Genome research here is perfect fit

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. 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.

Weve got phenomenal genomics capability, LaVigne said.

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.

Its not just data storage. Its analytics, she said.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Genome research here is perfect fit