(Photo courtesy of University of Cincinnati)
The new Brain Tumor Molecular Therapeutics Program at the University of Cincinnati (UC) has just been launched, thanks to a total $6.5 Million in funding--a $2 Million gift from the Harold C. Schott Foundation, and $4.5 more from the UC College of Medicine. The Program will be the only one of its kind, engaged specifically in research on the biological mechanisms of cancer's spread to the brain in the form of brain metastasis. As a translational science program, treatment and patient care will be active goals of the research.
Metastatic brain cancer occurs when blood vessels in the body carry cancer cells to the brain from other parts of the body. About 170,000 cases are diagnosed yearly in the United States alone. Because not all cancers metastasize into brain cancer, researchers need to understand the mechanism of the disease's spread in order to develop new treatments.
Currently, patients with brain metastases are not included in Phase 1 Clinical Trials--the first step in human drug testing. The new Molecular Therapeutics Program will initiate clinical trials that specifically target these cancers. The UC Cancer Institute is the only facility on or near Cincinnati that performs Phase 1 trials.
The Molecular Therapeutics Program is a collaboration of the University of Cincinnati Cancer Institute and the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute.
If you are a supplier of laboratory equipment and would like to meet researchers and purchasers at the University of Cincinnati, plan to attend our 10th Annual Cincinnati BioResearch Product Faire TM Event May 25, 2011 on the UC Campus.