Keystone Today

Gov. Tom Wolf met with state Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Montgomery/Philadelphia), state legislators and educators at Cheyney University to announce a $5 million investment through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) that will create a ThinkUbator for biotech research involving area businesses setting up shop on campus.

The ThinkUbator will offer biologics, cell and gene therapy companies an opportunity to lease process development and wet lab space on campus, a press release from the governor’s office said this week. The $5 million will be going toward renovating the Duckrey building. There will be new HVAC, plumbing and windows, improved interior space with bench space, wet labs, a training facility, and dry and cold storage; along with the purchase and installation of new equipment.

“As America’s first historically black university, Cheyney has a long history of supporting determined, innovative students and putting them on the path to a brighter future,” Wolf said in the release. “The ThinkUbator is helping to bring the life sciences community to Cheyney’s campus, through partnerships that will advance groundbreaking research while also helping to train a new generation of life science leaders and innovators.”

The ThinkUbator is described as a “historic initiative” designed to serve a region with record-low vacancies for lab space, the release said. It is part of the university’s goal to serve diverse and underrepresented students who are striving for a career in life sciences.

Cheyney University has approximately 650 students enrolled, the release said. University President Aaron A. Walton noted that making the university a bioscience center for the region should help attract more students. During construction and renovations, the university will be recruiting area businesses to get involved.

“The companies already operating on our campus working with our student interns provided proof that our concept works for all parties, the university, the students and the businesses,” Walton said in the release. “The businesses we have brought onto our campus and into our lab space have a real interest in being here. This grant from the Wolf Administration gives us a major spark to continue to expand on that model in a more robust way.

“We already have the interest. We just don’t have the space. There are a number of businesses that would prefer not to go into a large city, and so we want [to] have a home for them. We don’t want them to leave the state or this area. We offer an alternative where they can do the work they want to do where they want to be. So why not do it at an intimate college campus like Cheyney?”

State Rep. Dianne Herrin praised the ThinkUbator project and the work of Cheyney University.

“As America’s first institution of higher education for African Americans, Cheyney University has long had an innovative spirit driving the students, faculty and staff in their pursuit of quality higher education,” she said in the release. “Today, Cheyney’s leadership has reimagined this campus and established a modern path to success that will benefit students and our local economy. This substantial investment in Cheyney’s infrastructure will help empower students to become visionary leaders within our community, our country, and around the world.”

$12.5 million in RACP funds has been awarded to projects with Cheyney University over the past two years, the release said. Other projects include: $1 million toward bringing Advanced Alchemy Labs to the campus, which is a hemp extraction and processing organization; $3.5 million to the Wade Wilson Building; and $3 million toward bringing 3D printing company American Additive to the university.

Hughes, who is a Cheyney Board of Trustees member, commented that this most recent investment is vital in the resurgence of the university and believes it will help make the school one of the “great centers of higher learning” in the state of Pennsylvania.

“This groundbreaking institution is poised to create a future that’s worthy of its storied history,” he said. “The work is hard but it’s worth it.”