杏吧原创

There鈥檚 no question that the Massachusetts biotech industry has taken a hit from the weak economy. In the second quarter of 2008, almost half the state鈥檚 public biotech companies had less than six months of cash on hand to cover operating costs, according to a report by Deloitte. Several have since put up the shutters. And among the state鈥檚 lauded universities, even stalwarts with sturdy endowments, such as Harvard and MIT, have announced program cuts.

Now here鈥檚 the good news. Despite these setbacks, Massachusetts expects to add 20,000 jobs in biotech alone by 2014. Those new jobs are for everyone from entry-level technicians to senior scientists.

鈥淲hile we expect to hit a flat period for two years or so, we know that five or 10 years down the road, we will have additional growth,鈥� says Peter Abair, director of economic development at the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.

Until then, the council is bridging the gap by bringing in new funding sources for start-ups and helping firms reduce operating costs through group purchasing contracts. Another program, called Pharma Days, brings together biotech firms with big pharma companies interested in partnership deals.

Who is hiring?

These larger companies, which can better weather the recession, are among the firms still hiring scientists at all levels. One example is Merck Research Laboratories in Boston; it focuses on areas including cancer and Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been recruiting for scientists in all areas of drug discovery, and we anticipate further significant growth,鈥� says site head Rupert Vessey. 鈥淭hese areas are between half to two-thirds populated at the moment.鈥�

Another bright spot for Massachusetts is alternative energy and green technology. One Cambridge-based firm, Verenium Corp., which makes biofuels from grass, just scored an $11.5 million deal with British Petroleum to build an ethanol plant in Florida.

And this year, biotech leader Una Ryan launched Waltham Technologies, which uses blue-green algae to treat wastewater. The company has raised more than $200 million in capital and is in pilot testing with a local brewery 鈥� a key target, as the beverage industry creates between one and nine gallons of wastewater for every gallon of saleable product.

Luring the best

Attracting scientists to Massachusetts is often an easy sell on opportunity alone. There are about 400 biotechnology companies, more than half of which are developing therapeutic drugs and 30 major venture capital firms. There are also 122 colleges and universities; 67 provide degrees in the life sciences, and 40 of those provide graduate degrees. And the Boston area houses the country鈥檚 top five NIH-funded hospitals.

鈥淚n today鈥檚 dynamic culture, where people tend to change jobs a lot or need opportunities for a partner or spouse, I think Boston is a good place to base yourself,鈥� says Vessey.

Salaries are higher in both industry and academia than national averages, even in suburban areas that have lower costs of living than the Boston-Cambridge hub.

鈥淥n average, the salary in key positions is anywhere from 5 to 20 per cent higher,鈥� says Abair. 鈥淔or example, the average medical scientist gets a $96,000 salary here; nationally it鈥檚 about $82,000. On the other end, a biological technician鈥檚 average salary is $54,000 and nationally it鈥檚 $41,000. That鈥檚 a dramatic difference 鈥� about 24 per cent.鈥�

In Massachusetts鈥� academic sector, the average salary, at more than $140,000 for a full professor, also runs high. Professors in the northeast are paid more than their counterparts in the rest of the country by as much as $37,000, according to the latest survey by the American Association of University Professors.

Other strong attractions include the wealth of expertise and the opportunities for collaboration across disciplines and institutions. There鈥檚 also a critical mass of peers to support scientists at all levels of their careers.

鈥淚 came here just as Harvard Stem Cell Institute was getting going, and the idea behind that collaborative interaction was so compelling to me,鈥� says Amy Wagers, an assistant professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Stem Cell Institute. 鈥淚鈥檝e also benefited from having exceptional senior mentors, as well as another cadre of junior scientists in stem cell biology with whom I could grow up.鈥�

Looking to the future

Massachusetts is positioning itself as a stem cell leader, providing support for embryonic stem cell research and commercial applications of adult stem cell research through its $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative.

Among the first of the initiative鈥檚 awards was $8.2 million to build an international embryonic stem cell bank and registry at UMass Medical School in Worcester.

The medical school is also targeting another key growth area identified by the state鈥檚 initiative: RNA interference, a field with new therapeutics already in trials. The school鈥檚 RNAi institute, headed by Nobel Prize winner Craig Mello, is the centerpiece of its new Advanced Therapeutics Cluster initiative. When complete, the ATC will include some 80 new faculty researchers and 700 staff.

鈥淭his has accelerated the growth of the research enterprise here, as well as the opportunity to collaborate closely with some leading partners on the commercial side,鈥� says Terry Flotte, dean of UMass Medical School. 鈥淭he environment in Massachusetts is part of why this success story was able to occur in a very short period of time.鈥�