
November 1, 2022 • New York, NY
NY Metro Builds BIO+: Symposium for Life Science Innovation and Development
By: NY Metro Builds Bio+

Meeting Location:
THE TIMES CENTER
242 West 41st Street
New York, NY 10036
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About the NY Metro Builds BIO+: Symposium for Life Science Innovation and Development
The Fifth Annual NY Metro Builds Bio+ Life Science Symposium for Innovation and Development focused on the Greater New York Metropolitan area (which also encompasses eastern New Jersey and southern Connecticut) and how it continues to emerge as the largest and one of the fastest growing life sciences economies in the country.
Our association brought together life science and real estate communities around the key drivers of the life science industry in the New York Metro Area, presenting the opportunities and challenges of life science real estate development in the region.
The Symposium is NY Metro Builds Bio+’s flagship event! Launched in 2018 as a catalyst for driving targeted life science initiatives in New York City.
Greater NY Metropolitan Area: Life Science Landscape and Outlook
A recent NYC City Planning study of the Life Science economy concluded that the NY Metro area enjoys the largest life science economy in the United States. The 2020 Census data indicates that it is also one of the fastest-growing markets in the country.
Attendees of the Fifth Annual Life Science Real Estate Development Symposium heard how private and public investments are driving exponential growth for the life science industry, what new initiatives are furthering innovation in the space and what this means for the Greater NY Metropolitan Area.
TESTIMONIALS
AGENDA
8:00am – 8:30am
REGISTRATION AND NETWORKING
8:30am – 8:45am
WELCOME, UPDATES AND OVERVIEW OF THE MEETING
8:45am – 9:00am
KEYNOTE: KIPS BAY SCIENCE PARK AND RESEARCH CAMPUS (SPARC)
Speaker: Cecilia Kushner, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, NYC EDC
The Kips Bay Science Park and Research Campus is a new $1.6 billion job and education innovation hub that will transform Hunter College’s Brookdale Campus on East 25th Street and First Avenue into new, state-of-the-art teaching and commercial facilities for healthcare, life sciences and public health. In partnership with The City University of New York, this project will transform an entire city block—with over 1.5 million square feet of academic, public health, and life sciences space, more than doubling the life sciences footprint in Kips Bay—and rebuild a new accessible pedestrian bridge on East 25th street connecting to the East River and Manhattan Waterfront Greenway.
9:00am – 9:30am
GREATER NY METROPOLITAN AREA: LIFE SCIENCE LANDSCAPE OUTLOOK
A recent NYC City Planning study of the Life Science economy concluded that the NY Metro area, which also encompasses eastern New Jersey and southern Connecticut, enjoys the largest life science economy in the United States. The 2020 Census data indicates that it is also one of the fastest growing markets in the country.
The region is a life sciences powerhouse with more than a dozen connected innovation hubs stretching from New Haven CT to Westchester NY, Princeton NJ, and Long Island to the Lower Hudson Valley — with New York City at the center.
Join this opening session to hear how private and public investments are driving exponential growth for the life science industry, what new initiatives are furthering innovation in the space and what this means for the Greater NY Metropolitan Area.
SPEAKERS:
Susan Rosenthal, Senior Vice President, Life Sciences and Healthcare, NYCEDC
Kara Moore, Sector Lead, Life Sciences, Strategic Sector Development, NJ EDA
Deborah Novick, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Westchester County
Matthew Waskiewicz, Associate Planner, Economic Development & Regional Planning, NYC Department of City Planning
9:30am –9:45am
SURVEYING THE TRI-STATE REGION: A DATA-DRIVEN OUTLOOK FOR THE LIFE SCIENCES ECONOMY
This session will highlight the private sector macro trends driving industry growth, map where concentrated development is occurring, and will provide a forecast for future opportunities and areas of expansion.
SPEAKERS:
John Cahill, Senior Vice President, JLL
Rob Lella, Managing Director, Life Science Practice Group, Colliers
Matthew Wallerstein, Senior Director, Divcowest
9:45am – 10:00am
THE SCIENCE DRIVING INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION: GENOME EDITING/ CRISPR TECHNOLOGIES
In recent years, CRISPR has shown great potential for developing safer and more effective CAR T-cell therapies, sickle-cell disease treatment, as well as targeted therapies for other genetic and nongenetic diseases. Aside from research and human health, in the field of plant biology, CRISPR-Cas9 has been used to make staple crops more resistant to drought and to pathogens.
CRISPR is important because it allows scientists to rewrite the genetic code in almost any organism. It is simpler, cheaper, and more precise than previous gene editing techniques. Moreover, it has a range of real-world applications, including curing genetic disease and creating drought-resistant crops. This session will focus on the companies in the Greater New York Metro area commercializing new technologies developed with CRISPR.
SPEAKERS:
Alex Philippidis, Senior Business Editor, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
Prem Premsrirut, MD, PhD, Founder and CEO, Mirimus
10:00am – 10:30am
THE SCIENCE DRIVING INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION: ENGINEERING BIOLOGY
The U.S. bioeconomy is booming. Valued at nearly one trillion dollars and predicted to grow globally to over $30 trillion over the next two decades, bioproducts now include everything from the food that we eat to the vaccines we put in our arms. Plant-based burgers, recyclable bioplastics, concrete, clothing, and microbes for mining minerals are just a few of the latest bio-based products coming to market.
To support this booming bioeconomy, President Biden recently signed an Executive Order creating a National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, supported by $2 billion in investments to strengthen supply chains and address public health and climate challenges. It calls for strategic federal investments in biotechnology, enhanced domestic biomanufacturing, and the formation of a sustainable workforce that can generate safe and secure biotech innovations across the country.
The next panel will explore the opportunities for the Greater New York Metro region with the leading Greater NY Metro organizations and companies that are leading this new industrial revolution.
SPEAKERS:
Stephen Chambers, Managing Director & General Partner, SOSV/IndieBio
Dylan Crow, Associate @ SOSV’s HAX, Venture Capital for Hard Tech
Ellen Jorgensen, PhD, CSO and Co-Founder, Aanika Biosciences
10:30am – 11:00am
THE SCIENCE DRIVING INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION: CELL AND GENE THERAPY
The global market for cell therapy products derived from stem cells, tissues and organs grown in laboratories and transferred back into patients to stop the progression of diseases and disorders, is growing at a compounded annual growth rate of more than 23%. As of the end of 2019 there were 1,000 gene therapies in active or actively recruiting clinical trials. That number is expected to increase.
In the accelerating race to improve products and gain FDA approval, organizations with promising therapies need GMP manufacturing platforms, resources, modern technologies and flexible services to support their work. This session will focus on those organizations and institutions in the Greater New York Metro area developing those capabilities.
SPEAKERS:
Larry Luchsinger, PhD, Principal Investigator, Assistant Member, New York Blood Center
Mitchell Cairo, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine, Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology and Cell Biology and Anatomy, New York Medical College; Westchester Medical Center; Division Chief, Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital (Virtual)
John Tomtishen, Vice President of Operations, Cellares
Alex Klarer, Director of MSAT and Acting Head of R&D, BioCentriq
11:00 am – 11:30am
NETWORKING AND EXHIBIT HALL
11:30am – 11:50am
THE SCIENCE DRIVING INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING
Healthcare organizations are capturing petabytes of digital information across electronic health records, genomic sequences and IoT data. Using this data to improve clinical practice requires AI technologies that bring disparate data together with state-of-the-art accuracy. This session will focus on some of the most innovative new initiatives in Artificial Intelligence to improve healthcare outcomes, aiming to reduce social disparities and inequities in delivery.
SPEAKERS:
Jacques Banchereau, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Immunai
Carlo Yuvienco, PhD, Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, Envisagenics
11:50am – 12:20pm
UPDATES FROM THE INCUBATORS/ACCELERATORS
Today, there are more than 33 incubators/ accelerator programs throughout the Greater NY Metro area, each offering homes and financial support to growing companies working on leading edge innovations in life sciences. The companies that graduate from these programs often take step out space of between 10,000 to 15,000 sq ft as they scale up their products and concepts and raise additional capital. They are the growth engines for the NY Metro life science economy. Several of these programs report on the progress of their programs and the companies they serve.
12:20pm – 1:15pm
LUNCH
1:15pm – 1:35pm
THE FEINSTEIN INSTITUTES FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH AND THE INSTITUTE FOR BIOELECTRONIC MEDICINE
The $350 million Long Island Investment Fund awarded its first grant to The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research to construct 40,000 square feet of new state-of-the-art labs to support medical and infectious disease research. The $10 million Long Island Investment Fund grant complements an additional $30 million in State support previously awarded to the Feinstein Institutes to modernize 20,000 square feet of its Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine, which NY Governor Hochul opened recently.
SPEAKERS:
Yousef Al-Abed, PhD, Institute Co-Director, Institute of Bioelectric Medicine, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
Lopa Mishra, MD, Institute Co-Director, Institute of Bioelectric Medicine, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
Stavros Zanos, MD, PhD, Associates Professor, Institute of Bioelectric Medicine, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
1:35pm – 1:55pm
REGENERON
Regeneron has committed to a $1.8 billion, 900,000 sq ft upgrade at the Tarrytown campus that will include up to eight buildings, three parking garages and a central utility plant. The project will take place in two phases, bringing on preclinical manufacturing and process development suites, labs and offices. Regeneron will add 1,000 new employees over 5 years.
SPEAKERS:
George Poth, Vice President, Real Estate & Facilities Management, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Ben Suzuki, AIA, Senior Director, Real Estate & Facilities/Project Management, Engineering, Design and Construction, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
1:55pm – 2:10pm
CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK/ MANHATTANVILLE FACTORY DISTRICT
Through NYCEDC’s $1 billion LifeSci NYC initiative, NYC awarded $15 million to the City College of New York (CCNY). CCNY will bring online the “City Innovations Collaborative,” an incubator supporting commercial and academic life sciences innovation and research under one roof at the Taystee Lab Building in West Harlem’s Manhattanville Factory District. With 36,000 square feet, the collaborative will offer early-stage life sciences companies state-of-the-art wet and dry lab space for the development of new medications and medical devices that address the needs of the surrounding underserved communities.
SPEAKERS:
Andrew Wooten, Senior Director, Innovation Management and Business Development, CCNY
Scott Metzner, Principal, Janus Properties
2:10pm – 2:40pm
CURRENT LIFE SCIENCE REAL ESTATE BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION CHALLENGES: THE DEVELOPERS SPEAK
Post-pandemic, the investment and building climate for life sciences is challenging. Rising prices, supply chain issues, material shortages and eratic financial markets are all contributing to a difficult environment. Leading developers, construction and design firms will offer their experiences on how life science projects and developments are being affected and how to cope.
SPEAKERS:
Rich Monopoli, Senior Vice President, Boston Properties
Megan Guy, Senior Vice President of Development, Simone Development Companies
Matt Weir, Executive Vice President, Taconic Partners and President, Elevate Research Properties
2:40pm – 3:10pm
CURRENT LIFE SCIENCE REAL ESTATE BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION CHALLENGES: THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION COMMUNITY SPEAKS
SPEAKERS:
John Langdon, Life Science Director of Operations, Americas Region, Lendlease
Anthony M. Montalto, PE, LEED AP, Partner, JB&B
Douglas P. Gonzalez, P.E., Partner, LERA
Robert Clemens, Director of Operations and Associate Principal, Perkins & Will
3:10pm – 3:15pm
CONCLUSION AND WRAP UP
3:15pm – 4:00pm
RECEPTION AND NETWORKING
EXHIBITORS:
NYCBB+ LEADERSHIP COMMITTEES AND MEMBERSHIP
COMPANY EXHIBITORS
INCUBATOR/ ACCELERATOR EXHIBITORS
STEERING COMMITTEE

Nancy J Kelley
Nancy J Kelley + Associates

Mitchel W. Simpler
Jaros, Baum & Bolles

James C. McKenna
Hunter Roberts Construction Group

Jonathan Mechanic
Fried Frank

John Sabey
Sabey Corporation