Luthor Announces Biotech Lab to Locate in Alderwood


Story by: Mel Sacher


Date Published to Web: 02/02/2002


ALDERWOOD - Alderwood Mayor Rex Luthor announced today that a new biotechnology laboratory will be built here that he believes will increase economic properity and development in the city, after a long period of financial drought.

To coincide with Luthor's announcement, he announced a private investment by the Washen Foundation of $1,000,000 to startup "Boynton Laboratories", to be named after the world-renowned biologist, Dr. Philip Boynton.  Dr. Boynton, 85, arrived in Alderwood on Tuesday and stood with Luthor, mayor's aide Laurie Sulfate, council members John Torch, Jennie Angel, and Mayor Pro-tem George Greenway at the press conference in city hall.  Luthor also announced $225,000 in matching funds from the state's new biotechnology initiative, and said he is working with the Washington State Legislature to secure an additional $300,000 for the lab, which is set to open this fall. 

Boynton, who just retired as the dean of the College of Environment and Life Sciences at USC and himself an investor in the laboratory at a stake of $25,000, said a biotech lab in Washington state made considerable sense.  "Washington state has the infrastructure to become the nation's leader in biotechnology with it's wealth of universities, high tech companies, and existing scientific mind-share."

Boynton explained how the laboratory will focus on a problem area of acute interest to Washington state residents - mad cow disease. "Mad Cow Disease is the commonly used name for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or BSE, a slowly progressive, degenerative, fatal disease affecting the central nervous system of adult cattle.  There is a disease similar to BSE called Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease that is found in people. A variant form of CJD is believed to be caused by eating contaminated beef products from BSE-affected cattle. To date, there have been 155 confirmed and probable cases of CJD worldwide among the hundreds of thousands of people that may have consumed BSE-contaminated beef products.  We intend to be the laboratory that finds the cure for BSE..."

Washen Foundation is a privately owned venture capital group known for its forays into high technology.  Reliable sources have reported that independently wealthy City Attorney Bruce Rinz is heavily vested in this organization, however Rinz did not immediately return phone calls to confirm this.   

   
   
   
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