Cellular Sleuthing
Investigators at the Walther Oncology Center are looking for clues
to solve the mysteries of cancer and other disease.
All the best cancer research programs now call themselves multidisciplinary,
but the Walther Oncology Center was that long before the concept
became mainstream.
In 1988, the Walther Oncology Center had only one principal investigator,
its founding scientific director Hal E. Broxmeyer, PhD, chair and
Mary Margaret Walther Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and
professor of medicine, who later became well known for his research
in umbilical cord blood as a source for transplantable stem and
progenitor cells.
Since then, the center has grown to include about thirty principal
investigators and 151 other staff representing seven IU School of
Medicine departments, including medicine, biochemistry and molecular
biology, microbiology and immunology, medical and molecular genetics,
pharmacology and toxicology, urology and surgery.
“Collaboration is the key for speeding scientific advances
from the bench to the bedside, a process that benefits patients,”
says Dr. Broxmeyer
The Walther Oncology Center is a joint venture between the Walther
Cancer Institute, a private, non-profit research organization, and
the IU School of Medicine. The success of the center’s investigators
is apparent through the continued growth of extramural funding.
In 1992, its grants totaled $1.83 million. Today, extramural funding
has reached more than $15 million, with several outstanding grant
applications awaiting review.
Progressive, basic scientific laboratory research focused on the
cellular, biochemical and molecular biology of cancer is the trademark
of the center. Efforts to translate laboratory research findings
to clinical trials continue. Investigators at the Walther Oncology
Center are studying immune systems deficiencies and possible treatments,
and viruses of the central nervous system and their association
with AIDS-related dementia and other neurological disorders.
The goals of the center are simply stated but not simple to accomplish,
which keeps the Walther Oncology Center researchers on the cutting
edge. They seek to:
- Understand the mechanisms involved in the proliferation,
differentiation and function of normal cells and the abnormalities
in functions which can lead to tumor cell growth.
- Accelerate the translation of new basic scientific information
to the clinical research area in order to slow disease progression
and improve the quality of life for patients suffering from cancer
and related disorders; develop and disseminate information that
will lead, or help lead, to cures for the different cancers.
To this end, Walther Oncology Center scientists currently are focused
on how normal and malignant cells grow and develop their unique
characteristics, gene regulation, DNA repair, cytokine (product
of white blood cells involved with immune response) production,
intracellular communication, gene therapy, and transplantation biology
and immunology with bone marrow and cord blood.
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