INSTITUTE FOR CANCER GENETICS ON TWO FLOORS

Columbia University Health Sciences, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): [unreadable] We are requesting funds for construction of research space to house the Institute for Cancer Genetics (ICG), a critical component of Columbia University devoted to basic and translational research on human cancer. The space would occupy the 8th and 9th floors of the new Irving Cancer Research Center. The core and shell construction of this building is underway and will be completed by mid 2003. The ICG was established in 1999 as a University Institute devoted to research and teaching on human cancer. The ICG's mission is to elucidate the pathogenesis of cancer and identify targets for diagnosis and treatment of malignant disease, and as such to serve as the main research arm of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Dalla-Favera was named ICG Director and assigned the task of forming the Institute faculty. In less than four years the ICG has grown to include 9 primary research laboratories led by faculty members with appointments in 5 different clinical or basic science Departments. The research activities of the ICG are organized into four programmatic areas: lymphoid neoplasia, breast cancer, brain tumors, and mechanisms of genomic stability. These Programs were chosen to optimize the impact of ICG research in the battle against cancer and to exploit existing areas of strength in other fields of biomedicine at Columbia. As such, each of the four ICG Programs seeks to develop a fertile research environment and the critical mass necessary to achieve significant scientific advances. By any measure, the ICG has been immensely successful in both its research and teaching activities. This is manifested in its increasing funding base from peer-reviewed grants, which has grown from ~$1.5 million in June 1999 to ~$5.4 million of currently approved funds (annual direct costs), including nine Ro1 grants, a P01 Program Project grant, and a Cancer Biology Training grant. When the ICG was established in 1999, it was assigned to ~15,500 square feet of swing space in the Russ Berrie Science Pavilion. This was intended to be a temporary arrangement until the ICG was moved to its permanent home in the future Irving Cancer Research Center. The proposed relocation of the ICG to this site will provide multiple b for existing ICG laboratories that have grown in personnel and funding; ii) the recruitment of two new faculty necessary for completion of the ICG research program; and iii) laboratory space to host state-of-the-art core facilities available to all Columbia University investigators (i.e., Genomics, Proteomics, Cytogenetics, and Pathology). Finally, relocation of the ICG to the proposed facility represents a crucial first step in the consolidation of cancer research activities at Columbia in a single dedicated building, the Irving Institute of Cancer Research. These facilities will be used exclusively for purposes related to the research outlined in the specific aims of our federal and non-federal grant proposals and for the research training/teaching of predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows for at least the next 20 Years. [unreadable] [unreadable]