Cold Spring Harbor, NY — New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo visited Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) this morning to break ground on the new $75 million Center for Therapeutics Research. The State of New York has invested $25 million in the new center, which will support advancements already under way in breast cancer, leukemia, autism, obesity/diabetes, and lung cancer therapeutics.
The Center for Therapeutics Research will be housed in the Demerec Laboratory, which is currently being renovated to house the latest addition to the laboratory. Built-in 1953, Demerec Laboratory has been home to the laboratories of four of CSHL’s eight Nobel Prize winners, and will soon welcome 30 new scientists. Funding from the state builds on the Governor’s efforts to foster a thriving biotech corridor among major institutions on Long Island.
“We’re at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory today, which is hallowed ground for scientific research. You can almost feel when you walk on the grounds that you’re in a special place and great things have happened here,” said Governor Cuomo. “The potential we have on Long Island in this biomedical field and biotechnology field is, I think, unprecedented.”
CSHL President & CEO Dr. Bruce Stillman said, “With the help of Governor Cuomo, Senator Marcellino, and our public and private sectors, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory will continue to transform the way basic science research is done, searching for answers to science’s most important challenges and that will positively change the lives of children and adults suffering from disease.”
“The work that we are here to foster, to improve and increase is monumental. The future is before us and it’s bright because what the men and women researchers of this fantastic facility are doing,” said New York State Senator Carl L. Marcellino.“This place provides hope. It’s not the buildings, it’s not the cement, or the steel or the bricks and mortar we’re talking about here, it’s the people, the researchers who work in those laboratories, who do the work, who make the discoveries… it is one of the jewels of Long Island.”
CSHL Professor Adrian Krainer, whose basic research developed a drug to treat Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), was joined by the Larson family at the event. Emma Larson, a four-year-old who participated in the clinical trial for the FDA-approved drug Spinraza™, helped the governor break ground.
Written by: Sara Roncero-Menendez, Media Strategist | publicaffairs@cshl.edu | 516-367-8455