Today, Mayor de Blasio announced four winners of infrastructure grants totaling $38 million as a part of LifeSci NYC, a $500 million commitment to help establish New York City as the public health capital of the world. Today’s awards will fund applied research and development (R&D) facilities at four of New York City’s leading scientific research institutions—Columbia University, Montefiore-Einstein, the New York Stem Cell Foundation, and Rockefeller University.
Each facility will be dedicated to facilitating partnerships between New York’s leading academic scientists, and biotech and pharmaceutical companies, with the ultimate goal of advancing innovative treatments for patients and growing the local industry.
“New York City has fought back COVID-19 by trusting science and working closely with our partners in the scientific community. That work is only just beginning,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “As we rebuild a fairer and better city, it’s time to make New York City a global leader in pandemic response. This city will stand with the life sciences in good times and bad, and I can’t wait to see what our world-class partners will create in the years to come.”
Today’s announcement complements recent City efforts to address pandemic response, including a vision to create to a local institution, tentatively called the Pandemic Response Institute (PRI), that will serve as a hub to prepare for and respond to future health emergencies in New York City. The City also launched the Pandemic Response Lab (PRL), a facility dedicated to processing COVID-19 tests within 24-48 hours for NYC Health + Hospitals.
"Public health will guide New York City's economic recovery; our city is only as healthy as its least healthy resident," said Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Vicki Been. "This investment will strengthen New York City's life sciences ecosystem as an economic development engine and as an incubator of cutting-edge public health technologies and treatments."
“The winners of this important grant will help to keep New York City on the forefront of the life sciences industry,” said Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog. “Investments like these, in vital research and innovative strategies for growing our City’s life science infrastructure, are a key part of this Administration’s recovery agenda, helping create a smarter, healthier NYC, and laying the groundwork for related opportunity in the future.”
“The Applied Research and Development projects will provide quality jobs for New Yorkers, create more accessible biotech space, and support groundbreaking research and innovation -- all critical components of the City's LifeSci NYC initiative,” said James Patchett, President and CEO of New York City Economic Development Corporation. “These goals are vital to increasing access to public health resources and life-saving treatments for all New Yorkers. We’re thrilled these facilities will be a key addition to ensure early-stage technologies can be brought from academic labs to patients in need.”
Columbia University’s Therapeutic Validation Center will receive up to $9 million to establish research facilities dedicated to accelerating early-stage research into new start-ups. The Center will be located within Columbia University’s existing facilities and be open to scientists and entrepreneurs throughout the city, regardless of affiliation. The new Center will use advanced mass spectrometry imaging technology to create next-generation medicines that work by analyzing and orchestrating the behavior of individual cells in the human body to work in concert to eliminate disease. Columbia is in discussion with commercial partners about partnering on this initiative.
Montefiore Medicine, together with its medical school, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, will launch the Einstein-Montefiore Biotechnology Accelerated Research Center (EMBARC) to establish a biomanufacturing operation focused on cell, gene, and antibody therapy production. This facility, supported with up to $13 million, will be located on Montefiore’s Einstein campus in Morris Park and be open to early stage and established companies in need of these scientific facilities.
New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) will be awarded up to $6.5 million to equip an expansion of its Research Institute located in West Midtown, enabling the translation of their research into new drugs and treatments ready for the clinic. The Institute’s expanded operations also allow further collaborations with local universities, biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical companies, and technology organizations who look to bring innovative cell-based treatments to patients in need. The equipment, funded by the City, will increase NYSCF's cell production capacity, process-development abilities, and drug screening capabilities. The grant will also fund equipment for the NYSCF Research Institute clinical laboratory to further enable precision medicine approaches.
The Rockefeller University will receive up to $9 million to convert academic research labs into the Tri-Institutional Translational Center for Therapeutics, an incubator for commercial life sciences, which will serve as the first of its kind in the Upper East Side cluster of biomedical institutions. This new facility will also seek to convert the scientific potential of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weil Cornell Medicine into local high-growth companies.
"New York City boasts one of the world's largest concentrations of biomedical research universities," said Maria Gotsch, President and CEO of the Partnership Fund for New York City. “These translational research centers and incubators will play an important role in moving research from the academic lab to a commercial entity, where both products to improve human health and local jobs can be created. This investment by the City of New York is an important part of the overall plan to make New York a leading center of commercial life sciences.”
"We're now in the golden age of biology, where basic science knowledge and technology are growing faster than ever before, “said Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. “NYC's investments in life sciences and therapeutics will ensure that the next great breakthroughs occur here, powered by the city's innovators and workers and creating the pathway for NYC to be the public health capital of the world.
“We are grateful to Mayor de Blasio and the NYCEDC staff for supporting our vision to create a Center that leverages powerful new technologies for designing next generation medicines. We anticipate that the Center will launch multiple life science companies in NYC that create transformational medicines to change the landscape of treatment for COVID-19 and other human maladies,” said Dr. Brent Stockwell, Professor of Biological Sciences and Chemistry at Columbia University.
“We must accelerate both the pace and success rate of developing new and better treatments for patients, and to do so it is essential for research scientists and companies to perform end-to-end drug screening on the human cells that are actually affected by the diseases we are trying to cure,” said NYSCF founder and CEO Susan L. Solomon. “This new equipment will enable us to realize this opportunity and execute all aspects of a drug screening program right in New York City at our Translational Stem Cell Research Facility, working in close collaboration with scientists and clinicians from the City’s great institutions. Developing drugs and new treatments on human cells is critical and I am very excited that the City continues to make this a priority.”
“The combined research strengths of three world-leading biomedical institutions provides an unparalleled foundation to ensure the success of the new Tri-Institutional Translational Center for Therapeutics,” said Richard P. Lifton, President of Rockefeller University. “By consolidating existing collaborations and providing much-needed biotech incubator space into the bargain, this new center will focus the boldest biomedical science in the world on solving today’s most challenging medical problems – while also growing the fast-emerging biotech sector in New York City.”
“The investments announced today further cement New York City’s place as an innovation hub for life sciences. The commitment by New York City and the collaboration by the world-class institutions receiving the grants will enhance opportunities for entrepreneurs to found high-growth companies that develop important therapeutics” said Jennifer Hawks Bland, CEO of NewYorkBIO, the leading association representing the life science industry in New York. “By providing support to academic researchers, LifeSci NYC is building on the promise of prior investments and will allow New York to accelerate the development of treatments and cures that benefit the world.”
“Since it was founded in 1953, Montefiore Albert Einstein College of Medicine has been at the forefront of scientific breakthroughs, showing why we are ‘the Borough of Universities’,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. “This grant allows Montefiore Albert Einstein College of Medicine to continue doing cutting-edge research, in life sciences and healthcare, as well as provide office space for companies looking to be headquartered right here in The Bronx.”
Launched in 2016, LifeSci NYC is the City of New York’s $500 million dollar commitment to establish New York City as a global leader in the commercial life sciences. LifeSci NYC’s investments span three areas—connecting research to industry, unlocking space for life sciences growth, and building a diverse pipeline of industry talent in New York City. Since 2016, LifeSci NYC has partnered with BioLabs@NYULangone to activate the City’s largest wet-lab incubator, launched an annual summer internship for undergraduates and graduate students interested in life sciences careers, and partnered with Deerfield Management and King Street Properties to develop a total of more than 500,000 square feet of new lab space, located at 345 Park Avenue South and 48-15 Court Square respectively. To learn more about LifeSci NYC, visit lifesci.nyc.
