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Building opens its doors to research, area's future
Published on June 2, 2006
Author: Jay Rey - NEWS STAFF REPORTER
© The Buffalo News Inc.
A sleek, new building rising four stories on the corner of Virginia and Ellicott streets opens today as a symbol of hope for modern medicine, and the future of Buffalo.
More than $200 million in public and private investment is wrapped up in the University at Buffalo's new New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences building. There, bright, scientific minds will be counted on to develop medical breakthroughs and serve as a catalyst for economic development in a region desperate for such a stimulus. "We want to develop a large pipeline of medical treatments and devices coming out of the region," said Bruce A. Holm, executive director of the Center of Excellence. It's a visible milestone for Buffalo. Along with the adjoined Roswell Park Cancer Institute Center for Genetics and Pharmacology and the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, which opened across the street in 2005, the trio of new buildings positions Buffalo to jump into the competitive business of biotechnology. Can the region emerge as a biotech hub? How many new spin-off companies and jobs will be created? And can the area compete with other regions around the country that also are hoping to use the biotech industry for economic development? "We're convinced we can," said Assembly Majority Leader Paul A. Tokasz, D-Cheektowaga, "because we have the intellectual capabilities to do it and the computer capabilities to do it." The average annual salary of bioscience workers in the United States was $65,775 in 2004, more than $26,000 greater than the average private-sector wage, according to a recent report by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a trade association. While the three new buildings, constituting the Buffalo Life Sciences Complex, help put Buffalo on the biotech map, Tokasz and other observers caution the public about unrealistic expectations. "It's not going to create 50,000 jobs," said Angelo M. Fatta, chairman of BuffLink, a nonprofit development group that works to springboard university research into products and jobs. "We expect, over a period of seven to eight years, 7,000 to 8,000 of these jobs." The power brokers and investors expected for today's ribbon cutting -- including Gov. George E. Pataki and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- are as anxious as anyone to find out. Holm believes the Buffalo region has some advantages. The reputation of the three institutions is a big asset, as are the region's affordable housing and cost of living when recruiting scientists, Holm said. The area's proximity to Toronto and the possibility for cross-border collaboration is a plus too, he said. Moreover, the clustering of the three institutions and the collaboration among the researchers is a unique model that could speed up the time it takes to turn research into commercial products and spin-off companies, Holm said. "Forty states have academic-industry partnerships for economic development; only we are strategically and architecturally designed to be able to do it," Holm said. "We're better prepared to go from the lab bench to the bedside." "Buffalo's niche is that it has a lot of intelligent people in a lot of different areas who are willing to work together," said George T. DeTitta, Hauptman-Woodward's chief executive officer, "and that sets us apart from a lot of areas in the country." Think of the building as a giant, high-tech sandbox, said Norma J. Nowak, director of science and technology at the Center of Excellence. Inside, researchers from a cross-section of scientific fields will collaborate to unlock the secrets of our genetic makeup. They'll bring with them some high-powered tools. The first floor will hold the computer power of UB's Center for Computational Research -- one of the nation's largest academic computing centers -- to analyze the massive amounts of genetic data. The more researchers learn, the more they can work to tailor new therapies and drugs to treat diseases. Since the Center of Excellence was first announced by Pataki in 2001, the focus has broadened beyond just bioinformatics -- using supercomputers to sift through genetic data in a search for new drugs -- into more life sciences research, as UB tries to capitalize on that strength under President John B. Simpson. "We're positioning ourselves to take advantage of this," Simpson said. Two hundred scientists, assistants and staff, now scattered throughout various university labs and offices, will work at the Center of Excellence on specific areas of disease, including cancers, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, and diseases such as diabetes. It also will be home to the Hunter James Kelly Research Institute, focusing on Krabbe disease and other nervous-system disorders. Lawmakers, and the public, will be keeping a close eye on their investment. The state provided nearly $90 million to build and fund the Center of Excellence, with the remaining money coming from the federal government, nonprofits and the private sector. Another $41 million in state money was provided for the first phase of Roswell's Center for Genetics and Pharmacology, where some staff will be moving in next week, Roswell officials said. A series of community events are planned this month to celebrate the opening of the Center of Excellence, including a public open house from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. June 11 and three public lectures, on June 19, 20 and 21. e-mail: jrey@buffnews.comDennis C. Enser/Buffalo News
Research assistant Changling Sia fills a plate for analysis in the new
Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, touted as an
economic catalyst.
Dennis C. Enser/Buffalo News
Laboratory manager Husam Ghanin is one of the scientists doing research
that many hope will lead to a medical breakthrough.
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