By GREGORY ZELLER //
A cornerstone of Long Island’s world-class scientific foundation has broken ground on an evolutionary leap in neuroscience research.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory stuck ceremonial shovels in the ground Monday, kicking off construction of a $57 million Neuroscience Research Complex – a seven-acre, three-building campus of cutting-edge physiology, biology and artificial intelligence dedicated to defeating nefarious neurodegenerative diseases.
When all is said and done (projections say sometime in 2025), the complex will include 36,437 square feet of offices, laboratories and other research facilities, including a state-of-the-art cancer therapeutics-testing facility and a “dedicated Neuro-AI building,” according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office.
Among other things, neuro-AI researchers plan to study human cognition and map out the “wiring” in the human brain – innovative science with profound implications for everything from artificial intelligence to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Kevin Law: Corridors of power.
In a nutshell, the Neuroscience Research Complex will be a parameter-shifting global neuroscience hub, according to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory President and CEO Bruce Stillman.
“[At CSHL], leaders in neuroscience are mapping with high-resolution neural circuits in the brain that are spearheading new approaches to artificial intelligence,” Stillman said Monday. “This will help ensure that Long Island remains fertile ground for innovation in science and technology.”
The Neuroscience Research Complex is supported by a $30 million Empire State Development Corp. capital grant, part of the previously announced $350 million Long Island Transformative Investment Program. Investing in CSHL’s next-generation brain-body physiology, quantitative biology and neuro-artificial intelligence is a sure bet for the economic-development agency, noted Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight.
“ESD is proud to support this exciting new complex, which will advance cutting-edge research that will both advance the regional and statewide life-sciences industry [and] improve the daily lives of people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases,” Knight said in a statement. “By strategically investing in our best assets … we are helping to map a healthier and more hopeful future for New York.”
Leveraging the $30 million grant, CSHL – a private, not-for-profit institution with an unparalleled body of work and eight Nobel Prizes highlighting its storied 132-year history – is now poised to lead science into “the next frontier of neuroscience research,” according to Stillman.
Pile on: Government and science dignitaries join CSHL President Bruce Stillman and Lt. Gov. Anthony Delgado (center, left to right) Monday.
And Long Island is poised for another major socioeconomic advance, according to Empire State Development Board Chairman Kevin Law, who notes the ESD investment “strengthens Long Island’s research corridor,” and State Sen. Jim Gaughran (D-Syosset), who says the grant ensures that “Long Island continues to be an innovative research hub for the nation.”
Lieutenant Gov. Antonio Delgado, who attended Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony, said Albany is “committed to making Long Island the nation’s premier hub for life-sciences innovation.”
“Today’s groundbreaking … will support medical research that will lead to life-changing medicine and treatments that will improve the lives of New Yorkers on Long Island and across the state,” Delgado added.
