New president announced for the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC)
Louis P. Kassa, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC), will become the center’s president in July 2022. He will succeed Timothy M. Block, PhD, who made the announcement Sept. 27. Dr. Block will become executive chair of the Hepatitis B Foundation Board of Directors, which governs the PABC and its two sister organizations, the Hepatitis B Foundation and Baruch S. Blumberg Institute. Please read more here.
PABC announces new collaboration and $10 million investment pledge from Daiichi Sankyo Inc.
The PABC announced on March 31 a new collaboration that includes a pledge by Daiichi Sankyo to become an investor in the fund managed by Hatch Biofund Management LLC. An investment of $10 million has been committed by Daiichi Sankyo to Hatch Biofund 1, which was created by the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute as a companion to their Incubator and BioAccelerator. Please read more here.
PABC chosen by Brandwine Real Estate Trust to develop, launch and manage new B.Labs in Philadelphia
Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) in partnership with the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC), on March 24 announced B.Labs—a Life Science incubator at Cira Centre directly adjacent to Brandywine’s 14 acre $3.5 billion Schuylkill Yards neighborhood in University City, Philadelphia. Please read more here.
Philly’s Bioscience Sector Is Driving the City’s Next Big Real Estate Boom
More than a million square feet of lab space are under construction to house the region’s leading life sciences companies and biotech entrepreneurs. Philadelphia’s life sciences sector is right about where Michael Jordan was in 1989. Please read more here.
How Philly’s Bioscience Sector Is Driving the City’s Next Big Real Estate Boom (Philadelphia Magazine)
In Bucks County, the Philadelphia Biotechnology Center (PABC), already home to 41 small-to-mid-size science, research and biotechnology companies, recently began construction on a new building to provide 15,000 square feet of new lab space, plus offices, conference rooms, and a 200-seat event hall. Please read more here.
Nobel Prize to Hepatitis B Foundation and Blumberg Institute Advisors
The Hepatitis B Foundation is celebrating the news that Harvey J. Alter, M.D., has been selected for the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with collaborators Michael Houghton, Ph.D., and Charles Rice, Ph.D. Please read more here.
PA Biotech Center Partners with CB Schools to offer AP Chemistry
CB Celebration: Biotech Partnership from Central Bucks School District on Vimeo.
The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center has partnered with Central Bucks School District to offer Advanced Placement Chemistry at our Center. In this unique program, students receive both classroom instruction and laboratory time with our scientists.
"It is enriching to have young people at our center learning about science," says John Kulp, PhD, Director of Academic Affairs. "We take the students into the lab to provide reality-based education, so they can take the principles that they are learning in the classroom portion of their studies, and see what professionals are doing in the laboratory."
Doylestown, Nov. 19, 2020 – Louis P. Kassa, MPA, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, has been named one of “The 10 Best COOs of 2020” by Industry Era, a global technology media outlet. The list includes COOs from a wide variety of organizations worldwide.
Since joining the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC) in 2014, Kassa has led the PABC to become one of the nation’s leading life sciences incubators, according to a report by the International Business Innovation Association.
The PABC is a nonprofit that offers state-of-the-art laboratory and office space to early stage biotech companies, as well as the Hepatitis B Foundation and Blumberg Institute. With more than 70 member companies, the center is home to 41 small to mid-size science, research and biotechnology companies. The PABC has been at full capacity for the past seven years and there is a waiting list of companies that want to locate in the PABC, Kassa said. “We have a very specific ecosystem and services platform that helps entrepreneurs find a path for success,” Kassa said.
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