Cal State LA receives $3.5M grant for bioscience lab

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Cal State Los Angeles received a multimillion dollar country grant Thursday to develop BioSpace L.A., a resource for students interested in biomedical and bioscience careers. Students were on hand Thursday as funding was announced.

The new resources will come from a $3.5 million grant from the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors. The money will fund the educational laboratory and provide space for start-up businesses, too. The goal is to provide students and start-up businesses with the opportunity to collaborate on bioscience projects.

"We're planning to go off to graduate school and seeing innovative and creative ideas being developed is something that we're going to do as PHD students, so for us it's a great thing to see and experience beforehand," said Cal State L.A. student Maria Escamilla.

Supervisor Gloria Molina, who led the effort to secure the grant, hopes to see an entire industry take root in L.A. and believes BioSpace L.A. could be a great way to start.

"We think that this is the kind of place that you can build on existing bioscience assets and anchors," Molina said. "This is also a place that is already training bioscience innovators for the future."

Bioscience deals with the structure and behavior of living organisms. The bioscience industry includes major areas such as agriculture, drugs and pharmaceuticals, medical devices and instruments, hospitals and laboratories, and research and testing.

Students look forward for more room to work side-by-side with start-ups on the cutting edge of an industry too small to see.

CNS contributed to this report.