SIDE BARS

Biotech Bonanza: Seacoast is becoming a center for training and manufacturing

The petri dish, it turns out, is a license to grow money. Sonia Sparks Wallman, director of the New Hampshire Biotechnology Education and Training Center, is taking advantage of nearly $6 million in federal grants in two years for the teaching lab and outreach efforts at the Pease International Tradeport.

Double-digit increases in health insurance bills have hounded municipal officials for years. Every state is grappling with the issue. And the added expense has trickled through business profits and into family budgets.

Shiny lab stations housing beakers, test tubes, stainless steel canisters - and yes, petri dishes - give students a virtual work-place environment on the state Community Technical College campus. "We basically cut genes, manipulate them, and ultimately make proteins," Wallman said in a recent tour of the lab, a smaller version of those one might see in the private sector. The impressive funding pool is just a glimpse of the state and federal support for biotechnology education and collaboration in the greater Seacoast region.

Why is this all occurring in New Hampshire?

A skilled labor pool, thanks to the biotech center, and a favorable tax climate, according to Wallman. But there is another reason, one that is hard to miss driving into the business park off Route 16. Perched on a small hill, looming over everything else like a citadel, is Lonza Biologics. The biotechnology education center was the state's response to the arrival of Celltech at Pease in 1994. The international pharmaceutical manufacturer known today as Lonza, with headquarters in Switzerland, has a production and sales operation in Portsmouth.

Lonza recently announced plans for yet another expansion, one that could create up to 400 new jobs.

In 1994, Wallman received the first National Science Foundation grant dedicated to biomanufacturing and related course work. The latest grant was a $3 million, four-year grant in 2005 to bolster the Northeast Biomanufacturing Center and Collaborative (www.biomanufacturing.org).

As part of that Northeast corridor, New Hampshire aims to compete with such biotech heavyweights as North Carolina and California. "We're like a pivoting point for biomanufacturing in the region," Wallman said. Wallman's work at the biotech center is backed up by a growing support network that includes the New Hampshire International Trade Resource Center and the New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

The New Hampshire Biotech Council (www.nhbiotech.com) was established in 1999 to attract and retain jobs and build and protect a strong biotech identity in the state. The council, which has more than 80 members from Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, also supports to the life sciences, medical device and diagnostic communities. Local and state leaders have steadily offered support for biotech education, and Gov. John Lynch recently swung by the center to learn more about it.

Education and worker retraining is essential for New Hampshire to compete on the ever-growing global playing field, said Dick Ingram, president of the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce. "Technology opens doors," said Ingram. The job prospects is one reason Wallman is seeing greater interest in an apprentice program offered at the high school level. She said four students participated this year, and she expects as many as 20 next year. By one estimate, there are more than 50 graduates of her program employed by Lonza at Pease.

The Pease International Tradeport, created in the wake of the closure of Pease Air Force Base in 1991, is home to more than 5,000 jobs, according to state estimates. The Pease tenant list includes high-tech companies, manufacturers, publishing facilities and breweries. Wallman said the center is teaching about 60 students this spring; the average salary for a biomanufacturing technician coming out of college ranges from $30,000 to $50,000.

The Community Technical College works in partnership with other institutions, including the University of New Hampshire. Students pursuing a chemical engineering degree at UNH will sometimes seek a biotechnology training certificate at the Biotechnology Education and Training Center at Pease to improve their chances of landing a good job, according to Wallman.

The biotech industry looks strong in economic forecasts, said Fred Kocher, president of the New Hampshire High Technology Council. "Their growth is just phenomenal," Kocher said. "They're hiring people left and right."