MA Competing to Host Federal Biomed Research Center

A bid led by top government, business, higher education and life sciences officials to bring a federal biomedical research agency to Massachusetts has launched with a meeting at the UMass Club in Boston. Gov. Charlie Baker, Congressman Richard Neal, University of Massachusetts President Marty Meehan and MassBio CEO Joe Boncore are leading the effort to bring the new Advanced Research Projects Agency, created by the Biden administration and funded with $1 billion in March legislation, to Massachusetts.

The agency is modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and does not have a headquarters though several states are expected to vie for the opportunity to host it. Boncore said Massachusetts has “the highest density of biopharma research and development in the country, supported by world-class talent, universities, hospitals, and other research institutions” and that locating the agency here would lead the federal government to tap into that ecosystem.

Others expected to attend the meeting include Sen. Ed Markey, Congressman Jake Auchincloss, House Speaker Ron Mariano, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy, Jay Ash of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, John Fish of Suffolk Construction, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Rooney, and officials from Harvard, Boston University, MIT, UMass Lowell, UMass Boston, the city of Boston, Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office, Wellesley College, Boston College, Northeastern University, Tufts University, the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association and Mass. Life Sciences Center. (Source: MassBio Website, 16 May, 2022; originally published by State House News Service.)