The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has granted a total of $400,000 to two Temple University departments as part of the commonwealth’s Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ) program.

Temple is part of the 611 Corridor KIZ, one of 26 zones established to build partnerships between Pennsylvania’s colleges and universities, communities and companies to launch new business endeavors in the commonwealth.

Biochemistry Chair Donald Gill was recruited to the School of Medicine with the support of a $250,000 KIZ grant.

Gill and the four new faculty members he will recruit will serve Temple’s goal of expanding its research capabilities and increasing the scope of its teaching and training of scientists within his specialty,thus delivering well-trained professionals and promising biotech products to industry in Pennsylvania, specifically within North Philadelphia and the city’s suburbs along the Route 611 corridor.

According to Fredda London in Temple’s Office of the Vice President of Research and Graduate studies, a number of biotech firms within the 611 Corridor KIZ will benefit from Gill’s research.

“Many of the students who work in Gill’s laboratory will seek employment locally.

Additionally, the ideas for industrial applications of cell signaling work and development of biomaterials and kits for retailing to academia that come from Gill’s lab will expand the capabilities of this zone,” she said.

To that end, Gill is sponsoring a yearlong series of seminars and workshops in which Temple faculty will be meeting with investigators from other 611 Corridor KIZ partner institutions to share ideas and research findings. In addition, Temple’s Office of Technology Transfer will be sponsoring follow-up workshops to explore possible commercialization of the data presented.

Additionally, The Fox School of Business’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute received a grant of $150,000 to help support entrepreneurship in the life sciences.

“This new funding will enable Temple and its KIZ partners to link start-up companies in the medical, dental, pharmaceutical and bioengineering fields to resources such as incubation space, funding, mentoring and other research and business resources,” said Chris Pavlides, the IEI’s executive director.

Through KIZ, 1,446 jobs have been created and another 2,043 positions retained across the commonwealth. Seventy-eight new companies have also been established with the support of the KIZ program.