Kerry Ingredients & Flavours of Beloit, Wisconsin, said it was expanding its customer base to include the global biopharmaceutical industry with its new Cell Science laboratory.
Officials said the new $10 million center will incorporate state-of-the-art technologies and media supplementation, as well as a customer nutrition center, flavor labs and product collaboration suites.
“The new Cell Science laboratory expands our media enhancement services capabilities for cell culture, vaccines, microbial fermentation, and diagnostics. Additionally, this new research and applications center with leading R&D expertise will advance our ability to customize cell media supplements to meet the evolving needs of the bio-pharma market globally,” stated Christopher Wilcox, Kerry’s director of research and development overseeing cell culture & media supplementation technologies.
The expansion, which is expected to be completed by August, will create 50 new jobs.
Meanwhile, the news is not as upbeat for pharmaceutical giant Abbott, which recently announced it was cutting 700 jobs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Abbott, which is based in North Chicago, said the layoffs were the result of the discontinuation of some of the company’s “mature products” in its hospital and laboratory diagnostics division, as well as at its stent manufacturing business.