FARGO (AP) - Research labs here have scientists working to create an HIV vaccine, test thousands of generic drugs and build laser-driven DNA screening devices.

Scientist Kirk Hartel said the labs are giving the city a reputation as a biolife sciences research center.

"I think it's been a long time coming, but it's starting to gain some traction," said Hartel, who works at Fargo's Dakota Technologies Inc., which produces high-tech laser and electronics equipment capable of screening 100,000 compounds per day.

"You don't have to go to Minneapolis, San Francisco or New York to foster an idea," said Rutgers University graduate Gerald Finken, president and chief executive of Fargo-based Clinical Supplies Management Inc., an 8-year-old company that has revolutionized the shipment of pharmaceutical supplies around the world.

Those involved in bioscience and biomedical research credit local colleges with playing an important role in the rapid growth.

Research studies at North Dakota State University, the University of North Dakota and Minnesota State University Moorhead are turning heads, Finken said.

His company packages, labels, monitors and ships drugs not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration to 50 countries for clinical trials.

Across town, Aldevron scientists are busy with their own projects - producing plasmids, proteins and antibodies used for DNA vaccine, gene therapy and molecular biology research.

The 7-year-old biomedical research company, with 28 employees, has developed Parallelavax technology, capable of testing thousands of vaccines at a time, said company President Michael Chambers.

In 2002, the company manufactured the world's first DNA-based vaccine to combat West Nile virus. In 2004, Aldevron signed a $2.4 million contract with the Department of Defense to develop vaccines to fight bioterrorism agents.

Last month, Aldevron received a $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop HIV vaccines. Last week, a Defense Appropriations subcommittee included $3.5 million in a spending bill so Aldevron could continue developing vaccine testing technology to prevent deadly diseases such as Ebola. The funding awaits Senate approval.

"People are starting to talk about what's being built in our region," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who helped secure funding for Aldevron. "You can't pick a faster-growing area of technology than the biosciences."

Fellow entrepreneurs point to Jim Carlson, a former North Dakota State University chemistry professor, as the catalyst for biomedical research in Fargo. Two decades ago, Carlson and former partner Albert Dietz Jr., a member of the UND medical school faculty, envisioned the need for testing generic drugs.

They started in 1983 from a small north Fargo office, naming their company PRACS Institute LLC.

Today, PRACS is a multistate corporation that has recruited at least 86,000 people to participate in 2,650 generic drug test projects.

PRACS paid $11.7 million in fees to people involved in drug studies last year, Carlson said.

"We have in our analytical lab more than $7 million worth of state-of-the-art equipment," he said. "And we don't have nearly enough equipment. We need to double this because the workload is increasing."