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500 JOBS ENVISIONED AT BIOINFORMATICS CENTER
Published on June 6, 2002
Author: STEPHEN WATSON - News Staff Reporter
© The Buffalo News Inc.
The partners planning a bioinformatics complex in Buffalo say they will employ 500 workers -- 250 of them new hires -- when they open the three-building medicine and genetics research center in the city's medical corridor.
The University at Buffalo, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute -- along with private companies and government sources -- will pump $290 million into the complex, Gov. George E. Pataki announced at a news conference in Buffalo. He said $110 million will come from this year's state budget. The 400,000-square-foot complex -- nearly four times the size of the Buffalo Convention Center -- will house the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics, which officials in Albany and Buffalo hope will make Western New York a hub for cutting-edge technology jobs. "Today, the vision that we had that Buffalo can become a center of excellence becomes a reality," Pataki said in front of 300 people in an auditorium at Roswell Park. "There will be nothing like it anywhere in the country," he added. Wednesday's event was Pataki's third appearance in Buffalo to make a bioinformatics announcement since December, a sign of the governor's interest in the high-tech project. Pataki and other officials hope the center's research into the human genome will lead to the discovery of new drugs that can be tested and manufactured locally. That work could bring thousands of jobs and millions of dollars to the region, though any significant economic impact is years away. State legislators and other officials had outlined the plans and the financing for the bioinformatics complex in recent weeks, but officials Wednesday fleshed out details of the project. UB and Roswell Park will construct two buildings, connected by a footbridge, on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, centered on Virginia Street between Ellicott and Elm streets. UB's building will contain about 150,000 square feet of research space and will house 200 employees, including the center's director, Jeffrey Skolnick. The recently hired Skolnick seems to grow more confident in the project with each public appearance he makes. "Success . . . is virtually guaranteed," he said Wednesday. "All we have to do is roll up our shirt sleeves and get to it." UB's center likely will cost $61 million -- $50 million previously announced for the Center of Excellence and an additional $11 million Pataki committed Wednesday. The UB employees, including 60 scientists, all are likely to be new hires, and construction on the building should begin this summer and be completed by 2005, said UB Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi. The center will be linked to UB's Center for Computational Research, one of the most powerful supercomputers in the country, which will crunch large amounts of genetic data. "This is just the beginning," Capaldi said after the news conference. "Now we have to do the work." Roswell Park has been planning to build new space for its genetics and pharmacology research for five years, said Patrick P. Lee, chairman of the hospital's corporation board. "Top-notch people need top-notch facilities," Lee said. Roswell Park plans a five-story, 170,000-square-foot building that will house 200 employees, including 45 current faculty and up to 15 new researchers, said Dr. David C. Hohn, Roswell Park's president and chief executive officer. This building is expected to cost $61 million, $40 million from the state and $20 million that Roswell Park is raising from private sources, Hohn said. Construction work could begin late this year and should be finished within two to three years. Roswell Park will research the genetics of cancer in ways that better allow doctors to diagnose and treat the disease, Hohn said. The institute's researchers also will work to develop new medical drugs. UB and Roswell Park will share the architectural services of Francis Caufman Foley and Hoffmann of Syracuse and Philadelphia. Hauptman-Woodward plans a $20 million building that will replace its existing facility at 73 High St. and will house 100 employees, according to George T. DeTitta, its executive director and chief executive officer. The current facility houses 65 employees. Work on the 75,000-square-foot building could begin in the fall and be completed in 18 months. Pataki announced Wednesday that the state will provide $8 million toward Hauptman's building and the institute will provide $12 million. In addition to the $110 million state commitment and the $32 million from Roswell Park and Hauptman-Woodward, private partners are pumping $150 million into the center, and the federal government has promised $3.1 million. Western New York will have to compete with Boston, North Carolina's Research Triangle and Northern California's Silicon Valley to make money in high-tech research. But Pataki said he's confident Buffalo can match the Silicon Valley in generating research and jobs, a view he said he based on a visit there. "It's a lot nicer here in upstate New York and Buffalo than it is in the Silicon Valley," Pataki said, making friends in the crowd. "It's hot there. It's dry. They have earthquakes in Silicon Valley, and the lights go out." Pataki was joined on stage by a who's who of local politicians, business leaders and scientists, a clear sign of the center's perceived importance. e-mail: swatson@buffnews.comDEREK GEE/Buffalo News
Gov. George E. Pataki, center, jests with Sen. Mary Lou Rath, Roswell
Park President David Hohn, UB President William R. Greiner and SUNY
Chancellor Robert King.
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