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Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Newsletters July 6, 2018

No. 320: Calling ET, incentivizing the HBD, hopping the Huntington shuttle – and happy birthday, Dalai Lama!

Well, that was quick: Whether you vacationed the first or second half of the week, or merely slept in on Wednesday’s national holiday, here we are, dear readers – the end of a sweet, sweaty and abbreviated workweek. It’s July 6 out there, and if you had Epaminondas defeating Cleombrotus I in the Battle of Leuctra on his date (or thereabouts) in 371 B.C., you’re a winner. Finger-lickin’ good: It’s also National Fried Chicken Day,…

Health May 29, 2018

At Elmezzi, it’s the thought (not the size) that counts

By GREGORY ZELLER // At its 58th commence exercises on May 18, counting bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, Stony Brook University conferred 7,185 total diplomas upon happy graduates – a school record, a Long Island-based-graduating-class record and a proud achievement indeed. And then there were two, at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. That’s the size of the 2018 graduating class of the Feinstein Institute’s Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine, which on May 24…

Biotech May 23, 2018

Envisagenics’ artificial intelligence wows real investors

By GREGORY ZELLER // They’re on a major roll at Envisagenics Inc., a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory spinoff that’s piling up some hefty research grants. Now based in New York City, the biotech announced this week that it’s been awarded a $1.5 million Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant from the National Institutes of Health – the second time the NIH has backed the data-crunching startup. The new award is earmarked for the continued…

Economic Development May 10, 2018

Heavy-hitting LI BioMentor Initiative makes it official

By GREGORY ZELLER // A high-octane effort to unite regional bioentrepreneurs with qualified business mentors has formally launched – though the Long Island BioMentor Initiative is already quite busy. The LIBMI officially accepted its first program applications in a “launch event” Thursday morning at the de Seversky Mansion on the New York Institute of Technology’s Old Westbury campus. But the BioMentor Initiative is already a year into a “pilot phase,” according to founding mentor Mark…

The Debrief May 3, 2018

Debrief: One year in, NYIT Prez Foley sees LI’s promise

Decades of high-level experience in university-based research and strategic planning, including 10 months at the helm of the New York Institute of Technology, infuse everything Hank Foley says about higher education and its role in the larger socioeconomic scheme. Foley, who succeeded former provost and interim NYIT President Rahmat Shoureshi in June 2017 and was “officially installed” last month, came to New York from the University of Missouri system, where the longtime executive VP (and…

Newsletters April 20, 2018

No. 300: Anniversary edition, starring Shakespeare, Dutch Reagan and Academy Award-winner Jessica Lange (and introducing Vengo)

An imperfect 300: Welcome, friends, to your latest Innovate LI newsletter, and not just any Innovate LI newsletter, but the 300th since founder John Kominicki e-blasted the first more than three years ago. That’s a lot of historical anecdotes, celebrity birthdays, regional shout-outs, hyperlinks, funding reports and Stuff We’re Reading. And we wanted to do something truly spectacular to recognize our tercentenary edition. So, we came up with… Suggested serving: These foods/serving sizes all contain…

Newsletters April 18, 2018

No. 299: On ‘natural marijuana,’ (unrelated) reef madness, the patient experience and the myth of the innovation lab

Turning point: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, and the midpoint of another productive week in Long Island socioeconomic innovation. A special hello to freshly minted newsletter subscribers David, Nina, Mark, Pam and Franco. Welcome to the show, please keep your safety belt fastened at all times. It’s April 18 out there: And happy anniversary to Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military newspaper – and one-time home of an eager young cub named Kominicki – that…

The Debrief April 13, 2018

Debrief: CSHL’s Whiteley fills shoes, answers needs

A seasoned veteran of scientific- and medical-research commercialization, Andrew Whiteley stepped up this month to take over Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s technology-transfer operations from Teri Willey, who served five years as CSHL’s vice president of business development and technology transfer and is off to her next adventure, running an Indiana-based VC fund. Whiteley, who in 2015 was named the laboratory’s first-ever Executive in Residence, assumes control of a dedicated team focused on licensing, business formation,…

Media April 12, 2018

CSHL podcast up for a Webby Award (or two)

A Long Island-based podcast is in the running for a top Internet honor – two, actually. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s “Base Pairs” podcast, hosted by Andrea Alfano and Brian Stallard, has been selected as a finalist for the Webby Awards People’s Voice Prize and as a finalist for a Webby Award for Best Science and Education Podcast. Presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, the Webby Awards denote excellence on the…

Newsletters April 6, 2018

No. 296: Welcoming Whiteley, smartening schools, terminating data thieves and seeing the ‘forest bathing’ for the trees

And down the stretch they come: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, with the finish line and another well-deserved weekend in sight. Happy Chakri Day, commemorating the establishment of the Chakri dynasty, to our readers in Thailand. In Indonesia, have a very happy National Fisherman’s Day. Congress is now in session: Happy anniversary to the U.S. Congress, which held its first-ever regular session on April 6, 1789, in New York City’s Federal Hall. Film at 11:…

News April 4, 2018

Willey walks, Whiteley takes on CSHL tech transfer

By GREGORY ZELLER // A seasoned veteran of scientific- and medical-research commercialization has taken over Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s technology-transfer operations. The laboratory announced Tuesday that life sciences business leader Andrew Whiteley has succeeded Teri Willey as vice president of business development and technology transfer. Willey, who took the reins of CSHL’s Business Development & Technology Transfer Office in late 2013, stepped down March 12 to oversee a new philanthropic venture fund based in Indiana….

Government March 22, 2018

Forget something? NY’s life-sci panel (mostly) stiffs LI

By GREGORY ZELLER // Eyeing a “vibrant life-sciences ecosystem” across the state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday the launch of a new Life Science Advisory Board – but the high-profile panel largely overlooks life-sciences-heavy Long Island. Although Albany would seem to consider the Island a hotbed of biotech and health-science research and commercialization, none of the region’s major research institutions or life-science enterprises are represented on the new LSAB. So, no one to share updates…

News March 19, 2018

Matching state grants boost regional SBIR innovators

A Stony Brook University-based small-biz booster program is doubling down on federal Small Business Innovation Research award winners. Through a $1.2 million Empire State Development Corp. incentives package administered by the university’s Small Business Development Center and the Research Foundation for SUNY, SBU has released the first set of matching grant funds to SBIR awardees in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Four regional companies benefited from a total of $50,000 released this round, including Farmingdale-based vaccination…

Newsletters March 16, 2018

No. 290: A gift for Adelphi, a world leader for Old Westbury, achieving Orbit and learning Klingon

Marching on: That’s another workweek in the books, dear readers, and just four days to go until the official start of spring (the 2018 Spring Equinox occurs at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday in our Northern Hemisphere). Pay no attention to that talk of another nor’easter bringing snow to Long Island Tuesday night. Not going to happen. Nope. Proper introductions: It’s March 16 out there, a big date for historical launches – the U.S. Military Academy at…

Health February 15, 2018

Northwell taps MSK veteran to head cancer programs

By GREGORY ZELLER // After a three-decade career at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, an internationally renowned surgeon will take the reins of Northwell Health’s vast network of cancer services and research. Following a national search and recruitment effort, the New Hyde Park-based health system has appointed Richard Barakat physician-in-chief and director of the Northwell Health Cancer Institute and senior vice president of Northwell’s Cancer Service Line. Barakat, who also becomes a professor of…