Op-Ed

The power and impact of UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences July 10, 2005

Dear Colleagues:

I am very pleased to share with you an article from this Sunday’s New York Times featuring UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, and its partner research institutions: Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute and Roswell Park Cancer Institute. A copy of the article is available at http://www.buffalo.edu/president/pdf/NYTimes_COE.pdf.

This positive story will help raise the national visibility of the Center of Excellence, the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, and the growing biotechnology industry in Western New York.

There are high expectations for the Center of Excellence. The research done there will produce diagnostic and therapeutic tools to help alleviate suffering caused by some of the world’s most serious diseases. And the commercialization of the work by the center’s talented researchers will lead to new products, additional sources of revenue, and more jobs for the region’s economy.

We also see the Center as a great example of the changes taking place that will make us one of the truly great public research universities in the country. The Center’s societal relevance and commitment to interdisciplinary research are both hallmarks of UB2020, our university’s vision for achieving sustained academic excellence.

I hope you will enjoy the article, and pass it along to your interested colleagues.

Sincerely, signature
John B. Simpson
President