Research Leaders Across New York State Form Empire State Cellular Therapy Consortium

To expand on early progress in the emerging field of cell and gene therapy, five research centers across New York State are collaborating to develop new cell therapies for cancer and other diseases. Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, the University of Rochester Wilmot Cancer Institute in Rochester and three academic research centers in New York City — The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NYU Langone Health and Weill Cornell Medicine — have partnered to launch the Empire State Cellular Therapy Consortium.

Member centers will have expanded access to resources across the network, including Roswell Park’s 20-clean-room GMP Engineering & Cell Manufacturing Facility, and the ability to participate in clinical trials originating out of any of the five member sites — paving the way for faster progress and earlier, more convenient access to innovative therapies for patients.

“A partnership like this opens the doors to accelerating research, bringing innovative treatments from bench to bedside much faster. By combining our resources, we can learn from one another, strengthening our efforts to bring new and better options to patients,” says Consortium co-founder Marco Davila, MD, PhD, Roswell Park Senior Vice President, Associate Director of Translational Research and Rustum Family Endowed Chair in Translational Research.

Part of the broad class of biologic treatments known as immunotherapy, cell and gene therapies harness the body’s own immune system to fight disease. Over the past two years, 15 new cell and gene therapies have been approved by the U.S. FDA, bringing the total number of approvals of this type of biologic therapy using patients’ own cells to 45. 

Cell and gene therapies have demonstrated marked success as treatment for blood cancers, generating long-term remissions and cures in both adults and children, and cell-based approaches have been FDA-approved to treat forms of leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma as well as the genetic blood disorder sickle cell disease. Experts are now looking at ways to broaden the application of cell therapies to include “solid-tumor” cancers in organs like the breast, ovaries, lung and pancreas — and to treat other noncancerous conditions, including neurodegenerative, autoimmune and metabolic diseases such as multiple sclerosis, lupus and diabetes.

Consortium members expect to open several clinical trials within the next two years, offering earlier to state-of-the-art medical treatments not available outside this pioneering Empire State network, and will also collaborate to expand patients’ access to standard-of-care cell therapies already approved by the FDA.

“At Mount Sinai, we are committed to advancing cell and gene therapies that offer curative potential for patients with both malignant and nonmalignant diseases,” says Keren Osman, MD, Medical Director of the Cellular Therapy Service and Associate Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “The Empire State Cellular Therapy Consortium provides a powerful framework for collaboration, allowing us to scale innovation, streamline access to trials, and bring the promise of these transformative therapies to more patients across New York.”

“We are thrilled to be part of the Empire State Cellular Therapy Consortium. I have no doubt that, with the collective efforts of its members, this consortium will serve as a driving force for cutting-edge cell and gene therapy,” says Jingmei Hsu, MD, a physician and faculty member with the hematology group at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center who is also Cell Therapy Trial Review Committee Chair and Director of the Cell Processing Laboratory at NYU.

“Collaboration on this level is so important because it will bring about efficiency as we make faster progress toward new, innovative treatments to benefit our patients,” says Patrick Reagan, MD, Associate Professor of Hematology/Oncology at the UR and Director of Wilmot Cancer Institute’s Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy program. “The consortium also provides a lot of opportunity for basic scientists and junior investigators and trainees to learn by having access to this cutting-edge facility and a large team.”

“The consortium is a unique collaboration to bring cell and gene therapies to patients across the state of New York. By partnering and streamlining manufacturing, we hope to integrate state-of-the-art cell therapy clinical trials and share important clinical data across numerous centers, ultimately improving access to curative therapies for patients with a wide range of cancers and blood disorders,” says Samuel Yamshon, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and Director of Cell Therapy Service at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. “We are very excited to partner with the Consortium and also leverage the excellence in laboratory science, clinical translation and clinical research at Weill Cornell Medicine to rapidly expand access to breakthrough therapies for our patients,” says Dr. Juliet Barker, Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and Director of Bone Marrow Transplant and Cell Therapy at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. “We’re excited about the opportunity to make full use of the resources and expertise embedded within these outstanding teams across New York State,” says cell therapy pioneer and Consortium co-founder Renier Brentjens, MD, PhD, Roswell Park Deputy Director and The Katherine Anne Gioia Endowed Chair in Cancer Medicine at Roswell Park, who helped develop the first cancer treatments employing a strategy known as CAR T-cell therapy. “The ideas and innovation coming out of these five centers are remarkable, and stem from our shared commitment to providing more and better options for patients with hard-to-treat diseases.”

The consortium was launched with a February 2025 symposium at Roswell Park featuring speakers from all five member organizations. Dr. Davila will serve as the Empire State Cellular Therapy Consortium’s inaugural Chair — a position that will rotate across all member institutions.

The newly expanded Roswell Park GMP Engineering & Cell Manufacturing Facility, announced by Gov. Kathy Hochul in late 2024 and supported by a $30 million investment from Empire State Development and by a $20 million commitment from the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, is the first of two New York State hubs supporting cell therapy manufacturing, research and clinical development. All Consortium members will have preferential access to its services and team. 

For more information about cell and gene therapy at each consortium member site, see:

• Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center Cell Therapy Service (New York, NY)
• Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Center at NYU Langone Health (New York, NY)
• Cell and gene therapy at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (Buffalo, NY)
• Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program at the University of Rochester Wilmot Cancer Institute (Rochester, NY)
• Bone Marrow Transplant and Cell Therapy Program at Weill-Cornell Medicine (New York, NY)