Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory’s Centre for Therapeutics Research will focus on developing therapies for genetic disorders. Credit: Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory Centre.
The ground-breaking of the facility took place in October 2017. Credit: Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory Centre.
The Centre for Therapeutics Research facility will help create a research corridor on Long Island. Credit: Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory Centre.

In October 2017, Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory (CSHL) broke ground on its new Centre for Therapeutics Research (CTR) facility in New York.

Built with a $75m investment, the laboratory will support CSHL in research activities for developing novel therapeutics for genetic diseases.

The research facility will generate 30 scientific jobs upon completion in 2018. The project will generate 99 full-time construction jobs and 58 full-time-equivalent indirect jobs.

Details of the CSHL Centre for Therapeutics Research

The CTR will renovate the existing Demerec Laboratory. Built in 1953, the Demerec Laboratory is currently home to four of CSHL’s eight Nobel Prize winners.

Spread over a 26,000ft² area, the building will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.

Financing for the Centre for Therapeutics Research

The New York State is providing a $25m construction and equipment fund for the project, which will be used to modernise the Demerec Laboratory and house the CTR.

The funding is being provided under a state initiative that aims to create a research corridor on Long Island.

“The building will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.”

The National Institute of Health is providing the remaining $50m needed to develop the project. This will cover recruitment, lab start-up costs and CTR operations.

CTR research activities and benefits

The CTR will establish partnerships with academic institutions such as Stony Brook University, the Brookhaven National Laboratory and Northwell Health in order to carry out both lab-based and clinical research.

It will allow world-leading chemists to refine newly developed compounds to develop next-generation therapies. This research will form a basis for collaboration with private foundations and pharmaceutical companies while advancing the development of new drugs.

The centre will also support ongoing research activities aimed to develop therapeutics for breast cancer, leukaemia, autism, obesity, diabetes and lung cancer. The primary goal of such research activities will include the development of advanced drug compounds targeting underlying biological pathways.

The facility’s development will drive the local economy by creating jobs, spin-offs and investment opportunities.

Marketing commentary on Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory

Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory is a private non-profit organisation established in 1890. The research laboratory focuses on a range of programmes in the areas of cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology.

The institute has more than 1,100 employees, including scientists and technicians. Its education arm conducts programmes for high school students and teachers, and includes a publishing house and a graduate school.

Apart from the new CTR, the institute operates the CSHL Cancer Centre, a basic research facility conducting research on a broad range of cancers. Its other facilities include the Genome Research Centre, the Uplands Farm Field Research Centre, the Banbury Centre and the Dolan DNA Learning Centre (all in New York).