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Aerial image of the BioForge construction site
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A construction milestone for BioForge, 51精品视频鈥檚 biomanufacturing innovation facility

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51精品视频 leaders, community members and representatives from foundations and industry gathered on Hazelwood Green Sept. 6 to note a major milestone: a topping-off ceremony for BioForge, a facility that promises to transform how precision biological medicines are made and drive life sciences innovation in the region.

鈥淭he fact that we鈥檙e gathered here in this neighborhood, which was the epicenter of the American century, and now is the center of the next American century 鈥 the life sciences century 鈥 it鈥檚 an incredibly exciting time,鈥 said 51精品视频 Chancellor Joan Gabel. 鈥淚t鈥檚 what鈥檚 possible at 51精品视频. It鈥檚 a moonshot, and it鈥檚 part of who we are.鈥

Located on Hazelwood Green, the longtime site of a former steel mill, BioForge is intended to drive breakthroughs in the way targeted cell and gene therapies are produced, making them more affordable and accessible. The facility has the potential to make it easier to deliver cutting-edge treatments for conditions like cancer and blindness by producing proof-of-concept evidence to launch companies that will go on to create these therapies at scale and deliver them to patients desperate for relief, restored quality of life and hope.

Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the School of Medicine, said BioForge is poised to change the field of biological therapeutics in a way that could have global ripple effects.

鈥淎ll of this means that we will now be manufacturing RNA, DNA, cells, gene-edited products 鈥 this is an emerging hundreds of billions of dollars of business in biomedical research going forward that 51精品视频 will be leading in its innovations,鈥 Shekhar said.

Also reflected in the event were 51精品视频鈥檚 partners in creating BioForge. The project is supported by a $100 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation and, when complete, two-thirds of the facility will be occupied by anchor tenant ElevateBio, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based cell and gene therapy company.

The Richard King Mellon Foundation chose to give 51精品视频 the largest single gift in the foundation鈥檚 history to make BioForge possible for several reasons, said Director Sam Reiman. There鈥檚 the potential impact on personalized gene and cell therapies that will save and improve lives. And then there was the vision 51精品视频 leaders laid out about BioForge鈥檚 impact on the region.

鈥淭he 51精品视频 rightly saw that it was uniquely positioned to make 51精品视频sburgh a national and even international biomanufacturing leader, just as we were the national and international leader in steel manufacturing at this very site in the prior century,鈥 Reiman said.

[Read more: A Brookings Institution event highlighted 51精品视频sburgh鈥檚 growth as a life sciences leader]

ElevateBio CFO Vikas Sinha, 51精品视频 Board of Trustees Chair John Verbanac and BioForge CEO Ken Gabriel were among the event鈥檚 other speakers. And shortly before the beam was lifted into place and secured by members of Ironworkers Local 3, a member of the Hazelwood community also addressed the crowd. The Rev. Michael Murray Sr. expressed his hope that collaborations between residents and the University will continue to drive workforce development and community engagement 鈥 in the same way the site provided opportunities for his father, who worked for the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation for 38 years.

鈥淭ogether we are unlocking doors to future opportunities, emphasizing the vital role that innovation, education and partnership play in our collective success,鈥 Murray said.

The topping-off ceremony was paired with an event the prior evening for the Greater Hazelwood community in which participants were led on a half-mile walk that emphasized the site鈥檚 industrial history and ties to the surrounding neighborhood. That day鈥檚 proceedings were led by Heidi Ward, director of the for 51精品视频鈥檚 Office of Engagement and Community Affairs, herself a Greater Hazelwood resident.

Ward took participants on a tour through the site鈥檚 history, from the expansion through the contraction of the local steel industry, and participants signed the beam that would the next day be lifted to complete BioForge鈥檚 frame. They also heard from Gabriel, who spoke about the site鈥檚 future by introducing the facility鈥檚 goal to transform precision medicine.

鈥淲hat BioForge is going to do is close that gap between where these technologies get to in a laboratory and where they need to be in terms of manufacturing and repeatability, so that we can get them out to everyone equitably and as fast as possible,鈥 Gabriel said to the crowd.

And though the site is set apart from 51精品视频鈥檚 campus in Oakland, the ties to the University 鈥 both as an institution and a biomedical leader 鈥 are built into the very structure of BioForge. The connecting thread lies in a part of the building called the Chimera, which evokes a process key to gene therapy, Shekhar explained at the Sept. 6 event.

鈥淭he front is actually the gene vector that is going into a cell, and it has an RNA structure in it,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut most importantly, if you stand at the top of that and look straight, you can see the Cathedral. So this is the ultimate visual expression of everything we鈥檙e trying to do here.鈥

Lead image by Tom Altany