Florida International University in 2020 took over a failing Florida life sciences recruit, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, recruited to St. Lucie County with $90 million in state and local incentives a dozen years earlier.
Now called FIU’s Center for Translational Science, it’s making gradual progress at building out the research prowess that Torrey Pines didn’t deliver. Center Director Stephen Black, a vascular biologist, says its headcount is at 65 people in 13 research groups. A third recruitment phase will take the building to half full and more recruitment will continue until the center has a full building with 30 research groups by 2030, he says.
Black says the researchers are thought leaders and emerging thought leaders in their fields who have been attracted by the research opportunity, Florida living, good schools, short commutes to home and kids’ activities, Florida’s “very positive” business environment, and FIU as a stable brand. The center has had as many as 1,000 applications from local high school students for the 20 internships it offers annually. It also works with Indian River State College on developing biomedical researchers locally — “keeping local talent local,” Black says.
Researchers study lung, vascular and airway disease; brain aging and spinal cord injures; drug discovery and other fields. The center runs on FIU funding and grants. Since 2022, center faculty have brought in $31 million in research funding. All told, center researchers have won 11 patents and a few federal commercialization grants. It partners with Cleveland Clinic’s Tradition hospital and with FIU’s medical school in Miami-Dade.
“The faculty are super engaged,” Black says. “Our watchword is, developing tomorrow’s therapies today. Literally as you walk into the building every day, that is baked in big letters on the front of the building. There’s always a thought that we are trying to get this into people to help cure human disease.”