Joe Sitt and Thor Equities are investment specialists and property developers focusing on the life science sectors in the US and Western Europe. In the article below, Joe Sitt and Thor Equities discuss the particular infrastructure needs in the life science industry.
Thor’s life science portfolio includes assets in premier clusters including New Jersey, San Jose, and Boston. Thor’s assets in New Jersey include recently redeveloped 95 Greene Street, the first pre-built lab ready asset in Jersey City. Also in New Jersey, Thor owns 7 Powder Horn Drive in Warren which is occupied by Celgene BMS, and The New Jersey Center of Excellence in Bridgewater, a 784,000-square-foot secure campus leased to anchor tenants Nestlé Health Science, Ashland, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, and PTC Therapeutics. Thor also acquired an R&D asset leased to semiconductor developer NXP Semiconductors in San Jose in 2021. Thor most recently sold a 72-acre life science complex, “The Lab” at North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, an assemblage of six buildings totaling 70,132 square feet.
The life sciences sector covers a broad spectrum of studies, ranging from macro trends affecting entire ecosystems down to viral tracking and genetic modification. Given the vast scope of the field, it’s understandable that life sciences requires highly specialized infrastructure and advanced tools to make new discoveries and stay at the forefront.
Infrastructure is often looked at as an expensive investment but, without it, science would be unable to advance. Today, Joe Sitt of Thor Equities discusses some of the most pressing infrastructure needs affecting the life sciences class and discusses how these infrastructure needs can be met to better advance the field.
Centralized Information Systems to Accommodate Life Sciences at All Levels
Whether scientists are tracking climate patterns or collecting data on the behavior of colonial protozoa, they require a centralized information system that can store and distribute findings throughout the industry. Joe Sitt and Thor Equities explain that this type of infrastructure is important for several reasons:
- It allows scientists to access the latest findings from their peers, which can help inform and shape their own research.
2. It provides a way for new discoveries to be quickly disseminated so that others can build on them.
3. Centralized information systems help to ensure that research is properly peer-reviewed, and that data is accurate.
Quantum Computation to Speed Up Data Analysis
When the Human Genome Project first announced that it would begin sequencing the entire human genome in 1990, it estimated that the project would take 15 years to complete. Now, thanks to technological advancements in computing power, scientists can sequence a person’s genome in just 5 hours. Yet, for science to continue making such groundbreaking advancements, we can’t settle with what we have says Joe Sitt and Thor Equities.
We must push the envelope and find ways to further improve computing power. This is where quantum computation comes in according to Joe Sitt and Thor Equities. Quantum computation is a type of computing that uses quantum-mechanical phenomena to perform operations on data. This type of computing is still in its infancy, but it has the potential to revolutionize the life sciences by providing a way to speed up data analysis.
Currently, data analysis is a bottleneck in the life sciences class. Joe Sitt and Thor Equities explain that scientists often spend months or even years analyzing data that has been collected. Quantum computation has the potential to speed up this process by orders of magnitude, which would allow scientists to make new discoveries much faster.
While quantum computation is still in its early stages, there are already a few companies that are developing quantum computers for commercial use. IBM, Google, and Microsoft are all researching ways to build quantum computers and it’s only a matter of time before these computers become available to the general public.
Improved Tools for Data Collection and Analysis
In addition to improved computing power, the life sciences also need better tools for data collection and analysis. For example, microscopes are an essential tool for biologists but the vast majority of microscopes in use today are still using 100-year-old technology says Joe Sitt and Thor Equities. While these microscopes are still useful, they are not able to take advantage of recent advancements.
As a result, biologists are limited in their ability to collect and analyze data. By making electron microscopes more easily accessible, biologists would be able to collect more accurate and detailed data. Additionally, new microscopes would allow for the study of smaller and more delicate specimens explains Joe Sitt and Thor Equities.
Although the technologies for this to become possible already exist, they are still relatively expensive and limited to large university systems and federally backed research facilities. If this equipment becomes more readily available, scientists around the world would be able to make advancements at a faster pace says Joe Sitt of Thor Equities.
