Governor Cuomo Announces $105 Million in Funding Approved for New York State Genomic Medicine and Big Data Center
Albany, NY - July 17, 2014 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that approximately $105 million in funding has been approved to establish the NYS Genomic Medicine and Big Data Center (GMBDC), a partnership proposed by the Governor in the 2014 State of the State Address to connect New York City’s Genome Center with Buffalo-Niagara’s medical corridor and put the State in a position to lead the way in Genomic Medicine research and development. A total of $48 million in Buffalo Billion funding is allocated to support the new Genomic Medicine Center in Buffalo, and the Genome Center in New York City was approved for $57 million to support the partnership. The funding was approved earlier today by Empire State Development’s (ESD) Board of Directors.
“Genomic medicine is the next frontier in modern medicine, and we want Buffalo and Western New York to be the international center for genomic research and lead the way in revolutionizing the diagnosis and treatment of serious diseases,” Governor Cuomo said. “With today’s approval by the ESD Board, the NY Genomic Medicine Network is one step closer to getting off the ground. This exciting new partnership between the New York City Genome Center, University at Buffalo, and the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Corridor will create hundreds of new jobs both in Buffalo and New York City, and put the State in the forefront of this new industry while saving lives and improving public health.”
The NY Genomic Medicine Network seeks to capture the economic and medical gains in the emerging field of genomic medicine and to develop Upstate New York as a national center for genomic research and jobs. This network links the medical community in New York City with the computational infrastructure at the University at Buffalo (UB) and the research community at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. With its supercomputing resources and expert staff, the Buffalo institutions will provide the NY Genome Center (NYGC) in New York City with rapid access to computational capabilities that will increase the speed of genomic research and analysis critical to diagnosis of diseases.
In addition, genomic medicine has the potential to reduce the cost of health care, as many drug compounds currently sitting on the shelves of pharmaceutical companies will find new uses. It is estimated that health care costs will decline by $500 million over the next five years as genomic medicine emerges as a standard of treatment.
Grants of up to $47.5 million to The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY RF) on behalf of the University at Buffalo will be used as reimbursement for a portion of the cost of equipment/software and operating expenses. The $70 million project will establish facilities and services to aid in research and development, innovation, product development, entrepreneurial creation and business development in those fields requiring the use of high performance computing, informatics and biomedical research, including but not limited to genomic medicine. This involves the acquisition of data storage space and hardware, software, equipment for UB’s Shared Lab Resources, and operating funds that will assist in hiring leadership and scientific experts. The RF will own the assets and equipment, which will be utilized by Beneficiaries and other collaborators.
“The State is accelerating economic growth by creating a hub for scientific innovation in Western New York and connecting it to the New York Genome Center, which will help to establish New York State as a national leader in genomic research and development,” said Empire State Development President, CEO & Commissioner Kenneth Adams. “The NYS Genomic Medicine and Big Data Center will create high paying and sustainable jobs for New Yorkers from Buffalo to New York City, and will also bring the Empire State world-wide attention as a hub for life saving genomic research.”
GMDBC, through its extensive capabilities in high performance computing and big data analytics will work closely with scientists at NYGC to help store and analyze the large volume of genomic data generated daily at NYGC, including the long‐term storage of genomic data. In addition, NYGC will work closely with GMDBC medical professionals to leverage their extensive capabilities in next generation sequencing to measure the genome for large patient cohorts to support medical studies.
About the Buffalo Investment Strategy
With Governor Cuomo’s commitment to invest $1 billion in the Buffalo area economy, which is designed to spur significantly greater private investment and create thousands of new, sustainable jobs, New York State is helping the Buffalo area to realize immediate economic growth to put “generation now” back to work while setting the foundation for sustainable economic opportunity for future generations.
The Western New York Regional Economic Development Council (WNYREDC) – a top economic development plan award winner – will play a key role in how the funding is used to support the expansion of local companies and how to target the attraction of new businesses across the country and around the globe to come to Buffalo. Those businesses will likely be related in some manner to the cluster industries identified by the WNYREDC in its strategic plan, which include, advanced manufacturing, agricultural/food processing, bi national logistics and distribution, energy, life sciences/medical devices, professional services.
To learn more about each regional council and their economic development plans, visit regionalcouncils.ny.gov. For information on how the New New York is working for business, please visit thenewny.com.