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Anton Xavier Joins CFB in Technology and Business Development Role

Former Pfizer Senior Scientist and Scout Anton Xavier has joined the Center for Biotechnology in the role of Assistant Director of Technology and Business Development. Within this role at the Center, Anton will focus on the development and implementation of technology and business development strategies that will increase sponsored research, company formation, strategic alliances, and investment with external partners. Anton will also provide oversight to the Center’s Commercialization Associates offering technology / business development services and education to entrepreneurial faculty and emerging companies.

During his tenure at Pfizer, Anton had duties within the External Science and Innovation group (ES&I) focusing on sourcing, screening, and evaluating early through to late stage (inter)national biopharma ventures, entrepreneurial academic PI technology, private/public/local government funded life science initiatives, and funding vehicles which aligned with Pfizer’s R&D interest for investment and strategic partnerships. Additionally, Anton led efforts within Pfizer R&D from discovery through to late stage development of targeted therapeutics for oncology indications.

Prior to Pfizer, Anton’s experience was within a wider field of bioscience, including regenerative medicine, infectious disease, and cardiovascular biology where he developed multiple therapeutic, platform, and diagnostic innovations for military and industrial needs.

Anton is currently a mentor and adjunct faculty member for early stage life science ventures with E-Lab NYC, ABCT (Accelerator for Biosciences in Connecticut), NSF’s I-Corps program, the British Consulate NYC, Business France, and Cornell / Columbia University, where he provides critical industry based science, strategy, and business development input for bio-venture development.

Anton earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, a Master of Science (MSc) in Toxicology from Imperial College London and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry with Microbiology from Queen Mary University of London.

Anton can be reached at the Center for Biotechnology by emailing anton.xavier@stonybrook.edu

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The Redesignation brings $10 million in funding to drive innovation, company formation, and economic growth.

The Center for Biotechnology (CFB) has announced its re-designated as a Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) by Empire State Development's Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), a recognition that comes with $1 million in annual funding over the next ten years. The $10 million commitment underscores the CFB’s leadership in accelerating life science innovation, supporting early-stage technology development, and fueling economic growth through start-up formation and industry partnerships.

“The Center for Biotechnology has served as a critical bridge between academic research and commercial success,” said Dr. Clinton Rubin, Director of the Center for Biotechnology. “This re-designation ensures we can continue to expand our impact, helping innovators bring breakthrough technology to market and strengthening New York’s position as a leader in the bioscience industry.”

Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said, “NYSTAR’s Centers for Advanced Technology are vital to our strategic efforts to grow New York’s economy and the state’s greater innovation ecosystem. By investing in the industries of tomorrow, New Yorkers benefit today through dynamic partnerships that help to create new jobs, generate more revenues, and encourage more companies to establish a footprint in communities all throughout the state.”

The Center for Biotechnology is located on the campus of Stony Brook University (SBU), the flagship research institution within the prestigious State University of New York (SUNY) system. Stony Brook University is recognized as a national and global leader in life sciences research, biomedical innovation, and clinical care. Situated on Long Island, New York, Stony Brook has built a formidable reputation as a hub for cutting-edge scientific discovery and translational medicine. The Center for Biotechnology builds upon these strengths by providing cutting-edge programming and competitive financial support to advance biomedical innovation and emerging company growth.

“We are excited to build upon the successful foundation of strong entrepreneurial networks, infrastructure, and programming that we have built over the last four decades” said Dr. Diane Fabel, Chief Operating Officer at the Center for Biotechnology. “The impacts we have had during our last designation period include over $1B in total economic impact with more than 1000 jobs created, and driving more than $315M in follow-on funding. We are excited to see those numbers continue to grow when we celebrate fifty years of hard work at the end of this redesignation period”.

As part of the New York State CAT program, the CFB will continue to work with emerging and established companies across the state to de-risk early-stage technologies, advance both technology and company value, foster public-private collaboration, and provide critical infrastructure for the region’s growing life science ecosystem. Additionally, the CFB team will continue its efforts to develop a life sciences workforce to support the region's bio-innovation economy with a specific emphasis on sectors deemed important to the NYS economy.

Dowload the full press release here.

[post_title] => Center for Biotechnology Announces Redesignation as New York State Center for Advanced Technology [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => redesignation2025 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-07-21 14:51:44 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-07-21 18:51:44 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://centerforbiotechnology.org/?p=4906 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3110 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2018-12-18 16:29:30 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-12-18 16:29:30 [post_content] => As we all know, outside capital is like oxygen for technology related companies. Looking to raise funds to build your company? Equity crowdfunding may be an attractive option for startups or even companies of significant size (including those who have already done some capital raising!) Join the Center for Biotechnology, Farrell Fritz, P.C.and the Long Island High Technology Incubator for a workshop led by Alon Kapen, JD, Partner at Farrell Fritz, P.C. and Chair of its Emerging Companies and Venture Capital practice group. Mr. Kapen will discuss different types of equity crowdfunding available and key considerations for companies contemplating a crowdfunding offering. Topics will include costs, benefits, and drawbacks of different types of crowdfunding, including accredited crowdfunding under Rule 506(c) of Regulation D; non-accredited crowdfunding under Title III of the JOBS Act and Regulation Crowdfunding; and “mini” public offerings under “Regulation A+”. Thursday, February 7, 2019 | 9am-10am Long Island High Technology Incubator Main Conference Room. 25 Health Sciences Drive, Stony Brook, NY 11790 Registration is free – please RSVP here. https://cfb-equity-crowdfunding19.eventbrite.com   About our speaker: Mr. Kapen has extensive experience in providing focused representation to founders, startups, emerging companies, angel investors and venture capital funds in a wide range of high growth entrepreneurial matters and transactions. Farrell Fritz is a full service law firm of more than 85 attorneys that has earned a strong reputation in the New York business community. The firm handles legal matters in the areas of bankruptcy & restructuring; business divorce; commercial litigation; condemnation & eminent domain; construction; corporate & finance; distressed assets; eDiscovery; emerging companies & venture capital; environmental law; estate litigation; health law; labor & employment; land use, municipal & zoning; real estate; tax planning & controversy; tax certiorari and trusts & estates for corporations, not-for-profit organizations and individuals. The Long Island High Technology Incubator (LIHTI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping new technologically-innovative companies grow by providing them with a variety of support resources and services. Since its opening in 1992, the Incubator has been associated with more than 120 businesses, and over 60 companies have graduated successfully from the LIHTI program, contributing over $2.5B to the national economy and creating jobs for over 500 employees. Our affiliation with the Stony Brook University makes LIHTI an ideal place for cutting-edge R&D. Transferring technology and ideas from the University to the private sector has proven to be the single most important reason why the program has succeeded beyond anyone’s imagination.   [post_title] => EQUITY CROWDFUNDING WORKSHOP [post_excerpt] => Outside capital is like oxygen for technology related companies and equity crowdfunding may be attractive for companies from startup to a significant size - learn more at our workshop on January 11th. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => equity-crowdfunding-workshop [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2019-04-09 14:41:13 [post_modified_gmt] => 2019-04-09 14:41:13 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://centerforbiotechnology.org/?p=3110 [menu_order] => 106 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 2190 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2016-05-05 07:00:27 [post_date_gmt] => 2016-05-05 07:00:27 [post_content] => Accelerating the development of biomedical technologies The Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University, on behalf of the Long Island Bioscience Hub (LIBH), has announced the recipients of the second round of funded projects under the Hub’s technology development and commercialization initiative. Funding for ten projects totaling $600,000 was awarded to applicants from the Hub’s partner institutions. Partner institutions include Stony Brook University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Feinstein Institute at Northwell Health Systems. The technology development awards made available by the LIBH are specifically aimed at growing a pipeline of commercially promising biomedical technologies that can be out-licensed for further development or serve as the foundation for new company formations in the region. There are two tiers of funding, each with the goal of accelerating technology development to reach a critical development inflection point. Feasibility awards ($50,000) are designed to rapidly test the feasibility of new ideas in a “fail-fast-or-proceed” format, or to add value to existing intellectual property leading to new market applications. Proof-of-Concept Awards ($100,000) provide targeted, milestone driven support for further development, testing, and analysis of existing intellectual property. A wide range of disciplines are represented in the project awards this cycle including biomedical engineering, chemistry, biochemistry, psychiatry, molecular genetics and microbiology, and pathology and dermatology.  Eight Feasibility awards and two Proof of Concepts awards have been funded this cycle. The recipients of this round of awards are: Feasibility Awards Therapeutic for Clostridium difficile antibiotic-associated diarrheal disease – Dr. James Bliska Device for rapid, simple and highly parallel single-cell processing – Dr. Eric Brouzes Developing a small molecule drug to treat systemic C. albicans infections – Dr. Nick Carpino Next generation hedgehog inhibitor for invasive basal cell carcinoma – Dr. Jiang Chen A Novel Strategy for Recombinant AAV Vector Production for Gene Therapy – Dr. Patrick Hearing A tandem-integration-based multi-barcode method for high-throughput combinatorial screening – Dr. Sasha Levy Novel CAIX Targeted Combination Inhibitor/PET tracer to treat patients with solid tumors – Dr. Peter Smith-Jones Substrate-Assisted Tethered Inhibitors of LigA to Treat MDR Gonorrhea – Dr. Peter Tonge Proof of Concept Awards fMRI Dynamic Phantom for Improved Detection of Resting-State Brain Networks - Dr. Lilianne Mujica-Parodi Development of SMASH technology as a next-gen sequencing diagnostic for congenital heart disease - Dr. Michael Ronemus ​“The announcement of this second cycle of awards from the Long Island Bioscience Hub under the NIH-REACH program is exemplary of the increasing commercially relevant research taking place in the region” said Clinton T. Rubin, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Director, Center for Biotechnology. “Coupled with the recent expansion of the Hub to include the Feinstein Institute and the announcement of our third “request for proposals,” the LIBH is steadily working toward its goal of accelerating the translation of these technologies from the bench to the bed side.” The main goal of the LIBH is to foster the development of therapeutics, preventatives, diagnostics, devices and research tools emerging from LIBH partner institutions that address diseases within the NIH’s mission. Download a PDF of the press release here.     [post_title] => Long Island Bioscience Hub Announces Next Funded Projects [post_excerpt] => The Center for Biotechnology, on Behalf of the Long Island Bioscience Hub (LIBH), has announced the recipients of the second round of funded projects under the Hub’s technology development and commercialization initiative. Funding for ten projects totaling $600,000 was awarded to applicants from the Hub’s partner institutions. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => long-island-bioscience-hub-announces-next-funded-projects [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2016-05-05 13:47:58 [post_modified_gmt] => 2016-05-05 13:47:58 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://centerforbiotechnology.org/?p=2190 [menu_order] => 182 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [3] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3418 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2020-01-14 15:43:38 [post_date_gmt] => 2020-01-14 15:43:38 [post_content] => Farmingdale, New York based Codagenix, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing prophylactic vaccines and oncolytic virus therapies, has announced the closing of a $20 million Series B investment round. The new investment was led by Adjuvant Capital, with participation by Euclidean Capital and Topspin Partners. The funds will be used to support the further clinical development of Codagenix's live attenuated RSV vaccine for the elderly, a broadly-protective influenza vaccine and an oncolytic virus therapy for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). This funding round, combined with Series A investments, brings Codagenix's total funding to $38 million. Previous funders include Topspin Partners, the Center for Biotechnology and various U.S. government agencies. More. [post_title] => Codagenix Announces $20M Series B [post_excerpt] => CFB Client, Codagenix, has announced the closing of a $20 million Series B investment round. 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The Redesignation brings $10 million in funding to drive innovation, company formation, and economic growth.

The Center for Biotechnology (CFB) has announced its re-designated as a Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) by Empire State Development's Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), a recognition that comes with $1 million in annual funding over the next ten years. The $10 million commitment underscores the CFB’s leadership in accelerating life science innovation, supporting early-stage technology development, and fueling economic growth through start-up formation and industry partnerships.

“The Center for Biotechnology has served as a critical bridge between academic research and commercial success,” said Dr. Clinton Rubin, Director of the Center for Biotechnology. “This re-designation ensures we can continue to expand our impact, helping innovators bring breakthrough technology to market and strengthening New York’s position as a leader in the bioscience industry.”

Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said, “NYSTAR’s Centers for Advanced Technology are vital to our strategic efforts to grow New York’s economy and the state’s greater innovation ecosystem. By investing in the industries of tomorrow, New Yorkers benefit today through dynamic partnerships that help to create new jobs, generate more revenues, and encourage more companies to establish a footprint in communities all throughout the state.”

The Center for Biotechnology is located on the campus of Stony Brook University (SBU), the flagship research institution within the prestigious State University of New York (SUNY) system. Stony Brook University is recognized as a national and global leader in life sciences research, biomedical innovation, and clinical care. Situated on Long Island, New York, Stony Brook has built a formidable reputation as a hub for cutting-edge scientific discovery and translational medicine. The Center for Biotechnology builds upon these strengths by providing cutting-edge programming and competitive financial support to advance biomedical innovation and emerging company growth.

“We are excited to build upon the successful foundation of strong entrepreneurial networks, infrastructure, and programming that we have built over the last four decades” said Dr. Diane Fabel, Chief Operating Officer at the Center for Biotechnology. “The impacts we have had during our last designation period include over $1B in total economic impact with more than 1000 jobs created, and driving more than $315M in follow-on funding. We are excited to see those numbers continue to grow when we celebrate fifty years of hard work at the end of this redesignation period”.

As part of the New York State CAT program, the CFB will continue to work with emerging and established companies across the state to de-risk early-stage technologies, advance both technology and company value, foster public-private collaboration, and provide critical infrastructure for the region’s growing life science ecosystem. Additionally, the CFB team will continue its efforts to develop a life sciences workforce to support the region's bio-innovation economy with a specific emphasis on sectors deemed important to the NYS economy.

Dowload the full press release here.

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Center for Biotechnology Announces Redesignation as New York State Center for Advanced Technology

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