UD breaks ground on SABRE Center

ORIGINAL SOURCE: WDEL

Delaware's Congressional delegation joined with officials from the University of Delaware to break ground Monday, April 22, 2024, on a new 90,000 square foot facility at the University's STAR Campus. 

The new Securing American Biomanufacturing Research and Education (SABRE) Center will be a pilot-scale biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility to support the work of the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL).

"We envision the SABRE Center as a place to scale up and to mature manufacturing innovations necessary to ensure broad access to novel biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, and ultimately, to the medicines that they make," said Dr. Kelvin Lee, NIIMBL's Director. 

"I personally believe that the SABRE Center is going to mark an inflection point in our national competitiveness in this advanced manufacturing industry, and to our resilience in the face of future public health threats."

"It will provide a state-of-the-art facility for training Delaware workers with the most current technology for jobs in manufacturing biopharmaceuticals," said University President Dennis Assanis.

"Delaware is well on its way to become a unique and vibrant hub for biopharma research and manufacturing," Assanis said. "A place where brilliant ideas become realities."

The federal government has committed $45 million to the project, including $35 million of which was secured by the state's Congressional delegation.