Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine yesterday unveiled an investment of $200 million by a nonprofit medical research institute expected to generate more than 400 jobs in Northern Virginia.
According to the governor's office, the Ignite Institute will focus on biomedical research and medical technology advances to further the practice of personalized medicine, in which health care and treatment of disease is tailored to individual patients based on their distinct molecular and biological makeup.
The institute was established by the nonprofit Inova Health System and Dr. Dietrich Stephan, a leading specialist in molecular medicine. It will initially be located at the Center for Innovative Technology in Fairfax.
Ignite "adds to Virginia's position as a world-class center of excellence for research and development," and would help reform and enhance health care in the U.S., Kaine said in a statement announcing the deal. The governor was joined at the news conference yesterday afternoon in Northern Virginia by Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell.
Ignite will use and develop molecular scanning technology to help research the origins of human illnesses, such as cancer and other chronic diseases. The belief is that the technologies will open new avenues for doctors to more effectively diagnose and tailor treatment of such illnesses in individual patients.
"Virginia is a state where personalized medicine can fully take root and flourish," Stephan said in a statement. "The highly educated work force, national IT leadership, excellence in health care and proximity to Washington, D.C., make this the ideal place to launch the Institute."
Virginia also made it attractive for the Ignite Institute. Kaine approved a $3 million grant from the Governor's Opportunity Fund to assist Fairfax County.
The organization could also be eligible to receive a performance grant of as much as $22 million over the next four years, if approved by the General Assembly. The grant would be tied to the creation of jobs and commitment from the organization of additional investment in Virginia.
But at least in the short term, experts say the benefits of the state's investment are more likely to be economic than health-care-related.
Being able to discern a patient's health profile at the biological and molecular level is going to require a whole host of things to happen, not the least of which is a much more detailed mapping of each individual's genetic makeup, said Robert Skunda, president and CEO of the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park in Richmond.
"It's going to continue to further develop the concept, which is clearly becoming more possible, but is not necessarily something we will see in the immediate future," Skunda said.
Still, he said Inova is a well recognized and major health-care provider, and that research institutes such as Ignite are highly coveted by states because they can bring prestige and serve as magnets for attracting for-profit companies and high-paying jobs.
"If it begins to gain recognition and traction for the work that it does, it will clearly be a prestigious institute to have in the commonwealth of Virginia," Skunda said.
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Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or jnolan@timesdispatch.com.
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