Cornell’s Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) has been awarded a $9.2 million grant and approval to continue its program for up to 10 more years from the New York State Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation.

Cornell’s CAT, called the Center for Life Science Enterprise, is one of 15 CATs housed in universities across the state. The CAT program’s mission is to accelerate the growth of New York state’s high-tech economy. Cornell’s CAT focuses on stimulating academic-industry collaborations in biotechnology and offering educational events geared to technology commercialization.

Cornell’s CAT was re-designated earlier this year after a competition among universities statewide.

“This renewed support from New York state enables the continuation of a highly successful suite of programs that will continue to stimulate academic-industry collaborations and effectively promote the rapid transfer of new advances in biotechnology from Cornell’s research laboratories into the commercial arena for economic development and other public benefit,” said Robert Buhrman, senior vice provost for research.

Since Cornell’s CAT was established in 1983, it has funded dozens of life-science research projects across the university through its CAT Awards. The center, administered by Cornell’s Institute of Biotechnology, has facilitated the transfer of Cornell inventions to the marketplace for the benefit of human and animal medicine, agriculture, chemistry and the environment. These have impacted the state’s economy through job creation and retention and have created revenue streams to Cornell researchers, their labs, the university and the state.

One CAT-awarded project led to the product Allerdent, a fluoride toothpaste available by prescription in 49 states that includes immunotherapy treatment for allergy patients. Allerdent was developed by Dr. William Reisacher, associate professor of otolaryngology at Weill Cornell Medicine, who partnered with startup company Allovate, co-founded by Michael Nelson ’93.

“The successful launch of biotech products and services enabled by the CAT awards is testimony to the infrastructure that exists at Cornell for nurturing early stage discoveries and inventions in the life sciences, and facilitating their maturation into successful commercial enterprises,” said Jocelyn Rose, director of the Institute of Biotechnology and CAT at Cornell.

Other Cornell CAT initiatives include its Pre-Seed Workshop, in which Cornell biotechnology scientists brainstorm and consult with Cornell experts in business, finance, marketing and legal fields to determine whether their business ideas are viable and to help develop business plans.

CAT funds Entrepreneurship at Cornell’s student summer internship program,  and Cornell’s Equipment Lending Library, a program of the Cornell Institute of Biology Teachers that lends science kits and models to K-12 classrooms. CAT also helps support the McGovern Family Center for Venture Development in the Life Sciences, Cornell’s biotechnology startup company incubator.

“Cornell’s CAT has a proven track record of bridging the gap between world-class research and technology-based manufacturers,” said Michael Stamm, president of Tompkins County Area Development. “This is a great investment by the tax payers of New York state.”