FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 21, 2011
CONTACT: Kari Bonaro, BNMC, 716.218.7157 and Evelyn Grau, IMMCO, 716. 691.0091
IMMCO Diagnostics Opens New Laboratory In Innovation Center on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus
February 21, 2011, BUFFALO, NY –IMMCO Diagnostics, a worldwide leader in autoimmune diagnostic products and services, has invested $1 million to relocate and operate its expanding UNYLAB Transplant Immunology, Immunogenetics, and Diagnostic Immunologytesting and consulting services to the Innovation Center at 640 Ellicott Street on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The new site opened today and houses 20 IMMCO employees with plans to increase this number by 20 percent by the end of the year.Along with the move, UNYLAB will now officially be named IMMCO Diagnostics.
IMMCO Immunogenetics performs comprehensive HLA tissue typing services and disease susceptibility testing for conditions suchas celiac disease. IMMCO Transplant Immunology performs tissue typing for hematopoietic stem cell and organ transplants including living or deceased donor evaluation, high resolution typing for bone marrow transplant candidates or donors, and post transplant monitoring. Testing is performed to ensure the most favorable outcomes. IMMCO Diagnostics Immunologyspecializes in diagnostics and immunopathology for autoimmune diseases suchas lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and thyroiditis as well as esoteric autoimmune conditions such aspolymyositis. Movingthedivisionsto the new facility allows the company to expand it soperations and offer more testing services. Concurrently it frees up space inthe company’s headquarters in Amherst to expandmanufacturing to meet increasing demand.
“We are encouraged by the growth in our histocompatibility testing, solid organ and bone marrow transplantation services, and platelet transfusion testing. The opportunity to be an integral part and to contribute in the expansionof this state of the art Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus is very exciting,” said Bill Maggio, President and CEO, IMMCO Diagnostics.
“The Innovation Center provides a home for private sector growth on the BNMC,” said Matthew K. Enstice, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc. “We are thrilled to welcome IMMCO and other growing life sciences and biotech companies that want to be near the thriving clinical care, research and medical education institutions on the BNMC in a collaborative environment designed to foster entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation.”
The Innovation Center has received funding through New York State’s Upstate Regional Blueprint Fund Grant, RestoreNY, National Grid, the John R. Oishei Foundation, and the U.S. Small Business Administration through a grant secured by Congressman Brian Higgins.
ABOUT IMMCO Diagnostics
Founded in 1971, IMMCO Diagnostics, Inc. is a leader in the field of autoimmunity and has been serving the needs of healthcare professionals for over 35 years. IMMCO Diagnostics division develops and distributes autoimmune disease diagnostics and reagents to labs worldwide. IMMCO Lab Services offers national reference laboratory testing of autoimmune diseases and immunopathology for the healthcare market in the US. IMMCO’s contract research group supports clinical research trials for pharmaceutical and biotech clients. IMMCO’s UNYLAB provides immunologic and genetic laboratory testing services. With US headquarters located in Amherst, New York, IMMCO also has facilities in Canada, and a distribution network in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia and markets to over 55 countries.
About the Innovation Center at 640 Ellicott Street
The Innovation Center at 640 Ellicott Street is a stateoftheart, LEED-certified building with a collaborative environment designed to foster innovation and creativity among companies seeking to be a part of the thriving Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Currently 24 companies reside in the Innovation Center. The facility is an example of adaptive reuse—once part of the Trico Products Corp. complex—and boasts a newly renovated lobby, core and shell, conference rooms and rest rooms. Solar panels were recently installed through a grant from NYSERDA to reduce the building’s energy consumption.
About the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus
The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus is a consortium of the region’s premier health care, life sciences research, and medical education institutions, all located on 120 acres in downtown Buffalo, New York. The BNMC is dedicated to the cultivation of a world-class medical campus for clinical care, research, education, and entrepreneurship. BNMC member institutions are the University at Buffalo, Kaleida Health, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Buffalo Medical Group, Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center, Olmsted Center for Sight, Upstate New York Transplant Services, and the Center for Hospice and Palliative Care.
The BNMC has:
- 4.5 million square feet of existing research, clinical, and support space today
- More than two million square feet currently or soon to be under construction, equaling an investment of $500 million in public and private funding.
- 8,500 people working on the Medical Campus today, a number that will rise to nearly 12,000 in the next few years.
- More than one million patients and visitors annually.
- Nine major institutions and more than 30 public and private life sciences companies are located on the BNMC.
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