* February 6, 2014 press release…

Governor Pat Quinn today was joined by J.B. Pritzker and key civic and business leaders to announce MATTER - a new startup center for next-generation healthcare technology companies. A priority in the Governor’s 2014 State of the State address, the not-for-profit BioHub will drive entrepreneurship in the rapidly expanding medical and biotechnology fields. Supported by a $4 million state investment, MATTER is part of Governor Quinn’s agenda to create jobs and drive Illinois’ economy forward.

“We are committed to taking our medical technology industry to the next level,” Governor Quinn said. “MATTER will serve as a central location to empower entrepreneurs and spur economic growth, while advancing Illinois’ role as a national leader in life sciences and health innovation.”

As a not-for-profit organization, MATTER will be located in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart. Its collaborative workspace will allow interaction among entrepreneurs, academics and investors in order to create and grow new companies in healthcare information technology, medical devices, medical diagnostics and biopharmaceuticals. 1871, the digital startup hub what will be MATTER’s neighbor in the Merchandise Mart, has followed that same recipe for success, resulting in more than 200 start-ups and creating more than 1,000 jobs since its launch in 2012.

That organization is still alive and kicking today.

* But a very different biohub concept is now on the way…

A group founded by Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg and his wife will spend $250 million to create a new biomedical research hub in Chicago where scientists from Northwestern University, University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will study human disease.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, named for Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, plans to invest $250 million in the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago over a decade. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has also committed $25 million in state dollars to support the project. […]

The biohub will also have its own dedicated staff of scientists and researchers. Leaders hope to start operations in April.

Northwestern, UChicago and UIUC beat out proposals from about 60 other teams across the country to win the funding. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative spent about a year narrowing down the applicants, until the Chicago universities emerged as the winner, said Steve Quake, head of science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Pritzker committed the $25 million in state capital funds during that selection process.

* More from Forbes…

To lead the Chicago Biohub, Chan and Zuckerberg selected Shana O. Kelley, a professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering at Northwestern who has focused on sensors and sensor technology, and has cofounded four companies based on technologies that have come out of her research. (One, Geneohm Sciences, was acquired by medical technology firm Becton Dickinson in 2006 for a reported $230 million.) Her expertise on sensors is tied to the groundbreaking work that the Chicago Biohub aims to tackle.

“The idea is to take human tissues and embed thousands of sensors into them, to make a completely new kind of measurement,” Kelley says via Zoom from Chicago. The experiments will use small samples of human tissue collected with consent during surgical procedures. Next, says Kelley, they will “watch what’s happening with cells and tissues–watch them communicating with one another to understand what happens when a tissue goes from being normal to being inflamed,” with the goal of comprehending how inflammation works and how it drives disease. More than 50% of deaths are attributed to diseases with some form of inflammation, she points out. The first experiments will start with skin tissue.

The three universities each contribute an area of expertise to the Biohub, says Kelley: Northwestern is strong in sensing, University of Chicago excels in inflammation and in quantum sensing, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed microfabrication systems and the ability to make miniaturized devices, which will be needed for making the ultra-tiny sensors.