The New York Structural Biology Center at City University of New York
Supported by a $15 million NYSTAR grant, the New York Structural Biology Center will be a one-of-a-kind research facility to provide New York’s world-leading researchers with state-of-the-art equipment for research collaboration.

The partners of this consortium include some of the most prestigious institutions in the world in the field of structural biology: Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Columbia University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York University, The Rockefeller University, Wadsworth Center Laboratory of the New York State Department of Health and the Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

This STAR Center partners these institutions and their world-renown scientists to pursue world-class leading research utilizing the most technologically advanced instrumentation available for nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and cryo-electron microscopy.

Over 60 research teams from the STAR Center consortium will conduct collaborative research on characterizing new targets for therapeutic approaches to human disease; identifying molecules for use in drug development; and conducting basic frontier research in structural biology. The researchers will work closely with the Western New York STAR Center to develop new technologies based on its research.

The Integrated Imaging Center at Columbia University
Funded by an $11 million grant from NYSTAR, the Integrated Imaging Center at Columbia University will develop new technologies to improve the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. The Center is expected to create major economic opportunities for New

NYSTAR funds will allow this world-renown center to expand and grow its research in the study of brain function and treatment of disease. The STAR Center’s world-class team, which includes Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel, will seek to utilize various brain imaging techniques to create a better understanding of brain function. It will study brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It will also develop improved resolution MRI methods and apply other imaging techniques such as two photon microscope and fMRI to study brain function and develop medical applications.

The research that will be conducted at this STAR Center will cement Columbia University’s renown as a world leader in neuroscience research and will likely lead to the development of new technologies to diagnose and treat neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, an area of such importance that the pharmaceutical industry devotes more than 20 percent of its research and development expenditures. The potential for improvements in health, savings in health care costs, and economic growth for New York’s growing biomedical industry is significant.

Genomic Technologies & Information Sciences Center at Cornell University
The Genomic Technologies & Information Sciences Center at Cornell University builds on Cornell’s outstanding expertise in life sciences research. The Center will focus on technologies for identifying genes and gene functions; developing a leading research center with bioinformatics, computational biology, and analytical capabilities; applying genomic theories and technologies to solve problems and support state efforts in agriculture, biosciences, bioengineering and veterinary medicine; developing and transferring technologies to major corporations and start-up companies by establishing a life sciences technologies service center, a distance learning center, and an on-site business incubator; and conducting outreach and public education to address ethical, legal, and social issues regarding genomic technologies.

With the help of its world-class partners, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, IBM and Corning, Inc., the STAR Center will develop cutting-edge technologies for identifying genes and gene functions. The technology that will be developed at the STAR Center will lead to applications of genomic theories and technologies in agriculture, biosciences and veterinary medicine.

The Information Technology Collaboratory at the Rochester Institute of Technology
Backed by a $14 million NYSTAR grant, the Information Technology (IT) Collaboratory at the Rochester Institute of Technology will create key technologies and capabilities to design and integrate next-generation information

The STAR Center’s partners include Alfred University and SUNY Buffalo’s Institute of Lasers and Photonics. Its research is strongly supported by Kodak, Corning, Xerox and Global Crossing, Inc.

The STAR Center will address much needed improvements in communications bandwidth and speed by designing, building, testing and commercializing microsystems and optical communications networks. It will also work toward applying microsystems and networks to IT systems known as integrated remote systems using imaging systems. The research includes projects such as DNA bio Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (BioMEMS) to identify DNA fragments, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCN) actuators, and thin film optical switches. The work that will be done at the Center will likely establish the Rochester region as a locus for research and technology development in this field.

The Center of Disease Modeling and Therapy Discovery at SUNY Buffalo
Funded by a $15 million NYSTAR grant, the Center of Disease Modeling and Therapy Discovery at SUNY Buffalo will perform leading research to identify opportunities for and develop new therapies to effectively prevent and treat disease.

The consortium that makes up the STAR Center includes Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Kaleida Health, SUNY Albany, and IBM. This consortium will serve as the locus for Western New York’s high throughput operations in gene expression, protein scale-up and purification, combinatorial chemistry, structural biology and pharmacogenomics, and will work with other partners across the State to strengthen the biomedical industry in New York.

The Buffalo STAR Center researchers, which includes a Nobel laureate, will have six labs working together: photonics and BioMEMS, high throughput molecular target, high throughput gene expression, high throughput proteomics, molecular kinetics and disease modeling. The mission of this STAR Center will be to develop novel gene- and disease-specific drug therapies.

The Center in Biomolecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics at SUNY Stony Brook
Supported by a $15 million award, the Center in Biomolecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics at SUNY Stony Brook will be a state-of-the-art enterprise dedicated to discovery-based research and technology development in the areas of

The Stony Brook STAR Center, built upon Stony Brook's existing expertise in these areas and that of its partners, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, will advance the biotechnology corridor of Long Island and across New York by developing new biomedical technologies, opening up new markets and advancing disease diagnosis and treatment.

The Stony Brook STAR Center will focus on functional genomics. In that capacity, the research team will initiate cutting-edge research to develop DNA fluorescence detection technologies, as well as the next generation of microarrays. In addition, it will create new algorithms for gene hunting and interaction and develop micro and nanoscale diagnostics and therapeutics. The technologies developed by the STAR Center are expected to contribute to New York’s growing biomedical and pharmaceutical industries.

New York STAR Center for Environmental Quality Systems (EQS STAR Center)
Syracuse University leads a consortium of 11 research organizations that have joined forces to create the New York STAR Center for Environmental Quality Systems (EQS STAR Center) at Syracuse University. Backed by a NYSTAR award

The partners in the EQS STAR Center include SUNY Albany, SUNY Buffalo, Clarkson University, Cornell University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, SUNY Upstate Medical University, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York, New York Indoor Environmental Quality Center, Inc., Institute of Ecosystem Studies and the Upstate Freshwater Institute.

By performing leading research to improve building environments and urban ecosystems, and conducting innovative education programs, the EQS STAR Center will contribute to the growth of world leaders in environmental systems located in Central New York such as Carrier Corporation, and will substantially strengthen the industry’s world-leading workforce in New York State.

The EQS STAR Center will focus on very specialized research themes. As part of their research plan, the STAR Center’s researchers will conduct thermofluid-engineering projects on the measurement and fluid transport of contaminants. They will study and seek to improve intelligent control and management systems, such as sensors, signals, information systems and networked devices. They will also examine the design and control of building systems, including heating, lighting, acoustics and materials as a way to improve health and human performance.

Much of this work will be performed in the Center’s state-of-the-art Total Indoor Environmental Quality Laboratory, a one-of-a-kind research lab designed to evaluate environmental influences such as air quality, thermal conditions, lighting and noise. The technologies developed by the Center are expected to make significant contributions to environmental quality and to the world-leading companies in New York in the environmental systems industry.

The Building Energy and Environmental Systems Laboratory is a key research lab associated with the NYSTAR EQS and the New York Indoor Environmental Quality Center.

The Nanoelectronics and Optoelectronics Research and Technology Center at the University at Albany and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
The University at Albany and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute STAR Center will serve as a fully integrated, long-term, visionary research and development resource that provides the science and technology base for future generations of integrated circuitry (IC). It will target a portfolio of nanoelectronics-based products ranging from microprocessor and memory computer chips with higher functionality and complexity to the rapidly evolving areas of micro- and nanosystems-based “system-on-a-chip” (SOC) technologies including biochips, optoelectronics and photonics devices, sensors for the energy and environment, and ultra-fast communication equipment.

The cornerstone of the University at Albany/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute STAR Center will be a 300mm wafer research and development facility. The facility will be the first 300mm platform in the world in a university setting and will allow UAlbany and RPI researchers to conduct cutting-edge IC and SOC research commensurate with emerging industry standards.

The STAR Center’s research will focus on developing nanoelectronic devices and the system architecture for such devices. It will also explore optoelectronics, wide bandgap research and application, and the development of nitride devices for several applications. In addition it will be developing SOC technologies for sensors, actuators and other electronic components and systems that assemble and package SOCs. The STAR Center will develop new product and device designs, and develop and test prototypes of products. Its work will impact companies in many of New York’s industries.