Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) became the first academic medical center in the world when it was established in the Upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights in the 1920's. CUMC can also claim to have built New York City’s first university-related research park (in conjunction with the city and state)—housing the only biotechnology business incubator in the city: The Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park. The complex on CUMC's eastern border is currently made up of 3 research buildings, with sites and plans for 2 more. When completed, the park will contain over 600,000sf of research laboratory space and 1 million sf of overall usable space. Additionally, the biomedical science and technology park falls within the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, meaning special funding is available for businesses starting or relocating there.
The current research park facilities consist of these buildings (which we profile individually below):
- Mary Woodard Lasker Biomedical Research Building (housing the Audubon Business and Technology Center incubator)
- Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion
- Irving Cancer Research Center
The Mary Woodard Lasker Biomedical Research Building is a commercial laboratory facility and was the first building constructed in the Columbia research park, opening in 1995 to house the Audubon Business and Technology Center, a life science startup incubator. Further facts:
- The Lasker Building has 100,000gsf of space
- 46 new companies have been started there since the Audubon Center opened
- 600 new jobs have been created
- There are currently 13 biotech tenants and 4 retail tenants (including the University Bookstore)
- It is attached to the renovated historic Audubon Ballroom (run by the City of New York)
The Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion was the second addition to the research park, comprising 175,000gsf, with laboratories making up 6 of its 8 floors. When completed in 1997, it was the first new academic research building that had been built at CUMC in 20 years. It houses these Columbia units:
- The Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, a comprehensive research and treatment center
- The Institute of Cancer Genetics
- Columbia Genome Center
- Associates in Internal Medicine Clinic
The Irving Cancer Research Center opened in 2005 to expand the biomedical research arm of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at CUMC. At 304,000gsf, 9 of its 13 floors are made up of research laboratories that focus on:
- Cancer
- Genetics
- Genomics
- Immunology
Site 4 in the above map drawing will be the future home to a 280,000gsf building, and Site 5, next to Russ Berrie, will be another academic research building with appx. 237,000 gsf.
Lately the news has been full of New York City's plans to be the next great biotech hub in the US. Columbia University Medical Center anticipated that growth by almost 30 years when it began to build its biomedical research park to supply the structure and organization to facilitate developments in biotechnology that will ensure improved health care, while contributing to economic growth through the creation of private sector research collaborations and the generation of new biomedically related business. CUMC has over 4 million sf of space and is home to more than 4,000 faculty and research scientists.
In addition to the research park facilities, Columbia University Medical Center began construction on a new home for the Columbia University School of Nursing in 2014. The seven-story structure is being built on existing Columbia property on the corner of W. 168th Street and Audubon Avenue (at the east end of the CUMC campus). Completion is expected in 2018.
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is a science research marketing and event-planning company that organizes university trade shows nationwide. If you are a science researcher or lab supplier interested in networking at Columbia University Medical Center, our 6th Annual Armory Track & Field Center event (adjacent to Columbia University Medical Center) will be held on Monday, September 29, 2016. Our shows are catered, casually professional, and always enlightening.
In addition to our Armory show, we hold two other events in New York in the fall.
- 9/30/2016 -- Rockefeller University BioResearch Product Faire
- 10/14/16 -- StonyBrook University BioRearch Product Faire
See our full 2016 Nationwide Show Schedule for all other dates.