SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University announced that it received a $500,000 capital fund grant from Brooklyn to construct a research space.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams awarded the grant to SUNY to construct a state-of-the-art biotechnology research and manufacturing space at BioBAT, a nonprofit organization seeking to grow the biotechnology industry in New York City. The grant is slated to allow BioBAT to accommodate new companies that are expanding to or moving to New York, according to a news release.
BioBAT leases affordable wet lab and office space to science and technology companies. It expects that, upon completion, tenants of BioBAT will generate more than 500 new jobs.
Meanwhile, SUNY Downstate has implemented STEAM programs for children and job training programs for undergraduate and graduate students in an effort to create a pipeline for employment in Brooklyn.
“Borough President Adams’s grant enables us to attract more businesses,” BioBAT president Eva Cramer said in the release. “Our ability to bring new tenants to BioBAT during this critically challenging time will enable us to create additional job opportunities for the borough. We look forward to expanding this exciting initiative.”
Currently, BioBAT’s organizations and companies inclue AlgiKnit, Biotia, Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics, Calder Biosciences, Chemitope Glycopeptide, Cortecnet, Fork & Goode, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and RegenLab.
“It is more vital than at any time in our history to unlock the full potential of our medical experts and researchers right here in Brooklyn, and to harness their breakthroughs in the life sciences as forces to grow high-quality local jobs while making the critical discoveries of our time,” Adams added. “The $1.5 million in capital grants that my administration has invested in this institution recognizes the exceptional work of BioBAT and SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in creating a space to foster innovation, a destination for dreaming big and deploying biotechnology to solve problems, while also helping prepare our next generation of scientists and medical researchers.
“We are writing the next chapter in our borough’s storied legacy of entrepreneurship, a chapter that will uncover the next cutting-edge products, therapies, and vaccines to change our world for the better.”