FAST FACTS

Diverse and Dynamic Sector

Emerging as one of the key economic forces in the state, Oklahoma’s bioscience sector is poised for continued growth and prosperity, and is gaining national and international attention. The state’s bioscience community encompasses a wide range of research and business concerns whose economic impact in Oklahoma already exceeds $3.4 billion.

Predominant within Oklahoma’s diverse bioscience sector are:

• Research, testing & medical laboratories
• Medical devices & equipment
• Drugs & pharmaceuticals
• Agriculture feedstock & chemicals

Ground-breaking Research

Oklahoma is recognized internationally for the strengths of its research institutions in select areas of human, plant and animal sciences, with strong emphases in:

• Cardiology & Cardiovascular Biology
• Immunology & Autoimmune Disorders
• Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
• Plant/Crop Sciences & Genetics
• Vision Research/Ophthalmology

More Oklahoma Bio Facts

• The largetst bioscience subsector in Oklahoma is research, testing and medical laboratories.
• The majority of bioscience venture capital invested in the past six years was in medical diagnostics.
• The largest share of the state's bioscience patents during that period was in biochemistry, drugs and pharmaceuticals, and surgical and medical instruments.
• Oklahoma City Community College and Tulsa Community College offer associate degrees and certification programs in biotechnology that support the bioscience industry with specially trained interns and employees.
• Scientists at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation discovered the enzyme believed to be responsible for Alzheimer’s disease.
• The Oklahoma Bioenergy Center was created in 2007 by the Governor and the Legislature to coordinate and enhance biofuels research at Oklahoma State University, the University of Oklahoma and the Noble Foundation.
• The Oklahoma Health Center (OHC) is a hub of research, health care, education, technology and community services organizations. This 300-acre complex is located just south of the state Capitol and east of downtown Oklahoma City and close to the Bricktown area and represents a $3 billion capital investment. The campus is undergoing a transformation with more than $420 billion under construction. The OHC represents the second largest concentration of employees in Oklahoma at more than 12,500.
• The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center is a grouping of seven health-related colleges associated with three OU Medical Center teaching hospitals located in a 15-block area within the larger Oklahoma Health Center complex. OUHSC researchers focus on the biomedical sciences, including genomics, proteomics, and cancer.
• The OU Cancer Institute is Oklahoma's only comprehensive academic cancer center, with significant basic, translational, clinical, prevention and control research programs, as well as direct patient care and training for the next generation of cancer health care professionals. The OU Cancer Institute is seeking "comprehensive cancer center" designation from the National Cancer Institute.
• The Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center (HHODC) seeks to build on its outstanding core research and clinical programming to establish one of our nation’s leading centers for study, education, prevention, and treatment of this disease. The HHODC is committed to be at the forefront of new discoveries to combat diabetes and its complications, and to provide the highest quality care for Oklahomans with Diabetes.
• The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected nonprofit biomedical research institutions. OMRF scientists are working to understand and develop more effective treatments for human disease, including heart disease, cancer, lupus and Alzheimer’s. With more than 600 U.S. and international patents, OMRF ranks among the nation’s leaders in patents per scientist.
• The Dean McGee Eye Institute, which includes the Oklahoma University Health Science Center’s Ophthalmology Department, is one of the largest ophthalmology institutes in the United States.
• Tulsa is home to the University of Tulsa’s Institute of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, as well as, the Warren Foundation’s Laureate Psychiatric Research Center. Tulsa’s St. Francis Hospital is the city’s second-largest employer, and its affiliated Warren research and health care organizations are among the region’s largest such private enterprises.
• The Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater houses animal harvesting, food manufacturing, grain milling, sensory profiling, food microbiology and analytical laboratory facilities, as well as conference facilities and applications laboratories for demonstration and prototype testing. 
• The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Oklahoma is the largest private foundation in the country conducting plant science and agriculture research.
• The University of Oklahoma’s Advanced Center for Genome Technology has played an important role in revealing the essence of life processes. ACGT is actively engaged in the sequence and functional annotation of several genomes of health and agricultural importance. In addition to the genome center databases, the OU Bioinformatics Core Facility hosts the world’s largest E. coli Gene Expression database.