LifeNet Health, a nonprofit organ transplantation and regenerative medicine organization, is opening a research lab in Research Triangle Park.

“Having a facility in the midst of North Carolina’s active biomedical research community gives us the opportunity to leverage the scientific resources of Research Triangle Park with LifeNet Health’s industry-leading technologies in organ, tissue and cell recovery for transplantation,” Rony Thomas, president and CEO of LifeNet Health, said in a news release.

The RTP site will be an extension of the organization’s flagship research center, the LifeNet Health Institute of Regenerative Medicine, located at the company’s headquarters in Virginia Beach, Va. It will focus on isolating liver cells and adult stem cells for applications in drug discovery and toxicity testing, the organization said.

The site will initially employ about five people when it opens within the next month “with the potential to double in the near term,” said Daniel Shuman, senior manager of marketing communications.

  • VIDEO: Watch an overview video about LifeNet at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lollj73me4

LifeNet Health has begun recruiting staff for the facility and has appointed Edward LeCluyse, Ph.D., a nationally renowned scientist with more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, as a principal scientist.

The organization will lease space at 6 Davis Drive on the former 56-acre campus of The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, now owned by Alexandria Real Estate Equities. The site’s initial footprint will be about 10,000 square feet, with the potential to expand.

“We are delighted to have LifeNet Health join North Carolina’s widely diverse array of more than 600 life science companies, adding value to both academic research and commercial activity with its cell-based programs,” said Doug Edgeton, president and CEO of the N.C. Biotechnology Center.

LifeNet said the RTP site will serve as a center of excellence for collaboration with other research entities and provide an opportunity to build partnerships within the biomedical and regenerative science sector.

“The Board is pleased with this expansion that highlights LifeNet Health’s continued emphasis on technology and the discovery of new medical therapies to benefit patients and carry out our mission,” said John Herre, M.D., chairman of LifeNet Health’s board of directors.

A 900-employee organization

LifeNet Health was founded in 1982 as the Eastern Virginia Tissue Bank. Since then, it has grown organically and through mergers with other organ and tissue banks.

Today it has about 900 employees, mostly at its three facilities in Virginia Beach, Shuman said.

LifeNet Health provides transplant solutions — from organ procurement to bio-implants and cellular therapies — and has a growing focus on regenerative medicine.

Its work spans several divisions, according to its website:

  • The Bio-Implants division engineers and processes dental, cardiovascular, spinal and orthopedic bio-implants. It distributes more than 400,000 bio-implants every year to patients around the world.
  • The Tissue Services division promotes organ and tissue donation through training and education with 55 partner organizations.
  • The Transplant Services division is a federally designated Organ Procurement Organization that coordinates the recovery and transplant of organs in Virginia and part of West Virginia, offers bereavement support for donor families and educates the public about donation.
  • LifeNet Health of Florida recovers tissue, promotes tissue donation in Northern Florida.
  • LifeNet Health’s facility in Renton, Wash., is a recovery and processing division serving the Pacific Northwest.
  • The Institute of Regenerative Medicine researches and develops novel regenerative approaches and products derived from donor tissues and organs.
  • The LifeNet Health Foundation perpetuates the honor and memory of organ and tissue donors by providing education, awareness and support to donor families and the community.
  • The LifeNet Health International division develops and manages international partners and customers.

(C) N.C. Biotechnology Center