Plant & Medical Sciences

“St. Louis has made more progress in its implementation of the plant and medical sciences strategy than any region of the country, and is well on the road to becoming the leading center for plant sciences and a major center for the life sciences."
Dr. Walter H. Plosila
Vice President of Technology Partnership Practice
Battelle Memorial Institute.

Long home to such international corporate giants as Monsanto, Sigma-Aldrich, and the Pfizer St. Louis Laboratories, the St. Louis region has an active and growing plant and life sciences community, encompassing world-class research institutions, strong plant and medical sciences companies, a fertile technology transfer, incubator and start-up environment, and an active venture capital initiative that provide a full spectrum of capital availability.

The cluster is known as the St. Louis BioBelt: the Center of Plant & Medical Sciences.

The St. Louis BioBelt comprises companies engaged in the development and production of medicines, agricultural chemicals, organic chemical manufacturing, medical equipment manufacturing, and research and development. In total, nearly 400 plant and life science enterprises call the St. Louis region home, with about 15,220 employees.

Based on a Battelle Memorial Institute strategic study commissioned in 2000, the St. Louis region committed to aggressively invest in the regional technology economy to create the premier location for plant sciences and major center for medical sciences. In 2005 Battelle completed a detailed progress report  measuring success against the original 2000 strategic plan. The Battelle report assessed the progress achieved to date.

SECTION LINKS  Plant and Medical Sciences Cluster Profile  Leading Corporations  Universities  Research Facilities  Venture Capital  Incubators  CORTEX Life Science District Map  Document Library