3 minute read
Bioscience district keeps growing
BY SHANE MONACO
TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
While many struggled during the pandemic, for the Temple Health and Bioscience District it was a time of growth.
The district — which promotes bioscience companies in the city — has worked to promote research during the pandemic while also focusing on moving toward the future. In addition to its work, the district also has made a variety of achievements and changes.
Tami Annable, executive director of the district, said the goal of the district is to foster jobs and fund education in the bioscience industry.
“Despite the challenges posed during the past year, scientific innovation is alive and well in Temple,” Annable said. “As a city-supported nonprofit organization, we want to thank the citizens of Temple for providing us with a wonderful place to plant our roots and call home.”
One way the district has helped during the pandemic is by supporting its tenant Industrial Genetics that helped develop a way to test for COVID-19 on surfaces and in wastewater in August.
The district also has done a lot during the pandemic to look forward to the future and promote the bioscience industry in Temple.
One way has been to look at developing ways for virtual tenets to join the district and its network without having to base out of the city. This will allow the companies to use the district’s contacts while giving them an initial step before they make the commitment to move to Temple.
On top of bringing more startups into its incubator, the district commissioned a report to find where money was best spent to facilitate bioscience industry growth in the area.
The report, approved in March, included 72 different recommendations and stated that for Temple to move into this space it would take, “major, long-term investments in assets and workforce.” The consultants behind the repport pointed out the city’s proximity to Interstate 35 and vacant land as attractors for businesses.
Board Chairman Thomas Baird said he knows facilitating a bioscience industry in a city can take many years, but hopes to see significant change in his lifetime.
“I am a bottom-line type of guy,” Baird said. “And if we can get the results to make our city a healthy city and a medical destination where there are more highpaying jobs, that is what I want to do.”
Along with all its other work, during the pandemic the district was able to hold its first contested election for its board which saw two challengers for the four available seats on the board.
Out of those who were running for the seat, Jason Locklin — one of the two challengers — was able to get onto the board along with incumbents Tyler Johnson, Robert Cortes Jr. and Michael Norman.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the board to serve Temple,” Locklin said. “We had a strong group of candidates, and I hope that the two who were not elected will remain engaged in some capacity with the (district).”
Telegram file Patience Johnson, left, and Adolfo Martinez, advance placement students from Temple High School, watch Kailin Bailey use a pipette to measure fluid she is removing from a test tube during the students’ December 2019 visit to the Temple Health and Bioscience District office and lab facility. Tami Annable, executive director of the bioscience district, watches.
Thomas Baird, Temple Health and Bioscience District board chairman
smonaco@tdtnews.com
