The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is opening a satellite Genetic Testing Lab in Branford, in space formerly occupied by 454 Life Sciences.

The managing director of Mt. Sinai Testing Lab-Connecticut was vice president of research and development at 454, and the director of laboratory operations was the director of the sequencing center at 454.

The Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology announced the move in September, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy toured the facility Thursday and talked about the government incentives offered to the medical school.

The Department of Economic and Community Development gave it a $9.5 million subsidized loan and, if the institute meets hiring projections and reaches a staff or 142 people over the next five years, $7.25 million of the loan will be forgiven.

454 Life Sciences, the DNA sequencing machine company that had occupied the space, employed about 200 people in 2007, when it was bought by Roche for $155 million. Roche announced a year ago that it would close and lay off 100 employees.

Glenn Farrell, a spokesman for the Icahn genomics institute, said Mt. Sinai has been working for months to renovate the former 454 space and has shipped equipment there. The facility has hired 10 people, and is recruiting for about 10 more, including entry-level technicians, early career technicians, a quality assurance professional, managers and an accessioning specialist. He said it should open in December.

Currently, the Genetic Testing Lab in New York employs about 100 people. The largest part of its work is doing genetic screening for couples planning to have a child. The lab also does more comprehensive screening for patients whose illness is a mystery and cancer target-specific gene testing.

The Institute had 340 employees at the end of last year in New York, including 188 staff, 87 professors and 65 post-doctorate researchers. It has been aggressively expanding in all those areas, and in its 2013 annual report, boasted of recruiting a Yale University professor. Mt. Sinai's medical school is ranked in the top 20 nationally, and its genetics specialty is ranked 15th.

In New York, it is exploring genetic markers in cancer, autism, schizophrenia, colitis and Crohn's disease, congenital heart disease and Alzheimer's.

It outgrew its testing lab space in New York, and Farrell said New York City is a difficult place to find affordable space where you can expand quickly.

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Genomics Research Lab Planned For Branford