Credit Ryan Zunner / WBFO News The $8.1 million Cryogenic-Electron Microscopy Center at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute is the only one of its kind in upstate New York.
Cryo-EM technology can freeze samples for study in an active state – a procedure that was vital in understanding SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Hauptman-Woodward CEO Dr. Edward Snell said the new facility has far-reaching impacts for the region.
“This enables companies that may not have access to this technology to use it. It takes a protein, the targets that people are looking at for disease, and provides information on what they'd look like to allow for drug development,” said Dr. Snell. “It's important for academic research to promote our understanding of health and disease. And I think it's going to attract a lot of economic development within the region.”