Cold Spring Harbor Lab breaks ground for $15M cancer-drug testing facility

Construction began Wednesday on a $15 million drug testing facility on Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Woodbury campus.

The 8,000-square-foot space at the lab’s Genome Center will focus on drugs used to treat lung, liver, pancreatic, brain, prostate and breast cancers as well as melanoma and leukemia.

Dr. Bruce Stillman, the lab’s chief executive, said it “envisions collaboration with other research and clinical centers as well as biotech and pharmaceutical companies.”

Stillman was joined Wednesday by state officials for a groundbreaking ceremony. The state is providing $2 million in return for the creation of 30 jobs and retention of the lab’s workforce of more than 900 people.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the project “demonstrates how Long Island is becoming a leading hub for scientific and medical study.”

The state funding was awarded in 2011 on the recommendation of the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council. At the time, council leaders said the testing facility would potentially be a boon to the region's growing pharmaceutical industry.