The Swiss life sciences firm said the facility – the Collaborative Innovation Center (CIC) - on the outskirts of Haifa will house a 20-strong staff who will work with local companies and academics.
Focus areas will include process engineering, software development and cell and molecular biology. Lonza has already established collaboration agreements with Tel Aviv University, the Technion R&D Foundation and the Weizmann Institute of Science.
A spokeswoman told us “Various inventions and technologies identified will be researched at the CIC premises and, if relevant and novel, will be integrated into Lonza's manufacturing technologies.
Technologies that can improve biopharmaceutical production processes will be core to the project according to the spokeswoman.
“We will work and research mainly protein expression and production methods, as well as genomic manipulation, gene editing and high-throughput screening methodologies” she told us, adding that “drug-delivery platforms and inventions will also be in the CIC focus.”
She went on to say that Lonza will use a range of partnership models to access the technologies, adding “The CIC will work with external entities in various ways such as in-licensing, collaboration, investment for IP and equity, etc.”
The centre is scheduled to become operational before the end of the year.