Life Sciences Head Looking For Answers

Susan Windham-Bannister, president and CEO of the new Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, says the center is still working out the principles it will use to distribute the $500 million it is responsible for.

During the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Venture Forum Tuesday, Windham-Bannister told entrepreneurs and funders that the center is still in its formative stages and is wrestling with questions about how to use the $250 million in investment funds and $250 million in tax incentives it controls under the state's new $1 billion life sciences initiative.

She said the center still must figure out how much to focus on small companies versus large ones, how to weigh scientific value and economic promise and which segments of the life science industry - biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices or other areas - to focus on. Another big question is how to measure the returns on the center's investment in economic, scientific and public health gains, she said.

Venture forum audience members offered a variety of suggestions, including providing seed money of less than $100,000 for start-up companies just beginning to write grants to the National Institutes of Health, offering matching funds for NIH grants, working closely with venture funders to get a big-picture view of the industry and offering quick three-month responses to grant applications so small companies aren't left in limbo while they wait for an answer.

Windham-Bannister said the Boston-based center has a staff of just three so far and plans to outsource much of its work.

"We will have a thin infrastructure," she said.

In introducing Windham-Bannister, WPI President Dennis D. Berkey said he's pleased that she's visited Worcester several times since taking her new position and also traveled to Western Massachusetts.

"That is very encouraging because there is great opportunity all across this great state," he said.