Recombinetics, a Minneapolis-based company that genetically engineers pigs for biomedical and agricultural purposes, has formally signed up to set up shop in the Elk Run BioBusiness Park.“Recombinetics just signed a Letter of Intent to build a state-of-the-art swine unit at the Elk Run Biobusiness Park,” the company’s CEO announced via twitter.The deal is an important [...]

Biotech industry observer G. Steven Burrill says he will soon have $350 million to invest in a broad range of companies.Burrill late last week filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission on his $500 million Burrill Capital Fund IV. Burrill, in an e-mail Monday, said he’ll close $350 million of that fund by month’s [...]

One thing the interminably delayed Elk Run biotech/real estate development in southeastern Minnesota demands is patience.And that’s exactly what the Minnesota Department of Transportation has displayed in great abundance. Last week, even though no building stands on the proposed Elk Run bioscience park, MnDOT gave the green signal to a contractor to go ahead on [...]

Fund founder Jim O’Reilly says it was “fairly impossible” to raise money. For O’Reilly, explaining Upwind to potential investors proved to be a challenge in itself. For one thing, O’Reilly insisted Upwind was not a “fund” but rather a “new model” for developing startups.

As you’ve probably read, Steven Burrill’s predictions regarding the biotech industry go over at MedCity News the way former Detroit Lions President Matt Millen’s football forecasts go over in Michigan. Nonetheless, it’s notable when the renowned biotech specialist, venture capitalist, author and keynote speaker offers his thoughts on currents events in life sciences and the future of the industry next year (even if it is to promote his upcoming book: Biotech 2011-Life Sciences: Looking Back to See Ahead).

When you’re the president and CEO of a major national real estate development firm, it’s best to develop a thick skin. It’s also probably not a good idea to post public comments to a news website when you’re pissed off at 1 o’clock in the morning. Yet that’s exactly what Steve Marks, CEO of Tower Investments in California did upon reading my story Tuesday on the troubled Elk Run BioBusiness Park his company is developing in Pine Island, Minnesota.

“There are two things that we know about the universe,” Abraham Algadi said. “We can only control the things we can control. The rest, we leave to a higher power.” Algadi is not a priest or philosopher, at least professionally. Algadi, the city administrator for Pine Island, Minnesota, was referring to the fate of the much maligned, often delayed Elk Run BioBusiness Park.

The incoming Republican leadership in the Minnesota state legislature already is making good on its promises to streamline government. Last month, GOP officials unveiled a significantly slimmer committees structure, designed to eliminate redundancy and speed the notoriously slow business of making policy and passing laws. One casualty of the slimmer structure will be The House Committee on Biosciences and Workforce Development.

Burrill & Co. and the Infinity Group are joining forces to pursue investments in Chinese life science companies. San Francisco-based Burrill, a venture capital/private equity player that’s also trying to launch a $1 billion investment fund in Minnesota, and Israel- and China-based Infinity will co-invest in U.S. dollars and Chinese renminbi as equal partners, according to a press release.

Is it my imagination or does the Elk Run development project in Pine Island, Minnesota, seem a little… what’s the word I’m looking for?… oh, yeah… cursed? Don’t believe me? Well, let’s examine events from the past 12 months or so.