REGIONAL CLUSTER (2011)
- Employment: 6,280
- Average Annual Wage: $51,174
Source: Innovation in American Regions
AREA COMPANIES
Abokia (Blacksburg, VA) | delivers customizable and massively accelerated biocomputing software to the fingertips of end users by leveraging its internationally recognized expertise at the intersection of bioinformatics and high-performance computing (HPC), particularly with respect to emerging computing trends in cluster computing, cloud computing, and GPU (graphics processing unit) computing.
Axon Nutritionals (Blacksburg, VA) | takes a scientific approach to nutraceutical development and believes simple lifestyle adjustments, including the addition of daily nutraceuticals to your diet, will promote healthy aging and reduce risk of disease.
BC Genesis (Blacksburg, VA) | A biotechnology company that develops medical implants for market of orthopedic medical devices.
BioGeneTech 
(Blacksburg, VA) | A biotechnology and informatics company that engages in research, discovery, development and service of knowledge and products in life sciences.
Intrexon Corporation (Blacksburg, VA) | Manufactures genetic material and employs modular DNA control systems to enhance capabilities, improve safety and lower cost in human therapeutics, protein production, industrial enzymes and agbio.
Luna Innovations, Inc (Blacksburg) | Luna Innovations develops and manufactures new-generation products for the healthcare, telecommunications, energy and defense markets.
LewisGale Hospital at Montgomery (Blacksburg, VA) | Members of HCA Southwest Virginia, a family of hospitals, outpatient centers and physicians with a single priority: putting patients first.
New River Valley Medical Center (Christiansburg, VA) | A leading healthcare provider in the New River Valley, this modern hospital facility hosts both medical and psychiatric services.
Novozymes (Salem, VA) | biotech company with a strong focus on enzyme production. We are committed to changing the very foundations of our industrial system for the better by using industrial biotechnology.
OcuCure Therapeutics, Inc. (Roanoke, VA) | is an ophthalmic pharmaceutical company developing new proprietary drugs. The company’s lead compound has been formulated as a topical eye drop for both Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic Retinopathy (DR). AMD and DR are leading causes of blindness in developed countries.
Revivicor, Inc. (Blacksburg, VA) | Commercializes therapies that can treat and cure serious human disease through regenerative medicine; namely, the replacement of cells, tissues, and organs.
Synthonics (Blacksburg, VA) | a specialty pharmaceutical company that utilizes its proprietary metal coordination chemistry to create new, patentable metal coordinated pharmaceuticals (“MCPs”) that are safer, more stable, and more efficacious than their congeners.
Techlab, Inc. (Blacksburg, VA) | Experts in Anaerobic Microbiology of the intestinal tract. Innovation, manufacture and sales of diagnostics for diseases of the GI Tract.
Techulon (Blacksburg, VA) | a life sciences company with a core capability in the development, characterization and synthesis of novel gene delivery techniques for cell-based therapeutics
COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES
Virginia Tech
Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Radford University
New River Community College:
- Associates Degree in Nursing
- Practicing Nurse Certificate
RESEARCH AT VIRGINIA TECH
Biomedical
- Fralin Life Sciences Institute | An interdisciplinary research center at Virginia Tech whose purpose is to bring scientists from different disciplines together under one roof to solve some of biology's more complex challenges.
- Virginia Tech Center for Genomics | An interdisciplinary effort to provide a focus for research and teaching in functional genomics, proteomics, statistical genetics, bioinformatics, and metabolic engineering.
- Tyson Cell Cycle Regulation Group | Studies biological systems from a rigorous mathematical perspective. Most of their work is on the mechanism of cell division cycle control as seen in budding yeast, fission yeast, Xenopus embryos and egg extracts, Drosophila embryos and mammalian cells.
- The Center for Comparative Oncology (CeCO) | Studies the development of cancer in animals and in people, to develop new ways to diagnose cancer and to find new treatments to control and cure it.
- Laboratory for Neurotoxicity Studies | The interdisciplinary basic and applied research of specific problems of neurotoxicity and neuropathology associated with exposure to drugs and chemicals.
- Center for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases | Addresses basic problems of infectious, immunological, and biochemical diseases of humans and animals through the development of diagnostic tests and vaccines using molecular biotechnology and immunological techniques.
- Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute | The institute provides state-of-the-art facilities for molecular medicine, imaging using lasers, high-power electron beams and magnetic resonance, high-capacity data handling, and human performance analysis.
Bioengineering
- Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University School for Biomedical Engineering — Research areas include biomechanics, cellular transport, computational modeling, biomaterials, bio-heat and mass transfer, biofluid mechanics, biotribology, bioinstrumentation, ergonomics, and tissue engineering.
- Virginia Tech Center for Genomics (VIGEN) — An interdisciplinary effort to provide a focus for research and teaching in functional genomics, proteomics, statistical genetics, bioinformatics, and metabolic engineering
Bioinformatic
- Biocomplexity Institute | The institute develops genomic, proteomic and bioinformatic tools that can be applied to the study of infectious diseases as well as the discovery of new vaccine, drug and diagnostic targets.
- Human Factors Engineering and Ergonomics Center | Human factors engineering, often called ergonomics, is concerned with ways of designing jobs, machines, operations, environments, or work systems so they are compatible with human capabilities and limitations
Food, Nutrition and Health
- Department of Human Nutrition, Food, and Exercise (HNFE) | Research in the department promotes health by the integration of human nutrition, food, and exercise focused on the prevention and therapeutic treatment of problems in healthy and vulnerable populations