Incubating a biotech company on Long Island and making sure that the company remains in the region are separate challenges. Diane Fabel notes the importance of being able to monitor new methods and technologies as...
The biotech industry in the New York region emerged in the 1980s and 1990s surrounded by a lot of hype and unrealistic expectations. Even those with a more reasoned perspective remember making assumptions about the...
A lot has changed in the biotech industry over the last thirty or forty years. Those who can look back on a long career in the field, such as Diane Fabel, note that there are...
What can universities do for life sciences graduate students who might be interested in a career in biotech, or who might simply want to know more about the industry? Stony Brook’s Center for Biotechnology developed...
What might motivate more faculty to consider potential commercial applications of their research? One thing that occasionally stands in the way is that patents do not count for tenure. And, as Diane Fabel at the...
Only a relatively small number of patents lead to products. What would raise that number? Diane Fabel’s first suggestion, based on her experience mediating between faculty members and the biotech industry, is that it’s necessary...
Plants need nitrogen to grow, but a significant portion of the nitrogen in fertilizers is not absorbed by the soil or used by the growing plants. Rather, it washes away into waterways, rivers, and the ocean. This in turn has had devastating effects on marine life. In some areas, excessive nitrogen in the oceans has caused algae blooms that kill wildlife, make it dangerous for people to consume fish or shellfish or in some cases even swim in affected waters. This problem isn’t limited to poorer countries. Nitrogen pollution is a serious problem here on Long Island. In our case, the nitrogen comes primarily from septic tanks and cesspools, although nitrogen from agricultural fertilizers also plays a role. Nitrogen pollution in the waters around Long Island has hampered fishing, made it dangerous to eat seafood from some areas, and caused environmental changes that make coastal areas more prone to flooding.