RESEARCH
TCBusiness.com 27
a city outside of Cleveland for a research
facility, said Rob Lord, president of Cleveland
Clinic Martin Health. Lerner is one of
the nation’s foremost research organizations
of international renown, he said.
In Cleveland, Lerner Research boasts
1,400 researchers and support personnel
in 180 labs across 10 departments.
The Lerner website says: “The Lerner
emphasizes translational research that
has the potential to improve patient care.
Our scientists work closely with Cleveland
Clinic physicians to transform groundbreaking
discoveries made in the laboratory
to the bedside.”
The plan in Port St. Lucie is to focus on research
in neurosciences and cancer and to
create a translational vaccine immunotherapy
institute. Translational means to take an
idea from the lab bench to the bedside.
“We should expect this investment to
return translational research that improves
people’s lives and transformational change
in our economy that lifts up our community,”
Oravec said.
Lord said he is optimistic that Cleveland
Clinic’s reputation and brand will attract
other medical and research organizations
and help grow the economy. He added
that he is already in talks with three scientists
who are considering moving here.
Discussions are underway with Vaxine,
a vaccine research institute in Australia, to
co-occupy the building, creating its North
American headquarters here. Florida
International University, a public research
university in Miami, is also in talks to cooccupy.
Vaxine, founded in 2002 by Flinders
University professor and researcher Nikolai
Petrovsky, is internationally recognized as
a global leader in vaccine research, said
Pete Tesch, president of the EDC. With 50
employees, it is one of the top recipients
of National Institutes of Health funding.
The company develops vaccines for infectious
diseases such as influenza, cancer
and allergens, Tesch said.
The new research center has Port St.
Lucie officials rejoicing. After long years of
crushed dreams of a bio-tech center forming
in the city — and millions of dollars in
expenses —that dream, hope and wish is
finally crystalizing and becoming reality,
Blackburn said.
“In the early 2000s, the council was looking
to create a new pillar of our economy
and Florida’s economy,” Blackburn said of
the city’s efforts to attract biomedical research
companies to the Tradition Center
for Innovation, also known as its jobs corridor.
Two failed businesses bailed out of
Port St. Lucie since then: Digital Domain,
which created digital effects for movies,
and VGTI.
One research company, Torrey Pines Institute
for Molecular Studies, survived the
Great Recession and a reduction in state
grant funding and is now merging with
Florida International University. The university
is taking ownership of the building
and adding the research institution to its
collection of specialized research facilities.
The city owns the land under the building.
“VGTI ultimately left town and left the
city holding the bag,” Blackburn told the
council in November.
“All things happen for a reason and here
we are today with a world class research
entity wanting to lease the building and
build the job base we originally thought
we would get from the (VGTI) investment.
All of a sudden we have this synergy we
didn’t have before,” he said.
The new facility will be known as the
Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute.
“I look forward to seeing that big Cleveland
Clinic sign up there, not just on the
(Cleveland Clinic Tradition) hospital, but
on this building,” Oravec said. v
/www.stluciechamber.org
/www.workforcefirstaid.com
/TCBusiness.com