The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded a cooperative agreement to create the Bioindustrial Manufacturing and Design Ecosystem (BioMADE) to the tune of $87.5 million.

BioMADE, which was established by the Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC), joins eight DOD-sponsored Manufacturing Innovation Institutes to promote biotechnology innovation. The seven-year award includes not only $87.5 million in federal funds, but is also being matched by more than $180 million from nonfederal sources.

BioMADE seeks to bridge the gap between lab research and at-scale manufacturing and consists of more than 30 companies, 33 universities, 24 community colleges, and six nonprofits. The collaborative efforts speak to the necessary automation, computational sciences, process engineering, and materials sciences that are needed to develop biotechnology, the firm said.

BioMADE will be headquartered on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota with satellite offices in Berkeley, CA, and Cambridge, MA.

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