California
| Program Category | # of Grants per state | Sum of EDA $ |
|---|---|---|
| Disaster Relief | 1 | $200,000 |
| Economic Adjustment Assistance | 6 | $5,630,037 |
| Planning | 10 | $782,165 |
| Public Works | 6 | $17,810,338 |
| Technical Assistance | 3 | $252,706 |
| Trade Adjustment Assistance | 1 | $1,373,911 |
| Grand Total | 27 | $26,049,157 |
Los Angeles County, California, is a prime area for the development and advancement of the bioscience industry. The county lacks the commercial bioscience lab space necessary for bioscience start-ups to flourish, however; local companies continue to seek lab space and facilities to train workers in regenerative technology. In addition, between July 2017 and January 2018, the county had Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notices filed for over 10,000 area layoffs. Local companies struggle to create higher-skill, higher-wage jobs that will help those recently laid off and that will create a strong, sustainable economic base for the county.
In FY 2018, EDA awarded $2,030,000 in Economic Adjustment Assistance funds to Cedars-Sinai for the purchase of equipment to support the Cedars-Sinai Biomanufacturing Center (CBC). This investment will enable Cedars-Sinai to equip two bio-tech labs in the CBC to: 1) serve academic, clinical, and commercial researchers to develop and scale the manufacture of clinical grade induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) products in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices regulations suitable for investigational use in humans, and 2) provide space and facilities to train up to five individuals per week in iPSC regenerative technology, for which Cedars-Sinai has developed a proprietary process.
The overall project will leverage approximately $47 million in private investments* to facilitate the development, construction, and operation of the CBC and create a minimum of 444 new jobs. These jobs will be well-paying and high-skill in three specific technology platforms: 1) novel therapeutics and diagnostics; 2) bioengineering solutions for treating disease and other medical conditions; and 3) innovations in health care delivery.
The Cedars-Sinai Biomanufacturing Center labs will not only invigorate the economy on the west side of Los Angeles County and, more regionally, Southern California, but it will also catalyze the continued development of medical/science research, potentially leading to innovative treatments and, possibly, game-changing treatments for cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, eye diseases, and other chronic and acute medical conditions.