Life Sciences Research Institute A SHORT HISTORY

Life Sciences Research Institute A SHORT HISTORY

The Brain Repair Centre is a catalyst for the new world class Life Sciences Research Institute a dream come true for many. The following is a feature story that documents the history of the Life Sciences Research Institute (LSRI),a state-of-the-art life sciences research facility, that began as a dream in the early 1990s and culminated with its opening in June, 2011.

The LSRI is about vision, collaboration, success and the future. The Life Sciences Research Institute (LSRI) is an East Coast story with a difference. It's a story of how Atlantic Canada is building critical infrastructure for the knowledge economy. It's about vision, collaboration, success and the future. The $65 million LSRI is a collaborative venture of Dalhousie University, the Capital District Health Authority, the IWK Health Centre and other partners. The Brain Repair Centre (BRC) is a major player and, in the last few years, the catalyst driving the project forward. The LSRI marks the culmination of more than a decade of work on the part of many, including BRC Chairman Ivar Mendez, who worked tirelessly to build a world-class research facility for the centre. The BRC was the catalyst, says Dr. Mendez. We were really becoming quite successful as a group at getting resources and research grants, but we were dispersed in different buildings and areas. We needed a home to bring everyone together and that is how the BRC became the catalyst. The LSRI also occupied the dreams of people in the community, the government, scientists, medical researchers and professionals in many organizations. It s an example of what can be accomplished when people work together to build something bigger than themselves, or their own organizations. They recognized that Atlantic Canada had become internationally recognized for its cluster of researchers in the life sciences. Through collaboration, they could grow the sector to benefit the region s health, social and economic well-being. All that was needed was a lot of money, work, cooperation and a new dedicated life sciences research building. 1 The LSRI will foster research in the life sciences that could lead to commercial applications, foster economic growth in the region, and find treatments and cures. Designated by the federal government as a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, the LSRI will facilitate research collaboration by clustering researchers in the same facility. It wasn t the first time the idea of stimulating a life sciences sector came to the foreground. As far back as 1993, an informal group of scientists and the business community had formed the Biotech Working Group. Then NU-TECH was formed in 1995. It was an office of technology transfer, set up by several universities, to commercialize research discoveries. The Life Sciences Industry Partnership followed and was formed in 1997 by Innovacorp. Its mandate was to get products and services into the marketplace.

At this time, Steve Armstrong, Director of the Life Sciences Industry Partnership (later with Genome Atlantic), brought together a group of academic and business leaders to brainstorm about how to move this agenda forward. Neil Ritchie of the Faculty of Medicine provided early direction and assistance to the process and became a member of the LSDA board. Architect Brian MacKay-Lyons provided the first conceptual drawings of what the physical site might look like incorporating a site village in one contiguous space. At the initial meeting, the concept of a science village was developed and a small group was struck. Members of the group included John Ruedy, then Dean of Medicine; Stephen Dempsey, the CEO of the Greater Halifax Partnership; George Iwama, Director-General of National Research Council of Canada s Institute for Marine Biosciences in Halifax; Stan Kutcher of the Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University; and Bob MacKay of the Department of Economic Development for the Province of Nova Scotia. This group refined the science village concept and sought initial funding, as well as corporate and institutional support for the project. Funding success led to the hiring of Thelma Costello of Costello Fit Ltd. in the role of director for the startup and executive management of the new association, now called the Life Sciences Development Association (LSDA). At about the same time, the Brain Repair Centre was under rapid development. Led by Harry Robertson (Pharmacology), Mendez (Neurosurgery) and Kutcher (Psychiatry), a comprehensive approach to advancing brain science research and clinical care was created. The first grant to set up the BRC was written by Dr. Kutcher. The Industrial Research Assistance Program of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) provided the resources needed to kick start the project. The NRC s Institute for Biodiagnostics supported its development in conjunction with new 4.0 Tesia MRI technology, under way at the time. A Canada Foundation for Innovation proposal was then initiated, but was unsuccessful in spite of hours of hard work and a summer meeting in Ottawa that included Drs. Robertson, Mendez, Kutcher, President Tom Traves of Dalhousie University and others. Diane Gorsky, (later a vice-dean in the Faculty of Medicine), became the first executive director of the BRC. A board of dedicated business and professional leaders was created and it began its now well-recognized, high quality activity. Ms. Gorsky became the BRC representative on the board of the LSDA. At the initial meeting, the concept of a science village was developed and a small group was struck. 2

With the arrival of the new Dean of Medicine, Noni MacDonald, and the continued championship of Dr. Iwama, the development process intensified. The LSDA board was expanded and other potential university research and industrial partners were identified. It was very clear that we had a number of research groups in the Faculty of Medicine that had the potential to develop into technology clusters and NRC had similar goals It was very clear that we had a number of research groups in the Faculty of Medicine that had the potential to develop into technology clusters and NRC had similar goals, says Dr. MacDonald. We also recognized that we could do something really important. Those initial conversations led to a brainstorming session in September, 2000. The initiative was driven by another major factor a lack of research space at Dalhousie, NRC and the surrounding hospitals. The Sir Charles Tupper Building that houses Dalhousie s Faculty of Medicine was built in 1967 and nothing had been built for medical research on the campus in more than 30 years. The faculty was seriously out of research room, says Dr. MacDonald, and we were growing our research funding. We really needed to bring the two ideas together the idea of a life sciences sector and the need for space. The renewed LSDA Board was nothing short of the who s who of health care, science and business in Halifax and included representatives of the Faculty of Medicine, Capital Health, IWK, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), Industry Canada, NRC, the Greater Halifax Partnership, NRC, Nova Scotia Business Inc., Innovacorp, the provincial ministry of Economic Development, Genome Atlantic, BioNova, Ocean Nutrition Canada, Dalhousie and the Brain Repair Centre. It also included several community members, including Colin Latham, former president of Aliant Telecom, who became chair of the LSDA Board of Directors. George Cooper of the law firm McInnes Cooper, and Carol Young, an advocate and dedicated volunteer for a wide variety of charitable, community and non-profit organizations, were also original members. Colin Latham and the others really made a difference, says Dr. MacDonald. He gave us a community buy-in and a community link. I think we would have withered on the vine without the community, so those people were really important. Lois Levine, the executive director of the LSDA from 2002 to 2004 and now the executive director of the Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Trust, agrees. There were so many wonderful people involved, she says. The steering committee (also chaired by Colin Latham) in particular was strong, vibrant and cohesive. The LSDA did a great deal of foundation work. Among its achievements was an economic impact study that showed that biotechnology research in 2000 in the Halifax Regional Municipality accounted for spending of more than $86 million annually. It employed 2,300 professional researchers and technicians and it generated provincial tax revenues of $25 million. 3

The LSDA also had to deal with some dissention. Prior to 2002, a master plan had been developed for the research village. But the price tag of $488 million and the number of buildings four made the village a hard concept to sell. Lois Levine remembers there was lots of passion and excitement, but the concept was too broad. Rather than watch the whole effort evaporate, the LSDA played the role of keeping the partners together and moving them forward. We asked what can be done by this group that cannot be done alone?, she says. How can we honour the specific needs of each partner and yet bring the value-added for each partner? The LSDA was able to provide the sum greater than the whole. However, while the LSDA served as the umbrella under which all the diverse partners could gather, it owned no land and many of the partners were too small to have the resources to drive the LSRI concept forward. So the idea sputtered and all but fizzled out. The project was still going forward, says Wood, but there really wasn t any energy being put into it. It languished. But luckily for the happy ending of this story, Dalhousie provided a piece of land at the corner of Summer and College Streets for the LSRI in 2004 and the Brain Repair Centre was approved as the anchor tenant of the LSRI in 2005. The BRC made the project real because people could relate to its research the importance of researchers working towards the goal of finding treatments and cures and alleviating suffering. The BRC became a tangible institution with people that were working towards a common goal, says Dr. Mendez. They were able to relate to it and support it. The project was still going forward... but there really wasn t any energy being put into it. It languished. It was a great idea, says Gillian Wood, Assistant Vice-President of Government Relations at Dalhousie, but how do you make it go forward? David McNamara, Vice-President of Incubation at Innovacorp, concurs. He was a LSDA committee member and has been in the community, economic and business development field for nearly four decades. There was no driver for the project after the LSDA and it was just too large for any federal government funding programs, he says. I think Dr. Mendez s positioning of the BRC in the community made people understand the public, the municipality the people who are really touched by his stories of health care and improving lives, says Wood. He really resonates with them. 4

A pivotal moment came in 2007 when Dr. Mendez flew to St. John s and made a presentation to the Council of Atlantic Premiers. Although public opinion was supportive, there was still the problem of funding. In 2005 and 2006, fund raising began via private donors and philanthropies, but there was no actual money from the federal government. Without its contribution, the LSRI could not move from dream to reality. A pivotal moment came in 2007 when Dr. Mendez flew to St. John s and made a presentation to the Council of Atlantic Premiers. Dr. Mendez asked for the Atlantic premiers support in their efforts to secure federal infrastructure funding for the LSRI. He got it. What followed was a letter from Pat Binns, then premier of Prince Edward Island on behalf of the four Atlantic Provinces to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, dated March 6, 2007. In it, Premier Binns pointed out that the BRC needed a building to evolve and grow and Dr. Mendez was strongly advocating for the building of the proposed Life Sciences Research Institute (LSRI). The BRC intended to be an anchor tenant. When the federal budget was presented, there was funding for seven centres of excellence across Canada. The Life Science Research Institute in Halifax was on the list. It was a tremendous day. And that was followed by letters on March 26 from Prime Minister Harper to Premier Binns and to Dr. Mendez, confirming that the Government of Canada had set aside $15 million for the LSRI. As you note in your correspondence, the Brain Repair Centre, which intends to be an anchor tenant of the proposed Life Sciences Research Institute, has been a past recipient of Canadian Foundation of Innovation research support, the prime minister s letter to Premier Binns reads. Funding announced in Budget 2007 should serve the region well in the future. Dalhousie President Tom Traves added his own words in an update in May, 2007: The new institute holds enormous potential, to develop innovative treatments and new medical instrumentation that will first and foremost alleviate human pain and suffering, and secondarily offer new commercial opportunities. The Brain Repair Centre, a joint Dalhousie-Capital Health initiative led by worldrenowned neurosurgeon and researcher Ivar Mendez, has agreed to be our anchor tenant. The federal contribution actually arrived with MP Peter MacKay, a big supporter of the project, and a Dalhousie Law School graduate, in October 2007 at a symbolic sod turning. MacKay, the Minister of National Defence, Rodney MacDonald, then premier of Nova Scotia, President Traves and Dr. Mendez all lined up in front of a small black wooden box holding dirt and grass. A grassy chunk was turned over and the dream of the LSRI began to take shape. 5

Gillian Wood thinks the building has given the life sciences a whole new life. The fact that the facility is here now makes a difference for those who want to pull things together. I think we can really make something of it, she says. The story doesn t end here. A year later in October, 2008, Innovacorp s BioScience Enterprise Centre announced it was moving to the site and a second tower would be built. Dalhousie s Industry Liaison and Innovation Office is also calling the LSRI home, along with Genome Atlantic, BioNova, Springboard Atlantic, Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Trust, and a host of small companies Dementia Guide, Generic Lab, East Med Inc., DNA Technologies, Soil Foodweb and Immunovaccine. The list tells the tale. I am hoping it will continue to be both an incubator for new companies, but also an incubator for new ideas, for getting new groups together, says Dr. Noni MacDonald. It s the value that is going to come from what is going to go on in this building, says Lois Levine. It s such a positive innovation piece for Nova Scotia. Who is going to benefit the people. Thelma Costello, who served as interim director of LSDA before Lois Levine was hired, believes the LSRI is a great opportunity. Without the space, you get nowhere. Before LSRI, the spaces were imbedded in institutional spaces, except for Innovacorp. You get a push/pull because of organizational mandates. I hope this space will foster collaboration. And perhaps the most optimistic voice is Innovacorp s David McNamara s. After 37 years focusing on small company development, he says it s come together time for everyone involved. What we are doing is creating a district inside the university/hospital/commercial community and that s going to raise the profile of the life sciences in Halifax significantly. Once all of the parts start working together, it s going to be very significant. And Mr. McNamara points out that the LSRI is really the nucleus of the original village concept with the added value of an incubator Innovacorp. You are looking at a district we are starting to create, says McNamara. It is wonderful to see it completed and to see what it will become, says Dr. Mendez. What we ve created here is an environment that will provide nutrition to minds because we will bring together individuals who will collaborate. This type of research will lead to new discoveries and treatments. The people of Nova Scotia will have access to the latest treatments right in their own backyards. What we ve created here is an environment that will provide nutrition to minds because we will bring together individuals who will collaborate. 6