The Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences celebrated the opening of its Bigelow Center for Blue Biotechnology at a ribbon cutting ceremony Dec. 19.
The new 24,740 square foot research facility is the first part of Bigelow Laboratory’s planned Ocean Science and Education Campus.
The ribbon cutting ceremony drew guest speakers from the offices of Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Me) and Senator Susan Collins (R-Me), President of the Maine Technology Institute Betsy Biemann, President of the Bigelow Board of Trustees David Coit, and Boothbay Town Manager Jim Chaousis.
Chaousis, while acknowledging the difficulty of adjusting Boothbay’s policies to accommodate such a large business, recognized the new opportunities now available with the opening of the complex.
“Scientists from all over the world are going to fall in love with this area and want to live here,” Chaousis said. “Boothbay is going to grow exponentially because of Bigelow Labs.”
Coit praised Maine’s willingness to invest in the multimillion-dollar project.
“The State of Maine stuck its neck out and gave us this first investment… I wish Forbes Magazine was here to see this,” Coit said, referencing Forbes Magazine’s last-in-the-nation ranking of the state’s business climate.
When completed, the Campus will have an additional two wings, the Center for Ocean Biogeochemistry and Climate Change and the Center for Ocean Health. The Center for Ocean Biogeochemistry and Climate Change is expected to open during the summer of 2012. The Center for Ocean Health, including new dock and shore facilities, will open later that year in November. Both wings are currently under construction.
The Bigelow Center for Blue Biotechnology is a multipurpose facility with four high-tech divisions: The Bigelow Single Cell Genomics Center a first-of-its-kind lab dedicated to DNA research on individual microbial cells, the Provasoli-Guillard National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota, a facility with the world’s first combined collection of marine algae, bacteria, archaea, and viruses; the J.J. MacIsaac Facility for Aquatic Cytometry, a “state-of-the-art” flow cytometry lab, and the Geomicrobiology Research Laboratory.
The two-and-a-half-year campus construction project will contribute $57 million to the local economy and create over 200 jobs, according to a press release from Bigelow. The completed facility will provide 223 jobs and $17.5 million annually to the regional economy.
Construction on the Bigelow Center for Blue Biotechnology began in fall 2010. The project was made possible by a combination of public and private funds, including a $9 million from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and $4.4 million from the Maine Technology Asset Fund.
In Nov. 2007, Maine voters approved the creation of the MTAF in a $53 million bond. Bigelow was one of 35 projects chosen to receive money from the new fund.
“We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the State of Maine,” Bigelow Executive Director Graham Shimmield said.
