HELIX

HELIX Built for the discovery & advancement of next-generation, life-improving ideas.

“BioNJ, the powerhouse association representing New Jersey’s life sciences industry, has officially joined the New Jerse...
04/30/2026

“BioNJ, the powerhouse association representing New Jersey’s life sciences industry, has officially joined the New Jersey Innovation Hub, Powered by Portal Innovations, as a foundational member.”

“The move signifies a deepening partnership between the state’s primary advocacy group and the high-tech infrastructure at the HELIX (Health and Life Science Exchange) in New Brunswick, reinforcing New Jersey’s standing as a global leader in biopharmaceutical innovation.”

Read more about this story over at .

04/28/2026

These feel like frozen cathedrals. And as you navigate them, you’re walking through pure physics.

Ice caves form in two main ways: glacial meltwater carves tunnels from within, while pockets of dense, cold air get trapped inside rock caves and freeze whatever seeps in. What you’re seeing is centuries of pressure at work.

That blue glow? Not pigment. It’s wavelength selection. As snow compacts into glacial ice over decades, air bubbles get squeezed out, leaving ice so dense it absorbs nearly every color of sunlight except blue, which it scatters back to your eyes. The thicker the ice, the deeper the blue.

The walls are, essentially, a timeline. Each ripple, each layer of bubbles, marks a season. A record of snowfall, melt, and freeze stretching back hundreds, sometimes thousands of years. And it’s all temporary. Every ice cave is melting, shifting, collapsing, reforming with the seasons.

The Art In Science // Episode 78 // Ice Caves
Footage: Escape Routine via Artlist.io
Music: Take Me Out by Russo & Weinberg

At the heart of H-1 at The HELIX — steps from the New Brunswick train station — sits the new home of the Rutgers Robert ...
04/24/2026

At the heart of H-1 at The HELIX — steps from the New Brunswick train station — sits the new home of the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (), anchored by a combination of defining architectural features: the VESSEL (featured below) and the FORUM (which we’ll highlight in more detail later).

The VESSEL, designed by the teams at & , is a curved wood structure rising through four levels of the school, wrapped in a transparent glass facade that puts the life inside on full view. Lectures, seminars, team meetings, study sessions, library hangtime, the in-between moments - the multi-use space is built for all of it. One feature, many modes.

More highlights to come as we approach the May opening.

04/21/2026

A Rutgers University-led study in Science Advances found that when a damaged liver can’t properly clear ammonia. Ammonia is a toxic byproduct of protein metabolism. And this excess ammonia fuels tumor growth. How? By feeding into amino acids and nucleotides that cancer cells depend on.

In other words, protein is impairing the “waste-handling machinery” of certain livers.

The study — lead by Wei Xing Zong of The Medicinal Chemistry, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University-New Brunswick and — showed that in mice, reducing dietary protein lowered ammonia, slowed tumors, and significantly improved survival. People with healthy livers have nothing to worry about, but for the millions living with liver disease, fatty liver, or viral hepatitis, this simple dietary shift could be a meaningful intervention.

For context, liver cancer remains one of the deadliest primary cancers in the United States, with a five-year survival rate of about 22%. The American Cancer Society estimates there were 42,240 new cases in 2025 and 30,090 deaths.

The number of U.S. residents with compromised liver function who face elevated cancer risk is far larger. About 1 in 4 U.S. adults has fatty liver disease, a condition that, along with viral hepatitis and heavy alcohol use, can raise the risk of cirrhosis as well as cancer.

This study is a big deal and could unlock ways to help millions of people.

04/07/2026

Nokia Bell Labs is presenting seven papers at OFC Conference 2026 on hollow-core fiber (HCF). While exciting, it’s complicated, so let’s try to break it down...

The basic idea: Normal fiber optic cables send light through glass. Glass slows light down. It travels about 33% slower through glass than through air. Hollow-core fiber (HCF) fixes that by sending light through an air-filled tube instead. Faster light = faster data.

What everyone already knew: HCF’s big selling point has always been lower latency. It’s already being deployed in financial trading applications where every millisecond counts.

What the article argues: Speed isn’t the only trick up HCF’s sleeve. There are actually three big advantages:

(1) Lower latency: light travels faster through air than glass. That’s the known one.

(2) More capacity: glass has complex signal absorption behavior that limits the transmission window for conventional fiber, and is a nonlinear medium that causes signal impairments. HCF sidesteps these issues, meaning you can push more data through without interference degrading the signal.

(3) Much longer range without signal boosters: lower loss in HCF allows for much longer unamplified spans. In terrestrial networks, amplifier spacing is typically 60–80 km, while Nokia has demonstrated unrepeatered subsea reaches of approximately 600 km. That means fewer expensive signal repeaters along a cable route.

How far along is it? Pretty far. Demonstrated signal loss has dropped well below the theoretical minimum for conventional fiber, with reported minimum losses around 0.05 dB/km. And apparently, there’s still room for improvement.

The bottom line: Hollow-core fiber has moved well beyond niche technology status and is positioned as an important component of future optical networks. Especially for AI data centers that need to move massive amounts of data quickly between facilities.

Introducing the food & beverage experience at The HELIX. From the beginning, we've believed that social spaces are essen...
04/03/2026

Introducing the food & beverage experience at The HELIX.

From the beginning, we've believed that social spaces are essential. The unscripted conversations over coffee, the handshakes at happy hour, the new relationships that come about over a shared meal - these moments, whether arranged or seredipitous, can be encouraged by design.

That's why we're investing in the HELIX's food and beverage program with the same intentionality we bring to our work and research spaces. New Brunswick Development Corporation (DEVCO) is partnering with DHS Hospitality Group (owner/operator Doug Schneider and Chef Jackie Mazza) to bring the iconic Clydz and brand new Strand Market to the heart of the HELIX.

Flip through. Give it a look. And we'll see you soon.

Think of this as an all-purpose mini-status report on where things stand.While we regularly share updates on specific bu...
03/19/2026

Think of this as an all-purpose mini-status report on where things stand.

While we regularly share updates on specific buildings, plans, and features of The HELIX, we aim to start providing more comprehensive updates that bring the full picture together.

So, here’s our first: STATE OF THE HELIX // 03.19.26.

The district is taking shape. Partners are planning their arrivals. Broad intrigue and interest continue to grow. The HELIX in New Brunswick is accelerating — with Rutgers Health/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, The New Jersey Innovation Hub with Portal Innovations, and Nokia Bell Labs anchoring a district being built by DEVCO (New Brunswick Development Corporation (DEVCO), with help from Elkus Manfredi Architects, JINGOLI, SJP Properties, Pennrose, HUSH Studios, and numerous others.

In short, the ambition is being realized: a new home for the discovery and advancement of next-gen, life-improving innovations.

It’s all getting real. Introducing ’ newly appointed Executive Director in New Jersey: Sangeetha Ramsagar.In this role, ...
02/25/2026

It’s all getting real. Introducing ’ newly appointed Executive Director in New Jersey: Sangeetha Ramsagar.

In this role, Ramsagar. will help lead strategy, operations, and ecosystem development for the new Portal-powered incubator, advancing its mission to accelerate the formation and growth of next-generation startup companies in New Jersey.

She recently sat down to chat with Tom Bergeron , editor of , to discuss her new role. Bergeron notes - “As a veteran scientist and economic‑development leader at Bayer, Johnson & Johnson and Quest Diagnostics and a founder herself — and someone who has worked inside major innovation ecosystems in Boston, Philadelphia, Austin and San Diego — she brings a rare mix of R&D, business development and startup experience to the role.”

biotech healthinnovation

01/15/2026

We needed a space, located directly inside the HELIX campus, dedicated to connecting early stage life science companies to the things they need most - infrastructure, capital, and relationships.

The New Jersey Innovation Hub, living within H-1 at The HELIX, will do exactly this. And we’ve tapped to help run it.

This is 30,000 SF of premier, state-of-the-art incubator & co-working space at the heart of THE HELIX. Portal brings its proven national model - having already supported over 90+ startups - to the Northeast STEM corridor.

Portal’s magic lies in their ability to integrate capital, labs, space, and a curated network into a single platform. Ultimately operating as a launchpad for next-gen life‑science companies.

Visit www.njinnovates.com to learn more about what’s coming.

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