UF and Alexandria Ink Biotech Labspace Deal

If you aren't already familiar with Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., their tagline says it all:

Alexandria = LabSpace

The publicly-traded landlord and developer has been in talks with the University of Florida for a few years and just recently announced a deal to build more than 75,000 square feet of biotech incubator on the UF campus -- complimenting great off-campus incubators like GTEC and the Sid Martin Biotech Incubator. This is great news for all of us: biotech researchers, entrepreneurs and investors alike, that call Gainesville home.

Most of the press about the announcement references UF President Bernie Machen and he deserves plenty of credit for aiming high -- 75,000-150,000sf equals a bunch of companies. That said, I also wanted to share kudos with the Office of Research and Office of Technology Licensing. Specifically, I've had the pleasure of watching Win Phillips, David Day and Jane Muir lay key groundwork for this and other UF entrepreneurial efforts. They've been a very supportive LP of the Inflexion Fund, helped create local angel groups and have leveraged the entire Gator Nation to build on UF's research innovations. I've touted UF's track record on patents and spinouts before, and this labspace deal is another key piece of the puzzle. Great work!

Related articles:
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20071130/NEWS/711300318/0/entertainment
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/91229.php
http://news.ufl.edu/2007/11/30/innovation-center/
Related images: alexandria labspace, biotech, bernie machen, win phillips, david day