The Metropolitan Development Commission on Wednesday will consider property-tax abatement for Advion BioServices Inc., which plans to collaborate with Eli Lilly and Co. to open a drug-discovery bioanalytical laboratory at the Purdue Research Park of Indianapolis.

Advion, a provider of bioanalytical research and a subsidiary of Ithaca, N.Y.-based Advion BioSciences Inc., is expected to open the 22,000-square-foot lab in mid-May with 49 employees, according to the company’s abatement application.

Advion plans to spend $6.1 million to lease and equip the facility, and is seeking an eight-year abatement to offset costs. MDC staff recommends approval and estimates the company will save $187,290 in personal property taxes over the life of the abatement.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Advion up to $650,000 in performance-based tax credits and up to $30,000 in training grants based on the company’s job-creation plans. Develop Indy will provide additional training funding.

Advion employees are expected to earn an average salary of $63,000 annually, and the lab could have as many as 66 employees by 2015.

The company will focus on early-stage, drug-discovery bioanalytical services, which evaluate how a potential new medicine is absorbed and metabolized in experimental models. Much of the activities performed at the lab are required for the preparation of a molecule’s entry into clinical testing.

Advion announced its collaboration with Indianapolis-based Lilly in early March.

Lilly will move its own drug-discovery bioanalytical operations to Advion as part of the shift and retain some oversight. About 26 Lilly employees will be affected by the drug maker’s decision, but will have the opportunity to apply for limited jobs within Lilly or for openings at Advion’s Indianapolis lab, a Lilly spokeswoman said last month.

Advion will occupy 40 percent of the 55,000-square-foot research park near Indianapolis International Airport.

Also on Wednesday, MDC is expected to grant final approval of a 10-year personal property tax abatement to Indianapolis-based Genesis Casket Co.

The company plans to invest $16.5 million to open a manufacturing and distribution operation on the city’s far-east side, creating 300 jobs over the next three years.