BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Buffalo's Chris Vogelsang didn't ask to become the poster boy for cell therapy cancer treatment but he happily rings the bell these days.

"Fast forward to 2019 when a test revealed my lymphoma had returned. I started on a chemo pill as a bridge treatment which effectively and luckily held off a need for treatment for 3.5 years, just the amount of time for CAR-T to arrive at Roswell."

Dealing with his second stint with cancer, Vogelsang agreed to allow doctors to remove t-cells and genetically modify them.

"When they transplant them back in me they're programmed really to attack any lymphoma cells," Vogelsang said.

It's a new and complicated science but the result for Vogelsang was clear scans and a return to the active lifestyle he had always enjoyed.

"I am living proof that the work being done here changes lives. This is an exciting time with science moving so quickly and exciting time for Roswell in committing to the future of CAR T," he said.

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is hoping to change more lives soon. It celebrated the ceremonial grand opening of its new cell and gene therapy center, the first in the state and largest in the country. Doctors say the 20 clean room facility will be accessible to cancer patients, researchers and companies working to advance the next generation of cancer therapies.

"The treatment right now ids fundamentally focused on blood cancers which is very important. I'm a leukemia doctor but the real challenge is to be able to apply this technology to much more common cancers and it's a bit more complicated with solid tumors which are more common," Dr. Renier  Brentjens, Roswell Park Deputy Director said.

The state funded $30 million of the $98 million project as part of Gov. Kathy Hochul's focus on cell and gene therapy in her 2023 budget. It will create 61 jobs immediately and perhaps more based on success but Hochul says economic development is an added bonus.

"Success is more holiday tables that are not empty but full and more families, fewer families that know the loss of the most beloved person in their life. We can stop that. This is how we do it," Hochul said.