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Dr. Louis A. Peña appointed Director, Program in Life Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship & Associate Professor of Practice

The Center for Biotechnology has announced the appointment of Dr. Louis A. Peña as Director of the new Program in Life Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Additionally, Dr. Peña has been appointed as Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the College of Business at Stony Brook University.

The Professor of Practice will steward the University’s Advanced Graduate Certificate in Life Science Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which was established under Empire State Development’s Life Science Entrepreneur Development award, and further develop educational and experiential learning initiatives. The Director of the Program in Life Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship will build upon the Center’s efforts to synergize technology and business accelerator activities with opportunities for students to gain real-world technology commercialization experience.

Prior to joining the Center for Biotechnology and Stony Brook University, Dr. Peña held leadership positions in both industry and academia. He is experienced with startup and early stage companies. Commercializing scientific discoveries he made at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Dr. Peña co-developed a biotech startup that took a biomaterial from idea to clinical trials and acquisition. He later served as Chief Scientific Officer of a biopharma Contract Research Organization. Dr. Peña has also consulted for technology startups in bioagriculture, medical devices, medical imaging, and energy, supporting technology assessment, market assessment, and business strategy.

“We are excited to have Louis join the Center for Biotechnology and Stony Brook University to further our efforts of expanding entrepreneurial education in the life sciences” Diane Fabel, Director of Operations at the Center for Biotechnology said. She continued “His industry involvement, coupled with his academic experiences allow him to bring a unique perspective to the role and for students in our programs to benefit from his real-world experience.”

“I am very happy to join the team at the Center for Biotechnology and my colleagues at Stony Brook University. The Center has a great, established foundation of commercialization and education in this sector and I’m eager to further develop these unique and critical programs” Dr. Peña said. “Our goal is to bolster the life science commercialization knowledge of students graduating from New York universities. At one level, this will help entrepreneurs gain the mix of skills and expertise needed to successfully guide innovative life science startups along the path to commercial viability. At a broader level, this will help with the biotech workforce development of our region and state for those who may not want to start companies but want to understand the sector in great depth so they can secure well-paying and/or leadership positions in this sector.”

Download a PDF of the announcement here.

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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] => 2275 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2016-06-22 14:40:28 [post_date_gmt] => 2016-06-22 14:40:28 [post_content] => bio2016c The Center for Biotechnology team recently ventured out to San Francisco for BIO’s annual International Convention. Through the support of Empire State Development and the Long Island Bioscience Hub, the Center for Biotechnology was able to support six Long Island emerging biotech companies to attend the meeting: Alpha-1 Biologics Corporation, Codagenix, Inc., DepYMed, Inc., iCell Gene Therapeutics, PhD Skin Care LLC and Vela Therapeutics. These companies were joined in the New York Pavilion by more than two dozen other companies and entities representing New York State. Long Island and New York City regional companies Alpha-1 Biologics, Vela Therapeutics, Intrommune Therapeutics, PainQX, Serendipity Biotech, ENB Therapeutics, and QuickSilver Biosystems all were recipients of grants from Empire State Development and NewYorkBio which also assisted their participation in the event. These companies were tapped to present in the New York Pavilion along with six other companies from upstate New York. Envisagenics, ENB Therapeutics, PainQx, QuickSilver and Abcombi BioSciences, all New York State Companies, were invited to participate in the BIO 2016 “Start-Up Stadium” which provide start-up companies with the opportunity to pitch to key members of the investment community, venture philanthropy groups, and BIO attendees. The participating investors provided live feedback and judged the sessions. In addition, six Long Island Bioscience Hub faculty members were invited to participate in the meeting for the first time. These NIH-REACH program supported faculty attended with the goal to learn more about the commercialization process, how it applies to their translational research, and to engage in the partnering process and meet with potential strategic contacts. Center staff met with over 40 strategic partners over the course of the meeting and follow up is underway. bio2016b [post_title] => BIO 2016 [post_excerpt] => The Center for Biotechnology team recently attended the BIO International Convention in San Francisco and supported the participation of emerging companies and faculty entrepreneurs in the event. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => bio-international-convention-2016 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2016-07-14 13:50:46 [post_modified_gmt] => 2016-07-14 13:50:46 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://centerforbiotechnology.org/?p=2275 [menu_order] => 175 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3658 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2021-03-22 14:57:42 [post_date_gmt] => 2021-03-22 14:57:42 [post_content] =>

Tools that accelerate medical countermeasure screening and development are vital to improving human health – from enabling personalized medicine to responding to health security threats such as pandemics. To this end, BARDA, in partnership with the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), part of the National Institutes of Health, has launched the new ImmuneChip+ program.

We aim to partner with innovators to support the development of advanced microphysiological systems / tissue chip platforms that integrate a component of the human immune system. The objective of the program is to develop a set of set of mature ImmuneChips, combining a previously validated model of a vital human tissue (e.g. lung, heart, kidney) with an immune system component, in a single platform that can be machine-manufactured and that includes multiple in-line sensors for long-term tissue monitoring. With this program, we aim to further enhance the usability of tissue chips and position them as useful tools in the drug development process and for personalized therapeutics.

For more details, please visit BARDA DRIVe program at https://drive.hhs.gov/immunechip.html

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Long Island New York I-Corps Hub - Innovation Bootcamp Spring 2023 Program

This Innovation Bootcamp Program will teach scientists, inventors and first-time entrepreneurs the Lean Launchpad Methodology – Customer Discovery through 20 interviews, Agile Development roadmapping, and the Business Model Canvas – specifically Value Propositions and Customer Segments

Kickoff Session: Tuesday, February 14, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM (Online)
Mid Session: Friday, February 14, 9:15 AM - 4:00 PM (Online) and
Finale Session: Friday, March 3, 9:15 AM - 3:00 PM (Room 109, R&D Park Research and Support Services)

Applications are being reviewed NOW on a rolling basis until 11:59 PM Friday, Feb 3, 2023. Limited space is available - apply early! https://forms.gle/RM8WRrN3VuGVCMgP8

Teams of 1+ faculty, staff, etc. from any university, national lab, or community teams with an Innovation or Research Idea should be STEAM focused are encouraged to apply. Must be able to attend all 3 scheduled workshops and dedicate time outside of the sessions to do customer discovery interviews
For full details and eligibility requirements, please visit https://tinyurl.com/SBUBootcampSpring23

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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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