HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology

HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. (The Huntsville Times/Eric Schultz)

- The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is offering guided tours of its 270,000 square-foot, high-tech genetic research facility Thursday. It's the first of a series of quarterly tours planned to show the center's three-part mission of research, education and economic development.

The tour is limited to the first 50 people to sign up,

to see the state-of-the-art facility Huntsville leaders say will be one of the cornerstones of North Alabama's economy in the 21st century. HudsonAlpha is home now to research labs, several dozen high-tech startups, and facilities where teachers from around Alabama are taught how to teach genetics to their students.