Mainebiz

V O L . X X I N O. V I I I A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 14 A group of three bioscience- focused nonprofits say they plan, through mutual coop- eration and by housing very early-stage companies and research- ers, to boost the state's biotechnology business acumen and national status. e new life sciences collaborative, known as the Life Sciences Group, or LSG, was started by the MDI Biological Laboratory in Salisbury Cove, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay and the Foundation for Blood Research in Scarborough. e plan is to open the LSG to other biosci- ence labs and companies. For example, Kennebec River Biosciences, a commer- cial aquatic animal health and testing services company in Richmond, is now the fourth member of LSG. e group says it hopes to help attract outside investment and entrepreneurial thinkers to Maine. In its mission statement, LSG notes it wants "to improve the well-being and economic welfare of Maine's citizens through the modernization and expansion of the state's sci- ence and technology economy." e statement adds that the LSG's loose alliance of diverse and small Maine life sciences R&D organizations brings to the state an interactive and complementary network of physical, scientific, clinical, business and men- toring resources, along with work- force training programs and a novel distributed life sciences business incubator called the LSG Biotech Collaborative. Each nonprofit already is incubat- ing startups and independent research- ers under its roof. ose potentially could turn into future partnerships for themselves or with other LSG mem- bers and startups. For example, the Foundation for Blood Research, a non- profit that offers blood testing services, is incubating three startups, says FBR's President and CEO Jane Sheehan. She says the first planned LSG activity is a get-together in late spring at Bigelow so scientists can connect and build relationships. "e three institutions want to convert science to more of a com- mercial purpose, keep it in the state and work together as a catalyst for economic growth," she says. e idea for LSG hatched in the late fall of 2013 over what Bigelow's Executive Director Graham Shimmield calls an excellent bottle of wine in the living room of MDIBL's President Kevin Strange. Neither can remember the type of wine. FBR's Sheehan, the third leg of the stool, knew the found- ers of Bigelow, and Shimmield and Strange knew each other well, so the partnership flowed easily. "We wanted a double thrust, to have the incubation ability to engage more closely with smaller companies and have synergies, and to create a presence in Augusta, which we have not penetrated," Shimmield says. "We want to create an awareness, but we're not a lobbying group." New science and tech plan LSG's momentum is timely, considering that the Legislature this month will review the revised state Science and Technology Plan, which is updated every five years. Sheehan, in particular, has made efforts to improve the plan, which she says will be easier for legis- lators to read. It will include 11 major points and at 15 pages, be about half the length of the 2010 plan. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Jane Sheehan, president and CEO of the Scarborough-based Foundation for Blood Research, in one of the labs with Vladimir Koulchin of Chemonex LLC, left, and Paul Palin, a trustee and scientific director at FBR. of incubators New collaborations, incubators aim to breathe life into Maine's biosciences B y L o r i V a l i g r a

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