The Center for Biotechnology: Translating Science into MedTech & Biotech Opportunity

Episode five of our new MIDI Innovation Vault series saw Diane Fabel join MIDI’s CEO Greg Montalbano to discuss the Center for Biotechnology inner workings. Diane oversees the Center for Biotechnology’s ecosystem for raising early entrepreneurial groups as Director of Operations and their various partnered incubators and accelerators.

The Center for Biotechnology and their Leadership

Located on the campus of Stony Brook University in Long Island, the Center for Biotechnology touts a singular mission: to accelerate the rate and volume of innovation produced from academia, ensuring that groundbreaking research discoveries are translated into novel devices and applications that improve and protect lives. To this end, their platform is designed to support entrepreneurs and their technologies from the point of discovery through licensing, incorporation, and series funding.

With a bachelor’s in economics from Stony Brook University and a master’s in technology management, Diane spent her early career moving through industries unrelated to biotechnology, gaining experience in small business development that she would bring to Stony Brook upon her return in the early 1990s. Now holding a doctorate in biomedical engineering focusing on translational research, Diane today calls upon this background as she directs operations at the Center and several other program and organization initiatives.

Designations and Resources

A New York State Center for Advanced Technology and Medical Biotechnology is capable of offering early entrepreneurs access to university resources and business development programs intended to carry them towards professional financing. One of the Center’s most distinguishing traits is its impressive list of designations, making its broad support structure possible. The Center has also been named a DRIVe Accelerator by BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority), the federal agency concerned with national health security, charged with connecting the organization with the commercial sector as well as with companies and academics working within the field.

As a research evaluation and commercialization hub for the National Institute of Health, the Center also aids the NIH in ensuring that the innovative research performed under their yearly $44B investment reaches patients and providers as needed technologies. Meanwhile, their designation by the Department of Commerce and the associated economic development authority lets them assist companies in competing for federal funding in the form of small business innovation research and technology transfer grants. This designation supports the Center’s Long Island BioMentor Initiative. This initiative works to surround early-stage entrepreneurs with industry mentors who monitor their evolution and ensure ongoing progression towards strategic partnerships and successful fundraising.

Success Over Expedience

With a mere 8.5% of biotech projects producing patents, only 5% of which reach the market, the Center for Biotechnology differs from most of its peers. Their highest priority is ensuring technology successfully comes to the market. Along with the extensive resources already discussed, the Center offers comprehensive support to their entrepreneurs in pursuit of this, providing access to a diverse network of experts in all areas of commercialization, assistance with funding, and courses dedicated to step-by-step instruction through early development. 

The Center for Biotechnology is a robust accelerator program with a far-reaching goal. Endeavoring to translate innovation from the lab into the market, they nurture businesses and technologies through their earliest, most critical stages.

To learn more about the Center for Biotechnology and the other accelerators, incubator labs, and development communities accelerating cutting-edge medical technology of tomorrow, visit the MIDI Innovation Vault: https://info.midipd.com/podcast

If you have any questions or comments about MIDI, NYS’s Center for Biotechnology, or would like to schedule a complimentary consultation with Greg Montalbano about your business, you can reach him by phone at 1-631-467-8686 or email at innovation@midipd.com.

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