the more than $100 million offer from the Central Florida community over the near matching proposal from the Port St. Lucie headed effort. Both efforts included the $155 million state match.
