MMRL’s nearly $3M project has “potential to save lives”

UTICA — Masonic Medical Research Laboratory (MMRL) plans a renovation project that one company official contends “has the potential to save lives and help people in the region, across the country and around the world.”

MMRL anticipates spending nearly $3 million on a project to renovate its research facilities.

The $2.75 million project represents the “first time in over a decade” that the MMRL has undertaken such an effort, the organization said in a news release issued June 23.

“We often say that money spent on treatment benefits the patient, money spent on research benefits humanity,” David Schneeweiss, president of the MMRL board of directors, said.

MMRL will use a $550,000 state award from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Mohawk Valley regional economic-development council to help fund the project.

MMRL will pay the remaining cost through a “mix” of the laboratory’s resources, which include both current funds and future fundraising efforts.

Syracuse–based VIP Structures is handling the design and construction work on the project, MMRL said in an email response to a CNYBJ inquiry.

The organization expects the work to begin after the July 4 holiday and continue through November.

MMRL tells CNYBJ that it anticipates the project will create between 10 and 15 temporary construction jobs and “eventually” lead to 10 new permanent positions at the lab.

“We want to thank Gov. Cuomo and his staff as well as our Utica area legislators for supporting this project which is vital to helping us recruit and retain the scientists who will use these new facilities to make cutting-edge discoveries with the potential to save lives,” Schneeweiss said in the news release.

Erasmus Schneider, associate director for research and technology at the Wadsworth Center, represented Cuomo at the June 23 announcement to “highlight the value of enhanced” research facilities in the Mohawk Valley. 

“This expansion and modernization is a vital advancement in the lab’s life-saving research. As you begin construction today, you are fulfilling strategic goals in the area of health care and wellness and keeping up with cutting-edge medical technology. On behalf of all New Yorkers, I gratefully acknowledge the leadership and commitment of those involved with this renovation of the Masonic Medical Research Laboratory,” said a letter from Cuomo.

Wadsworth Center, which is part of the New York State Department of Health, says it is a “science-based community committed to protecting and improving the health of New Yorkers through laboratory analysis, investigations and research, as well as laboratory certification and educational programs.”

The project

MMRL is still finalizing the details of the 6,800-square-foot renovation, but notes the renovation of its second and third floors is a “long overdue project.” 

The work will involve “entirely” reconfiguring both floors.

The second floor will have an “updated, open concept” laboratory space, fit with modern laboratory modules like its genetics wing. 

The improvements will also involve “general high technology advances” throughout the third floor. 

Crews will update electrical, plumbing and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems “as necessary” to support the renovations and installation of new equipment. 

The renovated space will help “transition traditional electrophysiology to more innovative” research that both “combines and coordinates” electrophysiology with molecular biology and genetics technology, MMRL said.

MMRL has expanded its footprint “several” times during its 60-year history, including a “major” addition in 1988 when a second floor was added to the Royal Arch Masons Wing. 

In 2002, a $400,000 renovation project “brought the facility up to date” with handicapped accessibility and other improvements to the building’s facade. 

The last “major” addition occurred in 2004, when the $2 million molecular genetics and molecular biology wing opened.

The Masonic Medical Research Laboratory is a nonprofit institute founded by the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York in 1958. It says its mission “is dedicated to improving the health and quality of life for all.”