NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy today announced that the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai will receive a $9.5 million loan from a state agency to create a genomics research facility in Branford.
The school announced plans for the new genomics facility in Branford last month, saying it would be equipped with Thermo Fisher Scientific's Ion Proton and Ion Chef next-generation sequencing systems.
Connecticut's Department of Economic and Community Development is providing a $9.5 million low-interest loan to help facilitate the project, which will include a 16,500-square-foot laboratory. If job creation milestones are met, the loan provides forgiveness for up to $7.25 million to the Icahn School, Gov. Malloy's office said.
The project is anticipated to create 142 new full-time jobs during the next five years, Gov. Malloy's office said.
Eric Schadt, a professor of genomics at the Icahn School, said in a statement that the new center will facilitate the high-throughput DNA sequencing of large volumes of patient samples. "With this extraordinary new capability, we expect to readily advance our translational research findings and development of new clinical tests in major disease areas, such as cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's," he said.
He also noted the relatively close proximity of Yale University, the University of Connecticut Health Center, and the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, and said that the new facility hopes to collaborate with them.