nygenome.org

• • Market Research + Assessment
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Financial Analysis
  • Technology Assessment
  • Capital Requirements + Investment Funding Strategy
• • Organization Design + Governance
  • Economic Impact Analysis
  • Strategic Planning + Operational Scaleup
  • Fundraising
  • Real Estate + Location Strategy
• • Structuring Strategic Alliances
  • Complex Business Negotiations
  • Branding + Communications Strategy
  • Organizational Launch
  • Community Engagement

“Nancy J Kelley was instrumental in nurturing the New York Genome Center from an idea to a reality, to the inestimable benefit of scientific research and New York City.” Russ Carson & Ivan Seidenberg, Co-chairs, NYGC Board of Directors

Situation:

Despite the prominence and strength of its academic research and medical institutions, New York City had failed to invest in the infrastructure needed to propel the City into the coming “Century of Biology.”

Actions:

Nancy J Kelley served as the Founding Executive Director of the New York Genome Center. Under her leadership, NJK+A developed an initial feasibility study and operational plan for a world-class sequencing, bioinformatics and data storage facility which would serve as a shared resource for NYC institutions. The study and plan included the following elements: market assessment, competitive analysis, financial model, capital requirements and investment/funding strategy, operational scale-up, organization design and governance options. The Team also performed an economic impact analysis.

Upon completion of that study, Ms. Kelley recruited 11 Founding Institutional Members and two Associate Members to bring the Center from a start-up to a fully operational, world-class genomics research center. After a period of community education and engagement and complex business negotiations, the 11 Founding Institutional Members invested $2.5 million each to provide the initial capital commitments for the facility.

NJK+A led a technology evaluation and selection process for a sequencing partner, negotiated critical clinical and technology relationships, recruited 50+ member senior management and scientific team, and established a Pilot Laboratory and the NYGC Innovation Center. After structuring key strategic alliances, NJK&A also raised $110m in cash and $70m in operational support before overseeing the selection and build-out of NYGC’s permanent, 170,000 sq. ft. facility.

The NJK+A team evaluated over 100 sites before settling on 101 Avenue of the Americas for the permanent location. The facility serves as a state-of-the-art hub for genome sequencing, analytics, bioinformatics, high-performance computing and research.

The space was designed with an emphasis on spatial flexibility and collaboration. Labs are furnished almost entirely with mobile, height-adjustable lab benches that allow easy reconfiguration as new methods, techniques or research directions demand it. The office areas feature open workstations, a variety of inviting, media-supported meeting spaces, a locally managed employee café, conference center and auditorium, a roof garden and “communicating staircases between floors to encourage collaboration among the staff and the NYGC’s partners throughout the facility.

The build-out of the space cost $47 million, raised from a variety of public, private and philanthropic sources.

The facility’s features include:

• Over 170,000 square feet, including 30,000-square-feet of sequencing lab space
• A dedicated open-plan bioinformatics floor to encourage discussion and collaboration
• A data storage annex to safely store the immense amounts of data produced
• Research labs with space to host a number of principal investigators and their teams from various member institutions
• An Innovation Lab to develop new sequencing technologies
• A CLIA/CLEP lab to service clinical needs
• A modern, divisible conference center/event space with the capacity to hold 180 people for both NYGC and external events

Results:

NJK+A led the New York Genome Center from a start-up to fully operational, world-class genomics research center and provider of cutting edge sequencing, bioinformatics, and data services

• Genome Center for Gotham – BIO-IT World, November 3, 2011
• The New York Genome Center – Nature Biotechnology, Profile, with Andrew Marshall, November 2012
• Nancy Kelley Steps Down as New York Genome Center Founding Executive Director, Bio-IT World, March 5, 2013

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