Industry Snapshot

New Mexico draws upon impressive resources to aid in its becoming a force in the biotechnology and life science industries. The state is boosted by federal organizations. The Los Alamos National Laboratory, established in 1943, offers research, technology transfer, and extensive databases. Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque offers bioscience research as well as high performance computing capabilities. These laboratories partner with the Technology Research Collaborative (TRC), which combines the efforts of these national laboratories as well as universities and institutes to promote technology commercialization in the state.

Academic institutions enhance life science research in New Mexico. The University of New Mexico (UNM), in Albuquerque, is designated Doctoral/Research Universities—Extensive under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UNM boasts such resources as the Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute designated center, the Health Sciences Center, the academic health complex in the state, and the Center for High Performance Computing, which aids in supporting research at UNM. New Mexico State University (NMSU), in Las Cruces, is also a Carnegie Doctoral/Research—Extensive institution. The NMSU is a land-grant institution and one of the top 100 institutions in the country in Federal Research Expenditures. The NMSU also offers the Systems Biosciences Research Cluster program, which encourages collaboration between bioscience disciplines as well as engineers and social scientists.

Several other research centers add to New Mexico’s rich scientific assets. The National Center for Genome Resources, a not-for-profit research institution in Santa Fe, promotes collaborative research via bioscience, computing and mathematics, with the goal of using computation to improve disease treatments. The MIND Institute (Mental Illness and Neuroscience Discovery), in Albuquerque, conducts neuroscience research in a setting of over 400 researchers and staff, with an annual budget of $50 million. The Santa Fe Institute, in Santa Fe, is a non-profit basic research and education center with the goal of understanding common themes in natural, artificial, and social systems via a multidisciplinary scientific community.

Approximately 100 biotechnology and life science related companies reside in New Mexico. These include Biomoda, Inc. in Albuquerque; Cell Robotics International, Inc., in Albuquerque; Genzyme Genetics in Santa Fe, Lumidgim, Inc. in Albuquerque, Seraf Therapeutics, Inc. in Albuquerque, and Theranostech, Inc., also in Albuquerque, among several other firms.

The state also benefits from the New Mexico Biotechnology & Biomedical Association (NMBBA). With over 180 members and 100 companies in the fields of device, diagnostics, bioinformatics, and pharmaceuticals, the NMBBA aids collaboration among the region’s life science and biotechnology organizations with national and international investors.

Additional incentives for biotechnology and life science companies in the Land of Enchantment include Job Training Incentive Program, High Wage Tax Credit, Rural Jobs Tax Credit, and numerous research and development tax credits.

With such excellent resources at its disposal, New Mexico’s biotechnology and life science industries promise to live up to the state’s motto, Crescit Eundo, or “grows as it goes”.