Hartford Business Journal Special Editions

2014 | Doing Business in Connecticut 73 By Aaron Boyd T he Jackson Laboratory, with its genomic campus in Farmington under development, has become the face of biosciences in Con- necticut. And the man at the helm of Jackson Labs is Edison Liu, who took over as president and CEO of the company in 2012. Liu was born in Hong Kong, but studied in the United States, earning a medical doctorate from Stanford University. He served as scientific director at the National Cancer Institute in 1987, where he was in charge of putting research to work in hospitals, saving lives while also furthering our understanding of disease — a practice called translational medicine. By 1996, genomic research was becoming a larger field and caught Liu's interest. "I wanted to move up the developmental/knowledge ladder and chose biosci- ences," he said. His newfound interest took him to Singapore where he became the founding executive director of the Genome Institute of Singapore. More than a center Liu set to work nurturing a bioscience ecosystem — a partnership between industry, academia and government. "Our goal was not just to create a genomic research center in Singapore. We wanted to set up an economy," he said. During his time in Singapore, the institute was focused on cutting edge ge- nomics, including synthesizing early vaccines for the H1N1 flu virus and creating tools for local hospitals to fight infections. Despite the nay-sayers and realities of a small nation like Singapore, which has a population of just under that of the state of Maryland, Liu found success. In Liu's assessment, Connecticut's bioscience ecosystem is benefiting from close partnerships between universities, the business community and the state government. "ere are great relationships going on with Yale and UConn and the legisla- ture and government, and even the business community," he said. "It's very impor- tant to help build this network, this ecosystem, [which] will anchor the bioscience industry to Connecticut and anchor people here." Liu said he learned two lessons from his time working in Singapore: no guts, no glory; and size doesn't matter. "ere are people who say Connecticut can never compete against Boston and New York," Liu said, adding that the growth of bioscience in places like Singapore and technology in places like Silicon Valley proves that assumption wrong. "Size doesn't matter anymore. All the way down to 3D manufacturing, it's about customization and customization can be extraordinary," Liu said. q Founded by Dr. Craig M. Crews, a profes- sor at Yale University, Arvinas is hoping to commercialize the use of a new small molecule that will combat disease-causing cellular pro- teins. e startup, which is built around a Yale- owned patent, has big plans, including finding ways to use its technology to fight cancer. It's received a significant vote of confidence in the form of $18.25 million in funding from three venture capital firms — Canaan Partners, 5AM Ventures and Elm Street Ventures — as well as support form the quasi-public Connecticut Innovations. e company "could have gone anywhere," according to Tim Shannon, a partner at Canaan Partners and CEO at Arvinas. In fact, Crews previously founded another biotech company called Proteolix that was based in San Francisco. at firm was acquired by Onyx Pharmaceuti- cals for more than $800 million in 2009. But this time around, Crews decided to site his new company in Connecticut, due in large part to the available talent in the region as well as the commitment from the state to sup- port the industry, according to Shannon. Capitol concerns Baxter, who lobbies the state legislature on behalf of BI, said he travels to Hartford two or three times a year, though he's been going more oen of late. "I've been there more in the last five years because they're asking," he said. In 2011, the Bioscience Connecticut bill was passed, which approved $864 million for the new UConn Health Center. In October 2011, a second bill was approved for the Jackson Labs project, granting $291 million in direct funding and loans. Construction began last year on the aca- demic research institution in Farmington — slated for a grand opening in the fall of 2014 — which will employ more than 330 scientists and support staff, with the potential to double that by adding an additional wing. at kind of state commitment is unique in today's economic climate, Hyde noted. "Almost every other state research university in the country is staggering under budget cuts and federal commitment to research is dropping," Hyde said. "Con- necticut stands in stark contrast to the rest of the world." q Edison Liu, president & CEO, The Jackson Laboratory PHOTO/COURTESY PrOFILE

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