Vaccine Development

Fargo Moorhead has a history of excellence in health care and life sciences, including medicine, pharmacy and agriculture.  As we look to the future, we are positioning ourselves as a leader in the growing field of vaccines.  Partnerships between the private sector and academia, and the region's large number of college-graduates in life science and healthcare disciplines, make it possible. 

Vaccine discovery and delivery is an emerging focus for pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and an area in which Fargo Moorhead is differentiating itself from competing communities.  Private industry leaders, such as Aldevron, are serving the world in ways that, until recently, were not possible.  Aldevron offers high-demand products and services to the DNA vaccine and gene therapy community. Its core technology is a proprietary method to produce and purify plasmid DNA.  Aldevron has locations in Fargo, Madison, Wisc. and Germany, and serves over a thousand clients located around the world.

Fargo Moorhead is home to the North Dakota State University College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Allied Sciences (PNAS), which graduates nearly 100 pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists annually.  In addition, more than 2,500 students are currently enrolled in life sciences and health care fields at NDSU, Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) Concordia College and local technical and business colleges. These graduates go on to successful careers at local life science companies such as Aldevron, PRACS Institute and Clinical Supplies Management, and healthcare providers like MeritCare Health System, Innovis Health and the VA Medical Center. 

The College of Pharmacy is making major strides toward becoming a research powerhouse with its new Center of Biopharmaceuticals Research and Production (CBRP).  The CBRP is led by C. Satishchandran (Satish), formerly the chief technology officer of the Nucleic Acid-Based Therapeutics Unit of the Biotherapeutics Division at Pfizer, Inc., as well as the co-founder and chief operating and scientific offer of Nucleonics, a biotechnology company in Pennsylvania. Satish brings a wealth of experience in both research and business to the Fargo Moorhead region.

The Center will fuel biopharmaceutical and life science sectors in the region to discover and develop novel biopharmaceuticals and vaccines to treat some of the most challenging diseases facing humankind. The Center’s long-term goal is to develop vaccines and biopharmaceutical products through product development, manufacturing and conducting pre-clinical and clinical studies in conjunction with its private sector partners.

Concordia College also contributes to the growing critical mass of vaccine research in Fargo Moorhead with its Global Vaccine Institute.  The Institute performs research and development in vaccine design and pre-clinical trials, focusing on neglected tropical diseases such as hookworm.

For career opportunities in vaccine development, the life sciences and healthcare, please visit the Fargo Moorhead's career website, CareerFM.com.