Trudeau Institute President Atsuo Kuki (Photo provided)

SARANAC LAKE — Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed $5 million for the Trudeau Institute’s work to become a regional hub of biotechnology research and design in his budget for the 2019 fiscal year, released Tuesday.

The funding — which the Institute also received in the 2018 budget — is “to support the partnership between the State, Clarkson University and the Trudeau Institute to form a world-class biotech enterprise,” according to the press release from the Governor’s office.

The Trudeau Institute is a research organization dedicated to fighting infectious diseases in Saranac Lake. In recent years, the co-chairs of the Regional Economic Development Council — Anthony Collins, president of Clarkson University, and Garry Douglas, head of the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce — and state Sen. Betty Little have all worked to secure additional funding to make the Institute a hub for job creation and research across northern New York.

This will be the fifth year the two institutions have been joined, after the governor announced a five-year, $35 million state funding commitment in late 2013, intended to save Trudeau.

Trudeau Institute President and Director Atsuo Kuki said the funding will allow the Institute to hire more scientists and laboratory technicians, letting them increase their research capabilities as they build their research network across the region and, eventually, the state.

In Cuomo’s proposal, the grant is designated to “grow the Clarkson-Trudeau partnership,” but while the two institutions work closely together, the funding will go only to the Trudeau Institute.

“We are definitely partners with them, but we don’t receive the money,” said Kelly Chezum, vice president of external relations for Clarkson University. Clarkson and Trudeau collaborate on several initiatives already. Trudeau makes its research facilities available to some Clarkson faculty and regularly hosts several Clarkson students for a semester of intensive learning about biomedical research.

“It’s a great experience for our students,” Chezum said. “We do a lot together and are very supportive of their organization.”

But the research network that the institute is hoping to create goes well beyond Clarkson University. The proposed funding, according to Kuki, will grow the Institute’s ability to work on projects such as connecting scientific research to hands-on medical knowledge at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.

“The picture is bigger than Clarkson-Trudeau,” Kuki said.

While Trudeau is building up its research capabilities, however, there are few specific programs outside of the Institute that its administrator knows the funding will be used for, according to Kuki. He praised the governor for recognizing the importance of investing in research capability as well as specific projects.

“We are at a very pivotal time where we’ve needed this catalytic support,” Kuki said. “Governor Andrew Cuomo realizes it takes time to grow this kind of biomedical research.”

At the moment, the Institute is working on several new initiatives to counteract diseases such as resistant strains of tuberculosis and the Zika virus.

“Where we see ourselves going is, we will be a partner with New York state to work on public health,” Kuki said.

The $5 million in funding still has to be approved by the state legislature, but Kuki says the Institute has a lot of support among legislators.