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REDizone at NEOMED is open for business
By Denise Dick
ROOTSTOWN
Northeast Ohio Medical University has dedicated the Timken Foundation of Canton Innovation Corridor — home to the Research, Entrepreneurship, Discovery and Innovation Zone, the latest example of the university’s ongoing public-private partnership efforts.
The REDizone, as it’s called, is an incubator for companies to work with university scientists to develop their ideas.
Three companies lease space within the corridor, and there’s room for up to 10.
Dr. Jay Gershen, NEOMED president, said Monday the 1,500 physicians working in Ohio represent about $1.5 billion in economic activity. The amount in annual research dollars is in addition to that.
Crystal Diagnostics is one of the companies in the REDizone.
“We work in the detection of pathogens” such as E. coli, said Gary Niehaus, chief scientist at the company and a professor of physiology and pharmacology at NEOMED.
Being part of the REDizone has helped the company save money, he said. The university has a safety committee, for example, which ensures that Crystal Diagnostics employees, who work with pathogens, don’t do anything to endanger themselves or others.
If it were in another location, the company likely would have to hire someone to provide those safeguards, the scientist said.
Walter E. Horton Jr., vice president for research and dean of graduate studies, said the REDizone also is a portal between the university and the outside world.
It provides support for animal and human studies, hazardous materials use and other substances.
The facility is also a way for NEOMED to be a regional partner, Horton said, linking it to other incubators and accelerators in Akron, Youngstown and other communities.
Elliot Reed, REDizone program manager, said companies come into the readiness through both recruitment and by seeking it out. The facility is looking to form relationships with companies that support the REDizone mission, primarily biomedical companies whose research can be supported by the university.
The idea is for each company’s REDizone stay to be short-lived, typically three years, Reed said.
Staff members work with the companies to set individual milestone goals. After about three years, the companies will be referred to other entities if needed.
NEOMED has three colleges: medicine, pharmacy and graduate studies.
The university launched in 1973 as an educational partnership involving Youngstown State University, Kent State University and the University of Akron to provide a facility for training physicians in Northeast Ohio. That partnership was expanded in 2008 to include Cleveland State University. The university has more-limited partnerships with Central State and Miami universities and Hiram College.