You might not think of the Buffalo Niagara region as a hotbed of genetic medical research, but Marnie LaVigne thinks the pieces already are in place here. <\/p>\n
Its just a question of putting them all together. <\/p>\n
Thats why LaVigne, the University at Buffalos associate vice president of economic development, is so excited about Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos plans to invest $50 million in genomic medical research here, building on UBs supercomputing capacity, the modest-but-growing life sciences industry here and the regions large database of electronic medical records. <\/p>\n
Weve got phenomenal genomics capability, LaVigne said. <\/p>\n
The high-performance computing isnt in other places, as it is here, she said. The access to patient data is excellent here, with medical data from more than 1 million medical records available for researchers to analyze as they seek out new cures and treatments. <\/p>\n
Its not just data storage. Its analytics, she said. <\/p>\n
And thats the big selling point of UBs involvement in the $105 million project that will upgrade the computing facilities and forge a partnership with the New York Genome Center, a consortium of 16 institutions in New York that are using genetic information to try to develop new medical tests and treatments. <\/p>\n
Its all part of a quest for a holy grail thats sometimes called personalized medicine. By studying a patients genes, researchers look for genetic clues that show how susceptible that person is to certain diseases or conditions. Essentially, the makeup of a patients DNA and other genetic coding can help determine what diseases they are more likely to contract and how they can be treated most effectively. <\/p>\n
You can test it here. You can expand it here. You can co-locate here, LaVigne said. Groups outside of Buffalo are going to want to access what we have, even international firms. <\/p>\n
If that sounds familiar, it should. Its the same type of mantra that the Cuomo administration has been following for most of its high-profile economic development initiatives here. <\/p>\n
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Here is the original post: You might not think of the Buffalo Niagara region as a hotbed of genetic medical research, but Marnie LaVigne thinks the pieces already are in place here. Its just a question of putting them all together. Thats why LaVigne, the University at Buffalos associate vice president of economic development, is so excited about Gov Continue reading
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