The New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics & Life Sciences (COE) was created in Buffalo, New York in 2002 as part of more than $200 million dollars in investment from state, federal, industry and philanthropic sources to create a hub of life sciences expertise and innovation in Upstate New York. The COE brings a strong foundation in life sciences research and discovery to its mission and collaborative efforts with industry, government and researchers around the world to improve the health and well-being of the population. COE research institutions have been around for more than 100 years with the University at Buffalo (UB) as the lead academic organization, and Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute as research partners.
The rich history of discovery among scientists at CoE research institutions include:
- BAC Libraries for Sequencing the Human Genome
- Platinum Coil for Inoperable cranial Aneurysms
- Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) Test
- Surfactant Replacement Therapy for Neonatal Respiratory Distress
- Photodynamic Therapy for Cancer
- Beta-Interferon Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis
- Nicotine Replacement Therapy
- Sickle Cell Screening Test
- High-Throughput Crystallization Method
- Timed-Release Insulin Therapy
The COE and its research partners are completing the process of moving into 400,000 square feet of state-of-the-art research facilities in three new interconnected buildings, known as the Buffalo Life Sciences Complex, on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, which is a thriving area of clinical, research and academic operations employing over 8,000 people daily. The COE includes over 100 scientists with biological, physical and computational expertise engaged in interdisciplinary translational research with COE collaborators.
CENTER OF EXCELLENCE HIGHLIGHT
Computing Expansion
07/18/2010 - BUFFALO, NY -- "The University at Buffalo’s downtown supercomputer center is an impressive electronic powerhouse.
The center, which has won $11.45 million in grants in the past year, helps university professors and other researchers run myriad projects. But with supercomputer centers around the world chasing funding and talent, there is no room for complacency.
“It’s tough to stay on the leading edge, and you have to keep working at it,” said Thomas Furlani, director of the Center for Computational Research, its official name.
The center will install $9 million in new equipment this year, improvements that will ramp up capabilities while aiming to reduce energy consumption.
The upgrades will bolster computing capacity — to 6,000 from 2,000 processors—and expand electronic memory by a factor of more than 20.
The center handles about 1,000 projects per day, running them automatically from a queue when the required number of processors opens up. It typically runs at about 90 percent capacity.
Furlani offers this measure of its capability: If you let your personal computer run for one day, that counts as a one central processing unit day, or CPU-day. Last year, the center delivered 720,000 CPU-days.
The center employs a staff of 13, but Furlani described jobs as only one measure of its impact. Its computing horsepower helps researchers win grants and carry out their work, not to mention acting as a UB recruiting tool for faculty and graduate students." [Read On...]
Featured Researcher
UB Center for Advanced Biomedical and Bioengineering Technology (UB CAT) Co-Director and CoE Collaborator Honored
President Barack Obama announced on September 17, 2009 that Esther S. Takeuchi, Greatbatch Professor in Power Sources Research in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and UB CAT Co-Director, has been awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor awarded for technological achievement.
Takeuchi, a UB faculty member since 2007, is the first UB professor to receive this honor. She will receive the medal from Obama at a White House ceremony to be held Oct. 7, 2009 [Read On...]
News
Visit the webiste to learn more at www.isciwny.com
Med Tech Park Grand Opening is Friday 8/17/2010 - BUFFALO, NY -- "The two-story, 43,000-square-foot Med Tech Center is officially known as the Dr. Bruce A. Holm Upstate MedTech Centre. Holm is executive director of the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences at the State University at Buffalo. UB’s Center of Excellence works with life sciences companies, such as makers of medical devices, and helps them get new products into the commercial market." [Read On...]
Noted Researchers Join Kelly Institute 8/12/2010 - BUFFALO, NY --"Lawrence Wrabetz, head of the myelin biology unit at San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, has been appointed director of the Hunter James Kelly Research Institute (HJKRI) at UB." [Read On...]
Computing Expansion
7/18/2010 - BUFFALO, NY --"The University at Buffalo's downtown supercomputer center is an impressive electronic powerhouse. The center, which has won $11.45 million in grants in the past year, helps university professors and other researchers run myriad projects. But with supercomputer centers around the world chasing funding and talent, there is no room for complacency." [Read On...]
UB CAT Co-Director and Engineering Professor Honored at White House
10/08/2009 - WASHINGTON, D.C.--"President Obama honored Takeuchi for inventing the battery that powers many of the world's implanted medical devices, but he just as easily could have lauded her as living proof that the American dream still comes true..." [Read On...]
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