The Ignite Institute, a startup medical research firm, will invest $200 million to establish a facility in Fairfax, Virginia, according to the Virginia governor's office. The company, which is expected to create 415 new jobs, will be built around the application of personalized medical innovation in a community health setting. It is a project of the Inova Health System and Dietrich Stephan, Ph.D., a leading specialist in molecular medicine, and will include sophisticated molecular scanning technologies to understand the bases of human illnesses. "Virginia is a state where personalized medicine can fully take root and flourish," says Stephan, the president and CEO of Ignite Institute. "The highly educated work force, national IT leadership, excellence in healthcare, and proximity to Washington, D.C., make this the ideal place to launch the institute." Ignite will initially be located in wet lab space at the Center for Innovative Technology in Fairfax and will search for a permanent location in Fairfax County. Incentives offered to the company include a $3 million grant from the state, with potential eligibility for a performance grant of as much as $22 million over the next four years, contingent on job creation and investment goals.
