New biorepository on Opportunity Corridor will help put area in fast lane for biomedical research

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - A cold storage unit for biospecimens will try to heat up the Opportunity Corridor.

“It’s a big resource for our researchers and for our community,” said Dr. Lara Jehi, director of the biorepository and chief research information officer at Cleveland Clinic about the facility on East 100th Street and Cedar, just south of the main campus.

“The whole idea of the Cleveland Innovation District as a vision is that we want to bring all these biotech innovations to the city of Cleveland,” said Jehi.

The biorepository is the first building in the Cleveland Innovation District, a public-private partnership, to bring more biomedical jobs to the area.

“We do see it as a hub that is going support this type of biomedical research, not just in the Cleveland Clinic, but across the whole city of Cleveland with research partners across the whole country and around the world,” said Jehi.

It’s part of the Opportunity Corridor, the area around what connects downtown to University Circle and is scheduled to open later this year. The new facility has 400 freezers and can serve as a cornerstone for development, according to Dr. Jehi.

It can also help the surrounding neighborhoods, like Fairfax and Woodland Hills.

“The Woodland Hills community, it has the lowest life expectancy in the entire county,” said Ward 6 Councilman Blaine Griffin. “Being the shadows of the great health institution, it’s time that we married the two worlds.”

The biorepository is one of the few on the campus of a hospital, researchers usually shipping out samples, which will help with job creation in the area and also allows it to serve as an education research, particularly for high school students interested in careers in health care or medicine.

“It’s a big step forward but the vision, as you can tell, is a lot bigger,” said Jehi.

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