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Two dozen good-paying scientific research jobs almost left western Montana for Maryland last year – but they ended up here in Missoula thanks to an innovative partnership with the University of Montana.

GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines, a giant pharmaceutical company with an office in Hamilton, announced in February 2015 that it was consolidating its research and development operations to Maryland.

Employees were faced with the choice of retiring, applying for new jobs on the East Coast, or figuring out a different option. None of them wanted to uproot their families and leave. So, they reached out to UM and chose to stay here, and the result is the formation of a new biotechnology company in Missoula called Inimmune Corp. that currently employs 22 workers in high-wage jobs, with plans to hire three more by year's end.

The University of Montana played a crucial role in allowing them to stay because it could provide the necessary laboratory space and infrastructure capable of supporting a large multidisciplinary research program.

There was also a big dangling carrot: The scientists from the Bitterroot already had more than $20 million in scientific equipment and research contracts from the National Institutes of Health that they could transfer to UM. It was a win-win situation.