By Kathleen Berger, Executive Producer for Science and Technology 

BioSTL President and CEO Donn Rubin is perfectly situated in St. Louis, in such a way, for him to see how the future of BioSTL could unfold. For years, Rubin had a vision of how BioSTL would have a role in building a sustainable neuroscience ecosystem in St. Louis.

“When we moved into the BioSTL building in 2019, next door to us was a parking lot,” Rubin said. “Over the last five years, coming out of the ground and now completed, is the largest neuroscience research building in the country, and perhaps the world.”

On the Washington University Medical Campus, WashU Medicine’s Jeffry T. Fort Neuroscience Research Building has experts in neurology, neuroscience, neurosurgery, psychiatry, anesthesiology, radiology, genetics and developmental biology.  Among areas of study include brain tumor biology, psychiatric illness, pain, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases.

“The largest concentration of neuro research talent, all concentrated in a single facility, is right next door and dwarfs our building now,” he said. “It’s a tremendous asset for St. Louis. It’s a tremendous asset to be capitalized on.”

And Rubin isn’t wasting time! The St. Louis nonprofit BioSTL is taking a leading role to turbocharge neuroscience in St. Louis. BioSTL is partnering with Washington University to lead a new program for the St. Louis region, called the NEURO360 initiative.

“Our expertise developed over the last two decades, is developing an ecosystem, an ecosystem that’s made up of startups and capital and people and public policy and global connectiveness, the physical spaces – all the mosaic that has to come together to create an innovation economy,” said Rubin. “We’ve been doing that now for over two decades in biomedical sciences, healthcare and agriculture technology.”

This new chapter for St. Louis offers incredible possibilities for understanding the brain. While WashU is a leader in neuroscience research and innovation, Saint Louis University researchers play a leading role too, along with the University of Missouri St. Louis. The NEURO360 initiative is designed to elevate the St. Louis region around neuroscience.

“It’s a collaboration. There is no one institution that can elevate St. Louis the way we can do it together as a community,” said Rubin. “We can think of it as a superpower that we want the whole world to know about in St. Louis.”

And the next step is an opportunity for tremendous funding for NEURO360. Justin Raymundo, BioSTL’s vice president of Innovation Ecosystem-Building, is leading the application process for a $160 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation to boost the region’s neuroscience and neurotech ecosystems.

“It’s really meant to be an engine that supercharges our discovery, commercialization, workforce development and economic impact of this technology here in St. Louis that can have global reach,” said Raymundo.

The BioSTL team believes NEURO360 will lead to new therapies, new diagnostic tools and new drugs that can improve the lives of people around the globe.