Clinton, Schumer earmark funds
Center for Protein Dynamics gets $200k federal boost

Binghamton University’s Center for Protein Dynamics will receive $200,000 in federal funds that were included in the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill approved by Congress last week. U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who put forth the funding request, jointly made the announcement. The funding will help establish the center in the University’s Innovative Technologies Complex.

“We’re delighted and grateful to learn that Binghamton will receive federal funding for our protein dynamics research through the efforts of Senators Schumer and Clinton,” said Binghamton President Lois B. DeFleur. “This federal support combines with the state’s commitment through the Gen•NY•sis program to establish our Innovative Technologies Complex and support our Center for Protein Dynamics, helping our researchers make significant advances in disease diagnostics, early interventions for such diseases as diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s, and in many other areas that affect quality of life. These advances form the basis for development of commercial applications in the Southern Tier and New York.”

The funding for the center will help speed the development of critical applications to improve disease diagnostics, early disease interventions and treatment optimization, as well as trauma and general health care for soldiers and civilians, particularly in remote locations. “With the possibility of a war in Iraq and with many of our soldiers already in Afghanistan, this funding for Binghamton’s facility could not come at a better time,” Schumer said. “This funding will help create an Innovative Technologies Complex that will improve our ability to diagnose a variety of diseases and treat our troops in remote locations.”

“Binghamton’s Center for Protein Dynamics is a leader in biotechnologies research,” said Clinton. “The establishment of the Innovative Technologies Complex will assist in the development of critical applications to improve disease diagnostics, intervention and treatment optimization for both soldiers and civilians, while at the same time expanding research, collaboration and employment opportunities.”

The center is expected to enhance collaborations with educational, industrial, healthcare and military partners, create jobs and expand existing research to improve scientific understanding of the molecular reasons behind disease states.

It should also significantly advance the development of instrumentation to identify and interpret biomarkers of such diseases as diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s in blood, urine and tissue samples, as well as solutions that protect the viability of living tissues.