Under the 30-year agreement, ElevateBio will locate one of its next BaseCamp process development and GMP manufacturing facilities in Pittsburgh, which will include gene editing, induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC), and cell, vector, and protein engineering capabilities.

The creation of the Pitt BioForge BioManufacturing Center at Hazelwood Green, which is expected to generate more than 170 permanent full-time jobs, 900 construction jobs, and 360 off-site support jobs, was funded by a $100 million grant to the University of Pittsburgh from the Richard King Mellon Foundation -- the largest single-project grant in the foundation's 75-year history.

"We have some exceptional emerging research coming out of the University of Pittsburgh. However, the missing ingredient has been access to high-quality process science and manufacturing capabilities," Dr. Anantha Shekhar, PhD, Pitt Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences, said in a statement. "As we position ourselves to become the next global hub for life sciences and biotech, we were in search of the right partner to help us realize our vision, and ElevateBio's expertise and reputation in cell and gene therapy made them the perfect partner to accelerate our ability to build our biomanufacturing center of excellence."