Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas In Texas weve had our sights set on wiping out cancer for quite some time and this new institute brings us one step closer to destroying it in our lifetime said Gov. Rick Perry while announcing the creation of the Institute for Applied Cancer Science at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center which will help scientific discoveries become viable therapies.
The Institute for Applied Cancer Science will provide us with a better understanding of cancer and will give researchers and scientists the ability to take promising new drugs from the laboratory to the doctors office.
The Institute for Applied Cancer Science will exploit the enormous opportunities provided by recent truly transformative scientific and technological advances to improve the appallingly low rate of success in the nations current cancer drug development system Ronald DePinho M.D. president of MD Anderson said.
The Institute for Applied Cancer Science will bring together top researchers and scientists with expertise in clinical trials cancer genomics cancer biology and cancer drug discovery and pharmacology. Scientists will focus on research drug discovery and translational medicine integrating academic and pharmaceutical science to develop innovative medicines.
In 2007 the governor led an initiative to help make Texas the home for the next wave of treatments combating cancer which resulted in the creation of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). Voters approved bonds to fund the
institute for more than 10 years enabling the state to finance research grant awards and attract top researchers.
CPRIT has funded 350 awards for cancer research commercialization and prevention since 2010 totaling more than $570 million. Together with matching funds obligated by grant recipients more than $800 million has been invested in cancer research.
Texas is also working to attract world-class researchers through the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF) created at Gov. Perrys request. To date the state has invested nearly $178 million in grant-matching and research superiority funds to Texas universities which has helped attract some of the top researchers in their respective fields.
Through CPRIT and TETF Texas has attracted many of the best scientists from around the world and put them to work on projects that will improve our communities cure diseases and save lives.
For more information about MD Anderson Cancer Center visit
http://www.mdanderson.org/.
