Life science current events will collide with political realities in Minnesota. Last year the medical industry made important strides, including winning an angel investment tax credit. This year healthcare interests will likely be on the defensive. The University of Minnesota, the Biomedical Discovery District and health services for the poor are on the chopping block.

Dr. Frank Cerra has hitched his wagon to outgoing University of Minnesota president Robert Bruininks. Cerra, medical school dean and head of the school’s Academic Health Center, is retiring at the end of the year partly because Bruininks is doing the same. It’s just as well. Together, the two men had sought to remake the school into a top research university and an economic engine for Minnesota. But as they prepare to exit, their vision is in doubt.

A quick scan of Dr. Frank Cerra’s 14-year tenure as head of the University of Minnesota’s health science programs causes one word to come to mind: “Big.” Yet big doesn’t always mean better. In fact, big can be downright ugly. Under Cerra’s watch, the medical school suffered what critics call embarrassing ethical lapses between its physicians and industry.

Organizers of the planned Minnesota Science Park officially unveiled plans for the 32-acre, one million-square-foot private research park adjacent to the University of Minnesota’s Biomedical Discovery District during Thursday’s Association of University Research Parks annual meeting.

A University of Minnesota researcher will co-lead a $30 million international effort to map the complex electrical/chemical connections of the human brain. Kamil Ugurbil, director of the school’s Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, will help oversee the Human Connectome Project.

The University of Minnesota’s Biomedical Discovery District has the land. It has the money. Now it will get some serious validation.Next month, the university’s medical school will host the annual conference of the Association of University Research Parks (AURP), a chance for wonks in economic development, innovation and technology transfer to swap best practices and [...]

By all accounts, the University of Minnesota’s ambitious Biomedical Discovery District and a planned adjacent private research park are proceeding nicely.Last month, the university christened the Winston and Maxine Wallin Medical Biosciences Building, named after former Medtronic CEO and his wife. The Board of Regents Facilities Committee also approved preliminary designs for a 280,000 square [...]

Can’t we just all get along?Tim Mahoney and Tim Mulcahy share a lot more than their first names and initials. The two men have been allies on everything from angel investment tax credits, the creation of the Minnesota Science & Technology Authority and the need for Minnesota to more fully convert its formidable research assets [...]

Not to sound paranoid … but …Just when you think Minnesota has turned the corner in stimulating high-tech innovation, the nagging pest otherwise known as the budget has once again reared its ugly head. And it’s not pretty.Just weeks after Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a bill that established the Minnesota’s first angel tax credits, the [...]

To BIO or not to BIO? That’s the question confronting Minnesota as it ponders its economic future.In some ways, the answer is obvious. The state boasts a lot of expertise and money in medical technology. Lawmakers have already earmarked millions of dollars to build a “Biomedical Discovery District” in Minneapolis and an “Elk Run BioBusiness [...]