March 31, 2008

Biotechnology workers have more jobs to choose from this year

Biotechnology workers

New Mexico's biotechnology sector isn't exactly booming, but an uptick in research and a host of new biotech startups are generating more jobs.

New Mexico's biotechnology sector isn't exactly booming, but an uptick in research and a host of new biotech startups are generating more jobs.

"We're doing well in terms of creating a pipeline of opportunities," says Peter Rachor, president of the New Mexico Biotechnology and Biomedical Association. "More research is underway at the universities and labs, and new biotechnology companies are emerging. That's generating some fairly linear growth in job opportunities."

Rachor says the biotech sector is adding about 100 or more jobs per year for technicians and professionals.

"It's not like Eclipse Aviation, where you suddenly have a thousand new jobs, but we are seeing a steady increase in employment year after year," Rachor says. "When new startups form and begin to develop new products, they create handfuls of new jobs. It begins to add up."

Many local startups say they've markedly increased their work force in recent years, and many say they plan to hire more people this year.

IntelliCyt Corp., for example, hired 10 people in 2007 and plans to hire 15 or 20 more this year, says President and CEO Terry Dunlay. The company, originally called Sage Sciences Inc., formed in 2006 to develop ultra-fast cytometers, or cell scanners, for rapid drug discovery based on technology it licensed from the University of New Mexico.

"The biotechnology industry here is definitely expanding," Dunlay says. "New companies are constantly popping up. It's not the Silicon Valley, but we're certainly growing."

Caldera Pharmaceuticals Inc., which makes instruments to measure drug and protein interactions to speed drug development, expects to double its work force from eight to 16 this year.

And Lumidigm Inc. and VeraLight Inc. -- both spin offs from Albuquerque-based InLight Solutions-- report double-digit employee growth.........please read the complete article at The New Mexico Business Weekly .