It's been 25 years since the UW-Madison Biotechnology Center started on campus, and to commemorate the occasion, a celebration is set for 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Biotechnology Center at 425 Henry Mall.

Dick Burgess, founding director of the center, said there were only three companies working in biotech in Madison in 1985.

"Now we have over 150 biotech firms in the area, and the state is recognized as a premier site for biotechnology research and industry," Burgess said in a release from the UW-Madison news service.

The center's reputation grew, and now UW-Madison is considered one of the best biological campuses in the world.

"We have 750 tenured professors in biology, and probably a greater diversity, quality and quantity of biological research than at any other place outside of the National Institutes of Health," said current director Michael Sussman.

The creation of the center here also stopped a "brain drain" of talent away from Madison.

"In the mid-1980s, almost everyone being trained in Madison in biological science was going to the coasts," Burgess said. "Now there are thousands of jobs in the area, and we've attracted a lot of significant talent."