Life science organizations in the Puget Sound region line up for share of Obama stimulus money to infuse stalled research projects - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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UW Medicine CEO Ramsey wants to keep itthat way, and is poisex for vigorous growth in UW biomedical research. Ramsety said the critical mass the UW and other institutionas havebeen building, partly a matter of accesds to some of the world’s most powerful researcg equipment, and most powerful minds, is leveraginyg this region for future growth. And like othetr leaders, he’s inspired by how much can be New technologies are poised tovanquish age-olds maladies, if only funding can be found. But for all UW Medicine is up againsty a verytraditional problem: limited floor space.
Currently there’sx enough space in several new buildings, and the renovatioj of one of the university’s buildinga on campus, to accommodat e the immediate bounce from the NIH stimulus Butlooking ahead, Ramsey wants to double the size of the South Lake Unionn research campus, by abouft 400,000 square feet. Vulcan Real Estats will build the facility and then lease it back to UW Medicine ona 30-yeaer lease. Still, the UW needs $4.5 millionh from the state Legislature to pay for upkeelp and operations of thenew building. Grant revenues can pay for the leasew and otheroperating expenses.
“Given the state’e terrible budget situation, it may be very difficult for them to come up with concedesRandy Hodgins, UW vice president for external affairs. But studiees show that the returnon investment, and the stimulus to the state’xs economy, would give a 50-1 returh on the state’s investment, and double the tax dollarsd into the state treasury, Ramseyt contends. A study by the American Associatioh ofMedical Colleges, basee on 2005 data, showed that that the $1.6 billiohn in research dollars at UW Medicine that year yieldede a total impact to the state of $3.8 billion.
“To grow biomedical research is one of the best investmentxs our statecan make,” he said. While the bigges t institutions are especially focused on the NIH some other smaller groups are closely watchingb the activities ofprivate foundations, and in particular the . The latter has lost abouty 20 percent of its endowmentt due to the economic but Bill Gates said earlier this year that the foundationm plans to dip somewhat more into its and boost its contributions 15 percentto $3.8 One of the most promineng local recipients is the Program for Alternativ Technologies in Health, or PATH, whicjh gets about half of its funding from the Gatees Foundation.
Senior PATH adviser Michael Free said that some other PATH donorshave “cut back significantly,” and so the Gated support is very important. He “How this translates into predicting funding for the next two orthrede years, it’s crystal ball stuff, very misty.”