High Tech and High Growth at the UM BioPark
Maryland Commerce Secretary Harry Coker Jr. visited the University of Maryland (UM) BioPark to learn how the Department of Commerce can continue to strengthen Maryland’s burgeoning life sciences industry.
During his visit, leadership from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) – Roger J. Ward, EdD, JD, MSL, MPA, Provost and Exec. Vice President; James Hughes, MBA, Chief Enterprise and Economic Development Officer and Sr. Vice President; Jane Shaab, MBA, UM BioPark Executive Director; and Mary Morris, Director of The Baltimore Fund – led Secretary Coker on a tour of 4MLK, the University of Maryland BioPark’s newest facility which opened in January 2025, and facilitated a discussion with leaders from BioPark companies.
(l-r) Mark VanderZyl, Director of Connect Labs Baltimore and Harry Coker Jr.
Showing off Connect Labs as well as the new Edward and Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine (CTEM), both located in 4MLK, the UMB team drove home the importance of not just innovation space, but integrated resources to support companies.
Connect Labs Baltimore, a 35,000 sq. ft. scale-in-place lab and innovation infrastructure for companies in the life sciences, computational, engineering, and energy industries, provides flexible, move-in-ready space alongside shared amenities and tailored programming. By co-locating a wide range of companies – from university startups to growth-stage for-profit companies to entrepreneurial support organizations to investment funds – it creates a robust environment and serves as an asset for retaining early-stage companies in Baltimore.
“A lot of early-stage companies do find that being here – in Connect Labs and the BioPark in general – is vital. They're running into people that have experience, we're running programming, they receive support from our staff as well as from other people and entities,” Morris commented. And not only vital to early success, Shaab added. “Part of this type of environment is capturing those new companies so they don't leave the state of Maryland.”
Many of the companies in Connect Labs have formed partnerships with UMB or, in the case of Irazú Oncology, are working to commercialize UMB intellectual property.
The Edward and Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine, fueled by a $10 million donation from Edward and Jennifer St. John and the Edward St. John Foundation, along with a $12.75 million grant from the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State, is a collaboration between the University of Maryland School of Medicine at UMB and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. CTEM fosters face-to-face collaboration among clinicians and engineers as they develop next-generation medical solutions. A few of the entrepreneurial faculty members have spun out companies and located them in Connect Labs, which is just one floor below the CTEM facilities.
After getting a sense of what 4MLK offers, Secretary Coker sat down with leaders from BioPark companies: David Block, MD, MBA, CEO of Gliknik; Paul Boyce, MS, Senior Director of Americas Commercial Enablement, Service & Support at Illumina; Carey Connelly, PhD, Senior Director of Process Development at Catalent Cell & Gene Therapy; and Jeff Strovel, PhD, CEO of Irazú Oncology.
“We're partners with you. What do we need to do to make it even better? What can the state do?” Coker asked. “The bottom line for the state is, we want to develop a more robust, equitable, and competitive economy. Regardless of how challenging the economic environment is, growth won't happen without the investment. And too often, in the past, governments have looked towards growth by raising taxes and raising fees. That's not what we're going to do. We're going to grow the tax base as opposed to raising taxes and raising fees.”
