One of Washington state's top biotech minds says the governor's Life Sciences Discovery Fund has been a series of missteps and is run by a board he describes as a joke. On his blog at the P-I, John Cook has the sharp comments from Leroy Hood, the biotech entrepreneur and former UW professor. Hood appeared at a Seattle technology summit Monday.

Hood touted the sharp focus of the stem cell initiative in California, which also includes a board made up of scientists, before ripping into Washington state's efforts.

"Contrast that with our own Life Sciences Discovery Fund, which I think has made every single wrong decision a fund can make. It is a lot smaller obviously, and hence the only way it is going to make any impact whatsoever is if it is focused. It is not focused at all. The two universities that are dominant here, it is to their advantage to have it be diffuse. And the board is a joke as far as science goes.... So, I think California was brilliant in making resource commitments and really focusing," he said.

You can find a list of the board members here.

Hood lobbied for creation of the fund. It was a major priority for Gov. Christine Gregoire in her first year in office. She signed legislation creating the fund in May 2005. Her press release announcing creation of the fund said:

Creation of Life Sciences Discovery Fund is part of the governor's economic development strategy. The fund is intended to create new jobs and put Washington at the heart of leading-edge research to cure debilitating diseases and improve the quality and yield of agricultural crops.

The fund is based on the $350 million in bonus funds that Washington will receive through the tobacco settlement agreement — $35 million a year for 10 years, beginning in 2008. Combined with matching funds for the grants and with non-state funds, the Life Sciences Discovery Fund could have a $1 billion impact on health and agricultural research in Washington.

"Life Sciences is about vision," said Gregoire before signing Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5581 in a ceremony at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Lee Huntsman, a former colleague of Hood's at UW, is now executive director of the Life Sciences fund. He told me by e-mail that he did not any comment about what Hood said. But he did express confidence in the fund:

I think it's fair to say that both the Trustees and the staff are pleased with the way the grant programs and the organization are coming together, encouraged by the response of donors and applicants, and optimistic that the Fund will be able to provide the benefits to the State that the Governor and Legislature intended.