Biotech center offers limitless possibilities for city

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Huntsville Times

Jim Hudson was up early Tuesday morning watching Discovery land safely in California.

Hudson has a long fascination with this country's space program. He says the work of the Wernher von Braun rocket team inspired him to become a scientist. He remembers holding his children while watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.

And living in a city where NASA means so much, he understands the importance of the shuttle's return to flight.

"I sat and watched the whole thing," Hudson said. "It was really exciting. It helped pump me up."

Later that day, he was helping to announce the creation of the Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology. Fifty years from now, will Huntsville be known as much for the research done here as it is for its contributions to America's space program?

It's too early to know that. After all, the first shovel of dirt hasn't even been turned for the new $130 million facility.

It's too early to know if Huntsville can catch up with other cities that have more established biotech institutes. Maybe it's too early to know if Huntsville can recruit the top-notch researchers that will be required to make the institute a success.

When the rocket team came here, they were doing work that wasn't being done anywhere else. But today, biotech research is being done in other places. Can Huntsville compete and find a new horizon thanks to this institute?

Hudson says it can. "It'll take years, but it will be a new turn for really great things."

While joining Gov. Bob Riley in talking about the institute, Hudson said he hasn't felt so much excitement since the early days of the space program.

And there are many others who have a lot of faith in the biotechnology pioneer who insisted that the institute be kept right here - right here alongside NASA, Redstone Arsenal and the nation's second largest research park.

Add U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer to the list of those who believe in Hudson and the work that's to come in the future. He says it will chart new territory

"The Hudson-Alpha Institute will set a new future,'' Cramer said last week. "We're going to enter the arena as a primary player. Years from now, it'll be a milestone much like when Redstone came here."

There are a couple of reasons why many believe last week's announcement will be remembered as a milestone - one that came the same year of Huntsville's bicentennial celebration.

First, the institute is viewed as an economic engine - with the promise of 900 new jobs - high-paying jobs. And it's likely to attract other companies doing the same work.

But more importantly, it's viewed as a place where scientists might develop cures for cancer, diabetes or Alzheimer's Disease.

"I think this has the potential to be as meaningful to the economic development and quality of life in Alabama and America as NASA has been,'' said Sen. Roger Bedford, a cancer survivor. "These are the jobs of the future, just as NASA was when it was first located here."

Hudson likes to talk about the future, especially the future of his granddaughter. He says the type work that will be done at the institute will give her the opportunity to find a career right here in Alabama.

And he says the work done here will be able to help keep her healthy for her whole life.

Those are the kind of contributions that you can't put a price tag on, regardless of how many jobs come along with it.

Business Editor Wayne Smith can be reached by phone at 532-4415, or e-mail at waynes@htimes.com.