Second Century: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Biotechnology Revolution

In addition to its firmly established reputation as a leader in the biological sciences, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has also occupied a prominent role in the biotechnology industry. Since 1980, the Laboratory has become intimately involved with commercial research, forming relationships and collaborative partnerships with major biotech leaders on Long Island and elsewhere. This paper will explore the transition of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) from an institution dedicated solely to basic scientific research to one that was willing to take on a new role in for-profit biotechnology. This transition occurred at a time when academic institutions and commercial industries were in general moving closer together. This merging of interests, however, came not without a certain fear of corrupting the “pure” science of the academy. Such fears were present at CSHL in the early 1980s, but they did not prevent the institution from making biotechnology—the application of the biological sciences to human problems—a part of its larger mission. By the 1990s, involvement in the industry had become a visible part of CSHL’s research operations. Several of its scientists started their own companies, and the Laboratory, through its support for local start-up firms and business incubators, helped turn Long Island into a prominent center of biotechnology.